Monday, March 12, 2012

Who'da Thunk?

Time's flying by and it's time to get weaving! I did get a warp off the loom. It's a blue gray with an accent yarn every so often across the center of it. I forgot to take a picture of it on the loom.

 On the loom right now is a warp that's mostly beige. It's a subtle color one. Even though it's beige, if you look closely there are alot of colors in it. The white line actually is 2 rows of toilet paper which divide the pieces as I weave my projects on there. This warp will have just a couple of tops and some vests.

 I was looking in the bench of Thelma, my 4 harness Nilus Leclerc, the other day and saw that she came with some new heddles. I kind of inherited this loom and love it but not the skinny little heddles that are on it. So, first chance I get, now that she's empty, is to replace the heddles with the new ones. I think some of the threads that broke while I wove were because of these heddles. They kind of catch the yarn and it's relatively easy for it to slip down into the groove and get caught.  My Nilus 8 harness has the nice thicker heddles that have the big eyes and the warp slides through them nicely! I'll change the heddles before  I get another warp on her.
So really, there's not been that much happening in the studio. Life's been taking more time than I'd like and keeps me from the studio.
However, I'd like to tell you a story about Friday. Our DD called mid afternoon to say that she'd lost her car key. She had taken it off the key ring and locked the rest of the keys in the console of her jeep. She thought she'd put her key in the zipped part of her bag but, apparently she hadn't. She probably put it in the pocket and it slipped out. It was gone. I looked for the spare and it wasn't here where it's supposed to be with the other keys in the house. I won't comment on who probably had it last.......but it was gone. No key for her jeep. The only thing we could think of was for us to call AAA and have it towed to our guy who keeps our vehicles running and have him pull out the whole thing and replace it with a new lock and ignition switch. That would cost a fair amount!! Just what we all needed.
So, I called AAA and told them our problem. She reassured us that they can make a key on the spot for the jeep. Long story short, and the whole process kept me from my studio all day, the guy came and with some magic and tools, made a skeleton key for the door lock. The key just unlocked the door. Then, he used that key as the master to make a key for the ignition. He had a computer to fool with to make the key work. It didn't seem to want to so he had to call someone. Apparently some keys can be made just with the computer magic but others need a 4 number code. He had to verify ownership of the jeep and get the code before, again magically, the key worked. The cost was $135 but with our AAA paying $100 of that, we were fine. Once he had the key made (about 9:30pm!) I asked about a spare. He made that for $45 extra. No problem. DD had her tip money and could pay him.  We had $80 for him. The bill, however, was for $70. I think he thought she was cute and kept laughing at her while he made the keys. A little discount doesn't hurt, especially since we had to wait a couple of hours for him to go back to get "the right part", probably the right key. I'd told the dispatcher what kind of car we had but I guess he didn't get that memo.
Yeah, the whole process took forever and at 10pm we left for Atlanta. We didn't quite make it. We stopped an hour north at a cheap Red Roof about 1:30am and were up again at 6:30 to get to the Original Pancake House where we met DH's parents for breakfast. My day was spent taking my mother in law to the Sewing Expo in Gwinnett Co. Had a blast and found a few redwork patterns that will be fun to sew. We didn't leave Atlanta til almost 9pm which had us back in Knoxville about 1am ...........and we had to move our clocks one hour forward. Another short night since we had to be at sound check at 8:30 because DH is in the orchestra at church. Sleep anyone?
But, really, who'd a thunk that they could make a key just like that for a vehicle? I thought I'd let you all know about that incase you have a child (not that WE would ever do anything like this) that somehow lost their key......
Today I'm getting that beige warp done and off the loom!!
Carol

5 comments:

LA said...

Real life does take some of our weaving time!!! We'll get that hour back in November!!! LOL!

Bonnie said...

A busy week. I love that beige warp. It will make a great vest or top.

Tina J said...

It is always something that gets in our way!

roxie said...

Thanks for sharing the info. You never know When it will come in handy. Triple A is a lifesaver. However, the last time I used mine, the young man looked at my card and said, "Gee, you've been a member longer than I've been alive!" I almost told him, "I have shoes that are older than you, sonny!"

The beige warp is one of those subtle fascination pieces. Bravo!

Linda said...

Amazing! Who knew? Thanks for the information. With a new driver in the family we may need it!