Make do and mend

Mending finished!

Much as I enjoy handicrafts there is one aspect that I never seem to get on with and that is the mending. It's not that I hate it, more that I would rather be doing something more interesting.



Why is it that making something new is so much more fun than maintaining what you have? Often many of the skills required are the same yet turning them to repair rather than creation doesn't have the same appeal. Which is a pity as 'make do and mend' is far better for us than continuously reinventing the wheel.

Talking of make do and mend we have a new washing machine. Well, when I say new I mean new to us. I posted here about our discovery that our only just 2 years old A rated washing machine has a fundamental error, it has been designed in a way to make replacing the bearings (a common issue) impossible. You could replace the whole drum but this would be as much as purchasing a new machine. How can these be considered energy efficient if their lifetime is so short! - I'll stop here, this is a rant that we've heard too much of in this house over the past month

Anyway, not being able to afford a super-duper machine with parts available for repair we decided to go the second hand route. J perused the ads and found that we had a great deal of choice from 'noisy machines', as he was prepared to change their bearings if need be this didn't scare us. But in the end we gambled on one with another error, a dyson.

This is not an overly practical choice, whilst it is the 'Klingon' of machines with two of everything it does mean that there is more to go wrong. But it is interesting with it's contra-rotator that attempts to replicate hand washing and therefore washing more thoroughly for less time. I think that it's pretty cool though it does feel bizarre to be purchasing a machine even older than our current one, especially a non-working one. Thankfully the error was easily dealt with, one new chip and a fuse later and it's sorted. On the negative side a dyson engineer has previously done a software 'fix' that makes the two drums act as one to save wear on the very expensive, complicated formula 1 style bearings. I thought that the whole point of having a dyson is that it has two drums - I have a feeling that J may be playing with this at some point in the future. In the meantime it does a good job with keeping our laundry clean.

Back to my mending, I managed to get the whole basket of sewing completed in just one hour. Most of them were very minor issues and I really should keep on top of these rather than have a pile build up. In the background I watched the 'Great British Sewing Bee', one of my current favourite programmes. It may be a competition but the supportive atmosphere in the sewing room leaves me feeling positive.