Labour-saving devices
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
My dear husband is a technophile and thereby am I granted wondrous machines that do a thousand different things in twice the time it would take me to do the one thing required.
For example, I enjoy embroidery and a little sewing. I voiced the thought that a sewing machine would be useful for certain tasks. Immediately, research was undertaken, and very thoroughly, and before I knew it I was the owner of a super-duper machine with bells and whistles, embroidery hoops, a dongle, three massive tomes of instruction and umpteen ‘feet’ for the production of complicated stitches a dress designer would sigh for. I was afraid to touch it for fear it would take off and become my master.
Eventually, I overcame my apprehension and have managed to complete some occasional very neat hemming. Together, my husband and I embroidered some dog portraits, and they are the sum of our efforts at artistic creativity through the medium of a sewing machine.
When the subject of ironing arose, back in the days when I actually ever attempted to iron anything, back in the days when non-iron fabrics were an impossible dream, back in the days when creases and holes were not de rigeur and definitely not a fashion statement, my husband suggested that an ironing machine would be a good investment. His argument was that it would free me to do other things. The ‘other things’ were unspecified, but it was the thought that counted.
Anyway, research duly commenced and it was discovered that an ironing machine could iron a shirt in two minutes. I don’t think that included setting it on the ironing stand or whatever it was. I timed myself ironing a shirt – it took two minutes, and so no ironing machine came to darken my doors.
A knitting machine was another suggestion. I had seen my mother and sister setting up their knitting machine. It took a very long time and seemed an awful kerfuffle. More importantly, it took away the pleasure of feeling the wool through the fingers and the comforting clickety-clack of the needles. Dropping a stitch in hand knitting is fairly easily resolved, but on a knitting machine it could take aeons, or so it seemed to me.
I’m sure there are plenty of people who love their knitting machines. Kaffe Fassett uses one now, I think, though he started hand knitting during a train journey, being taught by a fellow passenger. The Knitting Bishop, Richard Rutt (who died in 2011) might never have discovered the joy of creation if his first experiences had been with a table-top machine.
Labour-saving machines are useful but one should always retain the knowledge and ability to do things by hand. Using a balloon whisk for scrambled eggs is satisfying, or, failing that, a fork will do. Plugging in an electrical device to do the same task is not so pleasing, at least, not to me. My efforts at bread-making, however, are dire, and so the bread-maker is most welcome.
Do you like machines that save you time and effort? Which is your favourite? Which ones now gather dust in your cupboards?
