"Ah, Mexican thread."
And that prompted a thirty year old memory. OK Not quite thirty years. Only twenty nine.
I was newly single and fiercely independent. I gained custody of the Bureau of Land Management 1971 Jeep Cherokee. It started leaking and I discovered that it needed a new water pump. It had a 6 cylinder engine, a radiator and a water pump. It was very basic. I took a look under the hood and said "I can replace that."
So I ordered the part and got under the car and did the job. But there was one bolt missing. I showed it to my friend L. who said that I could get one at the parts store.
"But be sure that you go in and ask for the one with the Mexican thread. That is very important. It has to be Mexican thread."
I did as I was told. The guy at the parts store gave me a weird look, but I just thought it was because I was a she, not a he, fixing a car and buying parts.
Later, when L. asked if I got it, I told him I did.
"Did you get the one with the Mexican thread?"
"Well, I don't know, I told the guy and this is what he gave me."
L. couldn't stand it any longer. He burst out laughing.
"I was just foolin with ya. There is no such thing."
I slapped him. HARD.
So when I saw this spool of thread I thought of my friends and laughed.
Then thinking about that Jeep reminded be of an earlier Jeep. A CJ 7. We lived out west on top of a mountain. We needed 4WD to get home. And who wrote the book on Four Wheel Drive?
I was in the habit then, of nursing my son while I drove up the mountain. It was efficient and dangerous. Did I mention that the CJ7 was a stick shift? I am a bit horrified that I did that. But I did. (I do NOT text and drive now, probably the modern equivalent) A few years ago I was at our local lumbar yard. I saw a tear off calendar. "You know you're a red neck if...." The one for that day was:
"You know you are a redneck if you can breast feed and drive your stick shift at the same time."
Whooo Heee. I reckon I classify as a Red Neck...
You are funny.....that's why I love you! ;P
ReplyDeleteThanks. It is a funny story.
DeleteSpeaking of thread.....I've got a ton of it. I used to find bags of 6 to 8 spools it at thrift stores for 99 cents. Some of it brand new still wrapped in plastic. A few months ago I grabbed an old spool of thread to sew with a machine I'd just cleaned & oiled but had never used. The thread kept breaking & I thought there was something wrong with the tension. The machine sew perfectly when I used a brand new spool of thread. The thread (that kept breaking) was polyester, similar to the pic you posted, didn't think it made a difference if it was old or new.
ReplyDeleteSo now I'm hesitant to use old thread from the thrift store.
Any thoughts on thread?
Yeah. I don't use old thread. If the spool has never been used, I try to break it by hand. If it breaks easily then I pitch it. If it holds true, then I will try it out. But old thread is like an old needle.....no real savings in using them if the stitches are lousy...or the thread keeps breaking.
DeleteI never use old needles. I buy extras when notions go on sale at JoAnn fabrics.
DeletePolyester is a synthetic, didn't think it would break down with age but I guess it depends on how & where it was stored.
I think I'll gather up the old thread & donate it. Thanks!
I buy needles in bulk and use a new one every time I start a new project. I have so many "used" needles in a stash for when I am teaching. I start out new sewers on paper. I also use used needles when I am checking a stitch length on a machine or a zz stitch. I use paper then too.
DeleteToo Funny! Don't we all have silly stories like that?
ReplyDeleteMy DH tells one on me from years ago when our kids were little
we were on a road trip and a favorite treat was Tootsie Roll Pops.
So I was driving, DH pulled out the bag and told everyone close your
eyes b/4 you pick one.... ahem, yeah I closed my eyes! He shouts,
Jean not you!!! Good thing it was out on an empty highway! But I did
get my tootsie roll pop! LoL...
I'd have done more than just slap the jerk....
ReplyDeleteThread, like cloth, ages depending on how it's kept. I've had old thread that worked fine, and relatively new thread that failed. I hadn't heard of polyester aging that much but I can believe it. But some thread is bad from the start. I have been told that one brand of thread is made in two places, Germany and Mexico, and that the German thread is much better quality.
Oh he was just having fun. I still laugh about it. That's the nice thing about friends; they can fool with ya
ReplyDeleteCotton thread can age too when stored to war/hot or in a sunny place, so be warned, do the tuck test. I was a 16 year old newy at our local borough and colleagues tried that to me too. They asked me to fetch the oilscissors from the carpenters department. They said it was just borrowed by the fardeners, I should pick it up at their workshed. By then I had already decided it was a hoax and spent almost all afternoon at the side of the nearbiy lake in the sun. At the end of the afternoon I went back, everybody was worried about my whereabouts and I had this long story to tell about the gardeners havingg left it at the outer point of our township and I having cycled there and not finding it and: should I now go to the police to report a missing oilscissors. They finally got it that I had a better hoax on them. They had to explain all that afternoon to my head of department that I had just left to get something for them from another oom. Next they the HOD asked: And, what was it, the oilscissors again. He had had a hoax on my colleagues too. Reina
ReplyDelete