What Did You Do With COVID Time?

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  • JeepHammer

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    Aug 2, 2018
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    Don't know if the pictures will post...
    My wife always liked the older/antique stuff, and I like gadgets of any kind.
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    We started over 20 years ago, homestead going as sustainable as possible, our own solar power, water wells, septic.
    Garden beds, row crops, home machine/welding shop, etc.
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    COVID lockdown gave us even more time to ourselves, and my wife always liked the old sewing machines, foot treadle & hand cranked, although Singer provided for electric motors to be added on when you wanted them.
    One thing about the old cast iron Singer machines, they last forever and will sew everything you can get under the feed foot.
    I can even stitch through the side of a metal can, layers of full weight leather, etc. They are built TOUGH!

    In the middle of Singer madness, we discovered CSM, Circular Sock Knitting Machines which have hand cranks, knit caps, scarves, mittens, as well as dress & boot socks.
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    Until well after WW I socks were both expensive, and could take up to a month to hand knit with needles.
    With a CSM you can crank out a pair of basic boot socks in about 40 minutes.
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    This isn't exactly 'Pioneer' living, home canning/jarring food, sewing/knitting on machines, but it adds to our sustainability, and frankly if you are a 'Gadget Guy' these things are wonderful examples of engineering. IMG_1686.JPG IMG_1685.JPG IMG_1655.JPG IMG_1639.JPG
     

    JeepHammer

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    Aug 2, 2018
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    Since my wife actually bought me reloaders I was too cheap to buy, when she wanted sewing machines, sock knitters, food processing machines, etc I got right into it.
    Goes right along with the sustainability direction I've been going for over 20 years, and if you know these machines, they can be manually operated as well as motor driven. image_zpsfdtjlssm.jpg IMG_1189.JPG

    And let's not forget the truck load of solar panels and truck load of solar inverters that's been part of my COVID stay at home time...
    IMG_1423.JPG IMG_1451.JPG

    Honestly, I never thought I'd have an excess of electricity being off grid, but it's a REALLY nice feeling!
     

    femurphy77

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    Mar 5, 2009
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    S.E. of disorder
    I'm in healthcare so I didn't get any time off until I got the Kungflu. During that time I got a BUNCH of stuff done around the house; got the wireless internet working in the shop, fabbed up a new power steering bracket for the racecar, cleaned up the shop, etc. Nothing really cool but quite satisfying as that knocked a few more things off "the list".

    Restoring the sewing machines and sock machine look like fun, very cool.
     

    shibumiseeker

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    Nov 11, 2009
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    near Bedford on a whole lot of land.
    My work was about 90% remote, but when one of our facilities reopened to the public I did go in about 15 hours a week to supervise my staff.

    Other than that though, when you have a homestead you are never short of projects to do. I got a lot of work done on the new house, including doubling my solar capacity too. It is a good feeling when I see the generator not be run for weeks at a time and the batteries full. During the day some of the excess power was used for a little air conditioning, but the new house really does not need much in the way of air conditioning.

    I managed two trips out west for a week each over the summer, was really glad for that as between my teaching job and my risk management job I rarely can take more than 4-5 days in a row off without having to make a lot of arrangements. They normally allow me plenty of at home time, but hard to be away for any length of time.

    As far as the shutdowns and shortages go, it really did not affect us at all. We don't go out to eat hardly ever, we are very well fixed for supplies, and while we see our friends regularly, we don't socialize a bunch. Only real downsides for us were L's mom died and we were unable to have a funeral, and another long time friend got diagnosed with multiple myeloma and his treatment has wiped his immune system so we've only been able to Zoom. He's 72 and was super active and having to not leave home and not having any energy has really hit him hard.

    I did manage to get to a lot of little projects that had been on hold for years waiting for enough free time to do them.
     
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    Oct 3, 2008
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    On a hill in Perry C
    Grandma used one of those old Singers right up until she died. Yeah, those things were BUILT!

    Have you used the CSM? It would be neat if you could post a short video of it in use.
    As far as what I did with Covid time, I worked up until I got it then I was too worried about breathing to do anything else.
     

    Gabriel

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    The shore of wonderful Lake Michigan
    I was never locked down, so there wasn't any "COVID time".

    Those sewing machines are pretty cool. I love old tools like that, especially old mills and lathes. Sewing is on the long list of things to learn, but mostly I'd just be sewing webbing to make straps for this or that... at least initially.
     

    d.kaufman

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    Mar 9, 2013
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    Hobart
    Only thing that changed for me was when they closed the ranges and I couldn't shoot. Other than that, it was business as usual
     

    IndyDave1776

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    Jan 12, 2012
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    I did have changes pertaining to my dietary habits while on the road, in one case yielding bad enough chest pains for a trip to the ER.
     

    spencer rifle

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    Apr 15, 2011
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    Scrounging brass
    Worked full time.
    Learned lock picking
    Learned some knots and lashing
    Learned to sail a canoe (up in Boundary Waters)
    Installed a solar charging station in the youngest's bedroom with help from the oldest
    Reloaded
    Petted the kitteh
    Raised 3 chickens (started with 4)
     

    JeepHammer

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    Aug 2, 2018
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    SW Indiana
    I worked around here the 1st couple of weeks.
    Then it was back to the grind.

    Those are wonderful old machines. The 1st pic is an amazing piece.
    Honestly, the engineering will render you stupid/mute...
    You will sit around for hours with your mouth open trying to figure out how they did this in cast iron around the time of our 'Civil' war!

    We were both 'Essential Workers' so we still worked, just stayed away from the things we did in town.
    I hadn't even recovered from my new knees completely when I went back to work.
    Glad I got the knees before the hospitals filled up.
     

    JeepHammer

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    Aug 2, 2018
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    SW Indiana
    Grandma used one of those old Singers right up until she died. Yeah, those things were BUILT!

    Have you used the CSM? It would be neat if you could post a short video of it in use.
    As far as what I did with Covid time, I worked up until I got it then I was too worried about breathing to do anything else.
    I can barely take pictures, video uploads are a little beyond my skill level.
    The wife has made hats, scarves, mittens & socks that all match for herself & women, but I got the 'Learning Socks', not exactly great quality, but they make good cold weather socks.
    She's working on this pattern now, got it off the internet.
    Seems there is a very dedicated following on these knitting machines.
    lacesock3.jpg
     

    Timjoebillybob

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    Feb 27, 2009
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    Grandma used one of those old Singers right up until she died. Yeah, those things were BUILT!
    I have two of them from my one Grandma. A cabinet style treadle, and a "portable" electric. The portable is the sewing head of a treadle machine on a wood base with a small motor that runs the belt the treadle does. Not sure of the age but they started making them in 1921. She was born in 1900 so it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't one of the earlier ones.

    The cabinet one is neat as well, the sewing head is spring loaded. You open the top and push a button on the front and it pops straight up. And you better be pushing down on the head to ease it up because it comes up hard and fast. You also better make sure no fingers are in the way.

    Not mine but this one is very similar to the portable.
    maxresdefault.jpg


    And this one is similar to the cabinet one. The button to pop the head up is just to the left and above the knob on the far right right hand door. When I first got it I was wondering what it was and pushed it. I found out alright, it hit so hard I thought it must have broken the frame.
    275f4ba88f8417eac151d933b1ed6387.jpg
     
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