Chiff and Fipple Forums

I like to think I speak my mind, but occasionally it turns into me blurting something out that would be better phrased differently. Today was one of those occasions

As a new whistle player/owner my mind is consumed by everything whistle. And so, as I mooched around town I was keeping an eye out for anything I could use ....like a stick...to wrap a cloth round to dry the inside of said whistle.

I spotted a haberdashery shop. Knitting needles. I knew a brainwave would hit me, and a knitting needle would be perfect. In I went, browsing amongst the knitters and sewers, dressed in my jeans and leather jacket, no competition for their M&S finery and matronly shoes, and I spotted a pair of needles with a tiny ball top. Ideal. So an assistant came over and asked if I need help...and that's when it all went wrong.

Me...I just need these needles.
SA....Do you need any wool?
Me....No thanks, just the needles.
SA....Is that size needle mentioned in the pattern?
Me....I haven't got a pattern.
SA....Do you need a pattern?
Me...No thanks, just the needles.
SA....Have you already got wool?
Me...No, I don't need a pattern or wool thanks.
SA...Oh, you really need wool to knit with (at this point she looks at me as if Im a bit simple)
Me... I don't need wool, Im not knitting. I need a needle to put a cloth round it and shove it up my whistle to dry it out...

I didn't buy the knitting needles. The silence in the shop was deafening, as I put the needles down and scuttled out of the shop with the blush reaching up past my ears

I really do need to start engaging my brain before I speak...

afl2277 wrote:In I went, browsing amongst the knitters and sewers, dressed in my jeans and leather jacket, no competition for their M&S finery and matronly shoes, and I spotted a pair of needles with a tiny ball top. Ideal. So an assistant came over and asked if I need help...and that's when it all went wrong.

Wrong, shmong. She might gape and sputter, but you did her a favor by showing her a bigger world and shaking her out of her mental rut. Is using a knitting needle for a swab stick any different than using a drinking glass to trap a wasp? If anything went wrong, it was with her. Rather than letting you escape, she could have made a sale to the crazy lady, after all.

"Welcome to Sports Galore. That's a very excellent canoe paddle you've chosen. Top of the line. But...erm...could I interest you in making it a pair?"
"No, thanks. There's just a huuuge ginormous cake the local bakers' association made for for the festival, and I was chosen to frost it. I only need the one."
"Go away. We don't want your kind here."
"Fine. You're not the only purveyors of paddlery around, you know."

Although I must say the word "sewers" made me do a double-take. For a moment I wondered how you do things over there across the Pond.

Nanohedron wrote:

afl2277 wrote:
Although I must say the word "sewers" made me do a double-take. For a moment I wondered how you do things over there across the Pond.

I don't even know if sewers is a word now I think about it...it must be, mustn't it? People who sew, multiple sewing people, sewers. Although reading it back now it looks like I refer to a drain (sewer). I don't envy anyone trying to learn English.

It's got to be a common word for sewingfolk as well. Or sewists, if you like. I'm not one, so I never thought about it. Just one of the more unfortunate double-duty formations we've got. There's "seamster", but it makes me think of trade unions and wage disputes.

Nanohedron wrote:It's got to be a common word for sewingfolk as well. Or sewists, if you like. I'm not one, so I never thought about it. Just one of the more unfortunate double-duty formations we've got. There's "seamster", but it makes me think of trade unions and wage disputes.

I think sewingfolk would fit.

Just checked definitions with Merriam-Webster, and they list the conduit, of course, and yes, people who sew as well, so you're in the clear. And here's one I didn't know: "a medieval household officer often of high rank in charge of serving the dishes at table and sometimes of seating and tasting". No pronunciation given for that one, though; I assume it's the same as for the gunk chute.

Nanohedron wrote:Just checked definitions with Merriam-Webster, and they list the conduit, of course, and yes, people who sew as well, so your'e in the clear. And here's one I didn't know: "a medieval household officer often of high rank in charge of serving the dishes at table and sometimes of seating and tasting". No pronunciation given for that one, though; I assume it's the same as for the gunk chute.

I remember a household book my long ago ex mother-in-law had, which described the roles of household servants, and it was fascinating. I love finding out interesting things from the past.

I say stand your ground next time and buy the needles anyway, and to the devil with her bebogglements. There's a good reason people like us are in the world.

Nanohedron wrote:I say stand your ground next time and buy the needles anyway, and to the devil with her bebogglements. There's a good reason people like us are in the world.

Lol...yes I will. There is another haberdashery near me so I'll go there. I certainly think a plastic knitting needle will be ideal for this

I'm going to copy this over to the Whistle Forum. It's topical enough.

Nanohedron wrote:I'm going to copy this over to the Whistle Forum. It's topical enough.

Im not quite sure where to post things yet, being new. So I bow to your judgment

Ah, you're doing fine.

Nanohedron wrote:Ah, you're doing fine.

Thank you

A piece of wooden dowel rod would have been my first thought, just cut a slot at one end for a bit of cloth.

'Thinking outside the box', is what this is called, I wouldn't have thought of a knitting needle.

fatmac wrote:A piece of wooden dowel rod would have been my first thought, just cut a slot at one end for a bit of cloth.

'Thinking outside the box', is what this is called, I wouldn't have thought of a knitting needle.

I thought about dowl, and that would be fine for my Feadog, but my Clarke Sweetone small bore would be too small for dowl and cloth. So I tried to think of something that would fit both of them...and plastic wouldn't scratch which is a bonus