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My husband was visiting his sister and husband in their ritzy house in San Diego. There was some loose wood staple in the basement and the b-i-l (aged 42) couldn’t pry it out by hand. My husband (age 40, who has many tools at home) asked if he had tools so the b-i-l checked his “tool box”: a child’s kit with a mini-flashlight, two small screwdrivers and mini-tape measure. They had to go the the neighbor’s house to borrow a pair of pliers.

I used to work for a phone-in mail order company that sold hats. Our customers were mostly retirees or older folks. If people didn’t know their hat sizes, I’d tell them to get a cloth tape measure to measure their heads and I’d convert the inches to a hat size. I think only once in three years I spoke with a customer who did not own a cloth tape measure, so they had to use a string. That was twenty years ago.

Today I am 38, have a cloth tape measure in my house as well as a sewing machine. I’m no expert dressmaker, but I make repairs to clothes as needed. I don’t know a single woman my age or younger who owns a sewing machine or cloth tape measure. Perhaps a few may have a spool of thread and some needles, but that’s it.

When I was a young boy I had a fascination with not only traditional electrical and mechanical tinkering like boys [used to] do, but I loved doing more “girly” things like decorating and crafts. I was taught how to use the sewing machine, had my cousin’s weaving loom on loan for a summer, and used to love macreme and origami... which the origami was an offshoot of being mastering the art of paper airplane making.

I don’t have a sewing machine, but do have a fancy tin that had chocolates in it at one point and it has all my sewing supplies in it. I was actually looking at an old treadle sewing machine nearby on craigslist... it would fit in at the homestead... I just dunno when I would ever use it because I am constantly dealing with plumbing, electrical, fencing, cutting/hauling wood for heat... and tending animals.

I really wish I had help sometimes. The farm is a lot of work alone.

"I used to work for a phone-in mail order company that sold hats. Our customers were mostly retirees or older folks. If people didn’t know their hat sizes, I’d tell them to get a cloth tape measure to measure their heads and I’d convert the inches to a hat size. I think only once in three years I spoke with a customer who did not own a cloth tape measure, so they had to use a string. That was twenty years ago.

Today I am 38, have a cloth tape measure in my house as well as a sewing machine. I’m no expert dressmaker, but I make repairs to clothes as needed. I don’t know a single woman my age or younger who owns a sewing machine or cloth tape measure. Perhaps a few may have a spool of thread and some needles, but that’s it."

Thank you. That's really interesting. I know a young lady who can do some amazing work with knitting and crocheting. She wants yaks and goats and even instructed me on how hats are felted. She's also been ogling some new sewing machines. There are some fancy little machines that sell cheap now.

Brings out the machinist thinking in me. Maybe I should put planning, designing and building a machine for faster and easier textile work on our list of projects.