Insubordiknit

Wheels, read 2 ways

I've mentioned before about my two very different wheel rights, Pablo and Matilda? No? well, I have two wheels, Pablo was my first, a louet s-10 bought offa e-bay in the height of my gotta have a wheel days, he's named Pablo after Picasso and if you've seen the s-10, you know why. The second is my Ashford traditional acquired at the Maryland sheep and wool in the height of my gotta get another wheel days, her name is Matilda, which is what my grandmother used to call me as a wee tot and I figured I must have been just like the ashford -- quiet, well-mannered, graceful, and just a damn sweet treat to be around. heh.

My scrap of a family also currently has two Volvos, one is...no, there both pretty much, while completely viable and working, one step away from the scrap pile -- so that analogy doesn't hold. Okay, let's pretend I've got my old volvo (89) and a new volvo okay? The old volvo is Blue Emma Pants so named by 3 yr old Little Bit after he heard me read aloud the autobiography of Emaa Goldman (red was switched to blue because, duh, the car's blue). We'll call the new one...New Volvo.

So my Pablo is much like Blue Emma Pants, older, clunky, a bit on the noisy side, not so smooth, but, it gets the job done through thick and thin, always. You need to spin some thin yarn or fat as a tampon yarn, it's ready to chug through it, just like Blue Emma -- nice and trusty. Blue Emma hardly ever needs routine service, you can go hundreds of thousands of miles (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating) before an oil change, much like Pablo, who wouldn't know what to do with oil if you offered it. And they're both so easy to get up and running, not a lot of ceremony but also not a lot of fine tuning. They can also haul pretty fefty loads too! Okay, so you may have to pump the brakes a bit hard, just as your damn leg may feel like it's gonna fall off from exhaustion if you choose to spin that thinny thin thin yarn, but eventually Blue Emma Pants will stop and Pablo will give you some fine thin yarn.

On the other side of the SAT analogy, New Volvo is very much like Matilda. Sleek, smooth, quiet as a mouse, oh-so-adaptable, graceful, and just the teensiest bit confusing. What the hell are all those fancy buttons for on this New Volvo? Blue Emma's just got 2 - red and blue (hot and cold). Cimate control? and what the hell is the difference between scotch tension and double drive? I mean, yes, I have eyes and a keen sense with diagramed directions so I can effectively set each one up and spin on it, but really, what is the difference? Nobody I've asked knows. Not even the woman that sold me the wheel I just put mine on ST and leave it she replied before she quickly moved on to how to correctly apply the oil to all the points that need it.
Also, this New Volvo seems to need alot more routine service calls yep, more frequent oil changes. Just like, you guessed it, Matilda, she goes into shock if the oil can isn't within 3 feet at all times. Did I mention all the bells and whistles you gotta go through to get New Volvo started, there's the alarm chirp and the ignition sequence, and the diagnostic run through (heh), yeah, not the easiest car to start up, much like Matilda -- changing a bobbin is a bit of a pain in the arse and someday that little plastic do-hickey is gonna plum break off. Imported parts can't be cheap. Also, this new volvo, like Matilda, can only haul much smaller and thinner loads. However, the new volvo won't stall, can be infinitely adjusted, can go quite a bit faster, burns less gas, and looks mighty fine doin' it. Just as Matilda can go quite a bit faster, can be infinitely adjusted, uses less human energy, and looks like a round, wheel-shaped, wooden angel doing it.

Yeah, I love both my wheels. And hell, I gotta get me a New Volvo.

Posted by jacey at June 23, 2005 09:07 AM