Yesterday I brought my unicycle in the car, parked up on the otherwise deserted (well, one other vehicle on the entire level) roof level of the parking garage, and did one lap around. I hadn’t ridden the uni at all last year, and only two or three times the year before. I wasn’t at all confident this time, and indeed it took several false starts and unplanned dismounts (I refuse to count them as falls so long as it’s only the soles of my shoes that hit the ground) before I had the tire pressure the way I wanted it. Even so, it took half a lap before I remembered the best advice about riding that I was ever given, this from Steve Aveson (who the last time I looked was a newscaster on a Boston cable TV channel) when he was my juggling teacher at Boston Center for Adult Education, “sit your butt down on the damn unicycle.” He meant to let the seat support as much of your weight as possible, and use the pedals for propulsion and controlling where the wheel is, not for support. When I was able to relax enough to do that, the riding got much much easier. But I still didn’t feel like attempting a second lap in a row.
Two things. First, do you remember Neal Sklaver from Williams? his wife is a good friend of mine here in Dallas. Second, if you’re igoing to be n Newton in May, check out the Sew Expo. You will really enjoy it–it’s a 3-day sewing trade fair, with a whole quilting track. The fair is huge, with lots of vendors, and the teachers are fabulous. My sewing (mostly fashion, a little home dec and some quilting) has improved dramatically. I have a very low-end Viking, not computerized, and have absolutely no trouble controlling the tension; if your tension gives you trouble and you have an old machine, try trading up. Also you might replace the bobbin holder–Mom’s old Necchi was worked on many times, but only the last time did they replace the bobbin holder, and now the machine works just fine. Also, change your needle after about 8 hours of sewing. Those two tricks make a huge difference in the tension. Just some thoughts. Hope everything is fine.
H.
I’ll have to look at a yearbook to remember Neal Sklaver. The name is familiar, but I can’t picture him.
I haven’t been sewing often enough to stay familiar with the sewing machines. We have an old singer, probably from the ’60s, and a Necchi probably from the ’80s. We got the Necchi to replace the Singer because the latter didn’t have the oomph to hem denim jeans any more, but we didn’t get rid of the Singer. We hadn’t tried it for years, but brought it up to Maine because that was better than junking it. Then I replaced the belt and got it going much better. At some point there I put its tension subassembly back together wrong. The last time I used it I took an hour fiddling with it before I got it back together correctly (I think) and got it to work. Other times I’ve put needles in wrong so the long slot in them wasn’t on the thread side, and that messed me up for a long while (broken thread after broken thread!) until I figured it out. Last I’ve tried both machines are working OK.
So, thanks for the tips, especially about the Sew Expo. I’ll take a look at the bobbin holders, but I suspect the problems were more with dumb mistakes on my part than the faults of the machine. And I’ll try to remember to change the needle, but with some trepidation about putting the new one in correctly.