The Bionic Woman and random things

The first fourteen episodes of The Bionic Woman are on Hulu. That is, the first fourteen episodes of the real The Bionic Woman are on Hulu, not the recently "re imagined" thing done by those people who "re imagined" Battlestar Galactica. The re imagined thing was removed months ago, and now there are fourteen hours of "The Bionic Woman Classic."

If you are not a big fan of either The Bionic Woman or The Six Million Dollar Man, you might not think this is a big deal. Except that The Bionic Woman was on thirty-three years ago (and The Six Million Dollar Man was on a couple of years before that), and we haven't been able to (legally) buy or rent either series on video or DVD in the years since then. The reruns were on The Sci Fi Channel (now SyFy) about ten years ago, and I saw some of them then, but I didn't actually have cable, I was just in a lot of motel rooms where I could sometimes watch on Thursday and Friday afternoons. But mostly, I haven't seen them since I was a kid.

Now when someone makes a movie or a TV show, the subject of DVDs is just part of the deal. It is decided ahead of time what everyone's cut will be if there is a DVD and all of that, and if you don't like your cut or you flat out don't want your work to be on a DVD, then you can go and look for another job. But in the seventies the contracts weren't written like that, and if you want to release a DVD of something from that time you have to go back and get everyone to sign another contract and figure out what everyone's cut is, etc....

And some people can't be reached, and some people just don't want to play, and some people hold out for more money.

And while this sort of thing drags on, those of us who really want to see the show again look for illegal copies, and when the people holding out for more money finally do sign on, there are fewer customers wanting to buy, and there is less money to be made anyway.

Better to have a smaller cut of a bigger pie than to wait til there is no pie left.

So maybe there will be more of The Bionic Woman on Hulu, and maybe some of The Six Million Dollar Man will make an appearance, and maybe they will both be available on DVD now. Not that I actually have proof of any of that, but it does seem a step in the right direction.

Back to my usual moaning about the money situation.

So we made a car payment on both cars, which means that we are now currently only one payment behind on each car, and I doubt that anyone is going to try and take my car over one late payment. And I hope that we will be caught up on that next month anyway.

But that didn't leave us much money, as there is still a missing expense check out there, as we changed our direct deposit to a different bank so that we could close one of our accounts.

My husband is going to middle of nowhere Texas for three days next week, and while I was sitting here debating on where or not I should go with him, I realized that I already have plans for that weekend. So that settles that. Now if we could actually get paid for that expense check, he would actually have enough money to go on the trip, just he will be going alone because of my prior commitment.

It was just middle of nowhere Texas, and not even a long drive, and the main point of my going would have been knitting anyway.

About the knitting....

I should have started that months ago. In fact, I should have started it in January and been done with it. But I usually save some of the knitting for when I go on these little trips, but there haven't been many of these little trips, and of the few that there have been I ended up not going on most of them, mainly due to the money situation but occasionally because of my prior commitments.

So, basically, I haven't done any of the knitting that needs to be done before Christmas, and here it is already October.

I may be handing out IOUs for Christmas.

And then there is always this confusion about who is doing what for Christmas anyway.

After having worked with the round looms for more than four years and having had The Ultimate Sweater Machine for almost three years, I have yet to knit any sweaters. I am mainly knitting scarves, though there have been a few hats and the odd assortment of leg warmers and such. At some point I thought that I should learn regular knitting before attempting to knit a sweater. Not that I had any intention of knitting a whole sweater by hand, but I had thought that there might be some little thing that needed to be done with a sweater that just wouldn't be practical on the machine. Like I thought that I might need to do some regular knitting around the neck or at the waist or maybe on the sleeves, that the pieces of the sweater might not match up the way I imagine while working on the machine, and I would have some hand knitting to do before joining the pieces. So I attempted to learn regular knitting, but I didn't get very far with it. Regular knitting just isn't my thing.

Anyway, you would think that knitting scarves all the time would get dull, but I seem to get new ideas for them now and then. But even with the machine, they do seem to take so long.

And then there are these little tools that come with the machine. One of them is called the latch hook tool, which looks like the latch hook tool that comes with a rug kit, except that is a smaller hook. And the other is the transfer tool, which rather looks like a giant sewing needle, except that the pointy end is buried in the handle as it is the big eye of the needle that is used on the knitting machine. If you aren't doing anything fancy, you don't use these tools very often, but you do need them once in a while, especially if you've made a mistake.

On the other hand, if you are doing something fancy, you need these tools all of the time. And, if you are doing something fancy, it is helpful to have double or triple pronged transfer tools, and double or triple latch hooks.

The problem is that I have never seen double or triple latch hooks, so if I want those I will have to find a way to make them myself, and I have seen that other knitters have done just that. As for the double and triple pronged transfer tools, they used to just come with the machine, but now they don't, and if you want them you have to pay extra and have them sent, which means that you also have to pay shipping.

It seems to me that the charge for the tools is more than they should be, even before you have to add for shipping.

By contrast, the tool that goes with the round loom is easily found at any craft store, usually for a dollar. I have bought several sets of looms, and still I lose the little tool and have to go to the store and buy more. But it is no big deal. The tools are at the store and they only cost a dollar.

The cheapest transfer tool for the knitting machine is three dollars, and it is not available at the store, and so in addition to the three dollars you have to pay for shipping and you have to wait for the mail to arrive.

So to get the transfer tool and the latch hook that came with the kit (cause I am always losing things and need them replaced, or maybe something breaks once in a while), that would cost me about fifteen dollars with the shipping. And that's not counting if I would like a double pronged or triple pronged transfer tool, and they are only sold two at a time, so another ten dollars if I want the one and another twenty dollars if I want them both.

And that's if they even have them in stock, which doesn't seem to be the case at the moment.

About a year ago we found another knitting machine at a thrift store for forty dollars, and we decided to buy it, just for the tools and such, not cause I wanted another machine. So I had another transfer tool and another latch hook, which would have cost me about fifteen dollars to buy online. Unfortunately, this kit did not come with the desired additional two and three pronged transfer tools, but now I also have a spare of just about everything else, and I think this is good to have just in case I should break a key plate or tear the thing that holds the weights onto the machine.

But now I have lost both latch hook tools and all but one of my transfer tools. It is time to buy some more tools, or look into buying another machine to get more tools.

That has lead to some interesting eBay searches. There just all of a sudden seem to be a lot of people selling old knitting machines. And some of them aren't selling for that much, so I am tempted to buy another one. I imagine all of the tools and spare parts that I might get for somewhere in the twenty to forty dollar range.

Now I just have to figure out which one I should bid on.

(I probably just missed bidding on the one I should have tried to get, but I had it in my head that it was over tomorrow, and I wanted to think more about the money situation before I bid on anything.)

Unfortunately, I can't bid very much. In addition to the usual money problems, there is that still missing expense check, and the fact that my husband just realized that his car inspection sticker lapsed three months ago.

Still, I do have to wonder what is up with all of these knitting machines on eBay. Is it just an odd coincidence? Are desperate people raiding there craft rooms and finding knitting machines they have decided they will never use? Are that many knitters all dying and having estate sales?

I just don't know what the deal is. Another odd thing is when someone is selling the machine and knows nothing about it. One ad for a machine turns out to just be for the carriage, and there are no hooks. But there are other spare parts, so maybe no one else will want that one and I will be able to get it.

Of course, I have no money left in the Paypal account, so if I decide to buy anything I will have to come up with some money from somewhere else and remember to transfer it before the bill is due.

Anyway, it really ticks me off that I have to think about any of this right now. If I am going to make those Christmas presents, I have to have those tools. If I am not going to make any Christmas presents, I certainly do not have the money to buy Christmas presents instead, and I'm going to have to tell people to count me out this year. And it shouldn't be this much trouble. The tools should just be in the craft stores with the other knitting stuff. Even overpriced at five dollars each, I would buy them, if they would just put them in the stores.

And while I am worrying about the knitting, I still haven't finished my Halloween shopping. I have an idea for a costume, but not all of the parts. I may have to give up and go as a witch, but since I have gained weight since last time, I would still have to go shopping. I had hoped to get a flu shot before the party, but I doubt that I will have enough money left for one shot, and of course this year there are two. Great.