Can Men Master the Art of Knitting and Sewing?

[drankin]

My sewing machine makes dinner, and even vacuums! Beat that!

 

[Ouabache]

I could still probably rebuild a Rainbow vac or time a sewing machine with my eyes closed. Real men use sergers.

Do you use a strobe to time that? Are their marks are relative to TDC
For guys, this thread, is beginning to feel like Tim Allen's, Tool Time

I've sewn by hand, making minor repairs to worn clothes (tears, loose buttons).
Recently I've tried my hand using a sewing machine.. I ordered the operation manual and followed directions closely. It feels analogous (though an inverse operation) to using a table saw or a fixed-router. (moving material in a horizontal plane, on a more-or-less straight path).

It helps to have mechanical intuition. There are many knobs and buttons, setting tensions and pressures. Without any experience, I tried the 'mending stitch'. When the needle traveled down, it wanted to land, right on top of the metal of the presser-foot. I puzzled over that quite some time, had the machine pulled open, looking for some realignment screws on the shaft that supports the needle. (gotta employ those engineering principles to figure out a sewing machine. ) After experimenting with several knobs, I noticed the type-of-stitch selected, affects the horizontal drift of the needle. I had guessed it would need a wider presser foot and that turned out to be the case. It seems, the mending stitch is similar to a zigzag requiring a wider berth at the presser foot.

I cannot knit, tried it once got bored quickly. I've successfully hooked a few rugs though. The results were nice enough to hang on the wall (textured artwork).