Craigslist…

I love Craiglist…mostly for the pure entertainment value of the posts. Occasionally, however, I find the site useful for finding things I actually need. Like, for example, this:

Vintage 1974 Kenmore 1813 ZigZag

attachments

Kenmore in the Cabinet!

See this? It’s a vintage 1974 Kenmore 1813 Zig Zag sewing machine. It came complete with all of the attachments, thirty special embroidery stitch cams, owners manual, and cabinet. It works, although it needs to be oiled. It was located about 5 miles from my house in the apartment of an artist who is moving to New Zealand and needed to unload some stuff. The machine is used but definitely not abused.

And the price?

$25.
OK, well technically $30 because the ATM at my bank was down so I had to go to the bank down the street and pay a $2 service fee, and then the lady only had $2 on hand and I only had a twenty and a ten so she couldn’t change the ten for a five and I said just give me the $2 and we’re even because in the back of mind I am thinking “I JUST SCORED A MINT VINTAGE METAL HEAVY DUTY SEWING MACHINE FOR LESS THAN MY PIECE OF CRAP WALMART MACHINE COST!!!”

or something like that.

It started last week when I was trying to finish Andy’s shirt and my crappy Brother machine tension kept going out of adjustment. I cleaned it, lubed it, readjusted it…it took about 5 hours but I finally got it back to working order. It was at the time during multiple phone calls to my mom “Why is it doing this now? how do I fix that?” that she brought up the idea of me getting her old Kenmore from my brother and using it. Apparently she switched from her 1970 Kenmore to a new machine about 10 years ago because the Kenmore couldn’t do some quilting specific thing. She kept it around for things like hemming jeans but then when my parents moved across the country to New Mexico she decided to get rid of it, and like me, mom can’t bear to give things to strangers for fear they won’t take care of and appreciate the item. So she gave it to my brother and sister in law thinking my niece might like to use it.

Except at the time my niece was like 9 and isn’t really into sewing.

Long story short: I emailed my sister in law on Friday to see if she still had mom’s old machine and could I use it, and she admitted that she gave it away and got a new cheap table top Brother model for my niece to use instead because the old one was too much work to use.

Damn.
See, I need a better machine. I think mine has served me well for the purpose of which I got it, which was to learn to sew. But to put it in cycling terms, my machine is like a $650 Shimano Sora equipped bike with a cheap Chin-Hur bottom bracket, clunky triple chain ring, eight speed cassette and a Kalloy seat post/stem/handle bars. It’s super low end. I certainly don’t need a Dura Ace level machine…I think 105 would be sufficient. But the more I sew the more I see the limitations of my machine. A Sora machine is fine if your only goal is to ride 15mph on the bike path. If you’re thinking of racing, you need at least 105 and probably Ultegra.

My mom said if I wanted a good, reliable new machine to plan on spending $300-500. Ouch. Not in my budget. Mom also said that she really didn’t like the new machines because they are all plastic and not made like the old ones. She said her Kenmore was reliable, never broke, and was never in need of servicing because she always oiled it herself. This got me thinking that I really didn’t want a fancy new computerized machine. I wanted an old heavy metal one that could do it all.

So on Monday I went to Craigslist. I saw this ad for an apartment sale and the listing included a sewing machine. The photo looked a lot like Mom’s old machine. I emailed the person and then on Tuesday I picked it up and now I never need a fancy new sewing machine because I have this one instead.

Happiness and joy. This machine will sew through anything -denim, canvas, etc. Ok, maybe not leather, but I am a vegetarian and probably shouldn’t be buying leather anyway.

Which leads me to the point of this post. Craigslist, in addition to being useful in finding items like mint condition vintage Kenmore sewing machines, is good for entertainment.
Take this, for example:

need some coddin for my site (laconia)
Reply to: job-bnsba-XXXXXXXXXX@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-06-16, 2:13PM EDT

i ned a certin thing codded for my site will pay or will split all proceeds please contact me asap 603-XXX-XXXX

* Location: laconia

Umm..what?

Or this one:

BODY PIERCIER NEEDED (southern new hampshire)
Reply to: tbonetatsXX@hotmail.com [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-06-07, 10:02PM EDT

looking for a lic body piercier in southern n.h. please call Tony at (603) XXX-XXX for more info.

* Location: southern new hampshire

I don’t know if I want to get pierced by someone who can’t spell the word “piercer”

Oh here’s one…sign me up:

Still need 18+ Female Models (new hampshire )
Reply to:job-9sy87-1190620137@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-05-26, 10:08PM EDT

If you think you’re hot enough to earnover TwoThousand Dollars a week! email us and we’ll send you some information about the position. Our webcam models are averaging well over $30 an hour,You can Too!!

I guess that’s a new word – earnover. Oh hell, at least they got the right form of Too, although not sure why it’s capitalized.

looking for female models 18+ (all new england)
Reply to: job-wey8n-XXXXXXX@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-06-23, 3:05PM EDT

looking for female models for adult video shoots 18+ good pay to start

* Location: all new england
* Compensation: 250-350

And a follow up post:

No Real Film Work (Earth)
Reply to: job-3dgbe-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-06-09, 5:05PM EDT

It is a sad world when only 18 year old girls are needed and no actual film crews, no actual work is ever posted.

Good point.