About

I am Heather. This is a place to record information about the various things I’m doing with my time, largely because if I don’t write it down, I’ll forget what I did the next time I try to do it.

I like the challenge of figuring out how things work, and then making them myself, or tinkering with the machines that make them. My three most common hobby activities these days are sewing, machine knitting, and machine embroidery, though I’m often to be found hand knitting as well. I can also crochet, but I don’t do it much these days, except for the occasional amigurumi project. I pretend to like gardening, but I think I really only like getting vegetables for free.

I’ve recently done a little sculpting with polymer clay, which I really enjoy as it’s building on my almost-long-forgotten cake decorating and fondant sculpting skills, and a couple of years ago I picked up some pencils and sketched something worth looking at for the first time in over a decade. I’ve been in a bit of a slump making-wise lately. Having kids in sports really limits my free time, and I REALLY need to clear out some space in my crafting area.

The sewing machines I currently have in my collection are:

  • Bernina Deco 330 embroidery machine;
  • Bernina Deco 330/340 franken embroidery machine; (it’s a 330 frame/chassis and the electronics from a 340 so it’s kind of half and half);
  • Modern Kenmore 385.16622 serger – this is the only machine that I own that I bought new;
  • Elna 845 combo serger/coverstitch;
  • White 8930 “Japanese badged” zig-zag vintage sewing machine, converted to treadle operation and housed in a Singer 15-30 treadle cabinet;
  • Kenmore 158.1802 vintage sewing machine;
  • Pfaff 463 industrial straight stitch;
  • Bellinky linking machine – technically it’s a hand crank operated chainstitch sewing machine, but specifically for linking knit pieces

Those of you in the know will recognize that both of the modern machines in this list were manufactured by Janome. I have had and enjoyed many Janome/Kenmore/Elna machines over the years. The White was made in Japan, probably in the early 1960’s, but I can’t for the life of me find a date of manufacture. The Kenmore 1802 was made by the Maruzen (Jaguar) company circa ~1969.

I had whittled my collection of knitting machines down to two that I was content with, but recently acquired two more, and sold one on. They come, they go. Currently in my possession are:

  • White/Superba 1602 double-bed 5mm gauge electronic machine with SuperbaKnit package and all the accessories (GLTC transfer carriage, regular transfer carriage, intarsia carriage, colour changer, forma pattern driver, currently broken motor…)
  • Brother 940 standard gauge electronic machine with KR850 ribber, KG93-equivalent garter carriage, transfer carriage, KHC900 double bed colour changer and I think KHC820 single bed colour changer, KL 116 knitleader…basically everything for this machine
  • Brother 260 chunky gauge punch card machine with KR260 ribber (the KHC900 and KL116 both work on this machine also)

I try not to collect a ton of things these days, just owing to the space concerns, but I do have a small collection of vintage teacups, and a vintage percolator that makes a fantastic cup of coffee. I also use a vintage Pyrex bowl for bread proofing. For some reason I just feel like it works better than all other bowls, but that could be in my head.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at heather.is.making.stuff (at) gmail (dot) com.