I often mention Bruce in passing in my posts and pages, as though any of you know him or anything about him. I should say that he is the most wonderful guy in the world, and has many exceedingly special qualities. The fact that he is an engineer, and interested in everything I do in the knitting and spinning arena is more than an added bonus. Every time I mention that I “need” some tool or another, his first reaction is to see if he can build it for me. It actually started on our first real date, when he brought me an envelope addressed to him from Specialty Knitting. It’s a company I’d never heard of before, and he had ordered samples from them.

A cockade is a knot of ribbons, or other circular-or oval-shaped symbol of distinctive colours which is usually worn on a hat. (18th/19th century)

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I’ve recently gotten to spend more time spinning, and realized that I needed a Lazy Kate. I ordered one, and when it came, it proved to be the wrong size for my bobbins. In a slightly disappointed voice, Bruce questioned why I hadn’t asked him to build me one. Chagrined, I said I hadn’t thought of it. He looked at a few online, went down to his workshop, and 10 minutes later presented me with a perfect solution, consisting of a scrap of wood, several pieces of dowels left over from another project, a piece of string and a rubber band (for the tensioner), an eye screw to tighten the string, and a curl of copper wire for a yarn guide.

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Above is my lovely Kate, as well as the two-ply I spun from Caroline Henkelias’ Nutiden. It still needs to be washed, but I’m pretty pleased with the outcome.

Yesterday I was scrolling through Ebay looking for deals on a bobbin winder. I was trying to find a vintage crank Mattson Mora that would sell for under $20 (good luck with that!), and suddenly at my side appeared an electric drill with a pencil in the chuck.

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Bruce pulled off the eraser and metal ferrule, wrapped one layer of sticky tape around the end, and the bobbins fit perfectly and snugly. He also fixed an annoying noise on my wheel with a small piece of tape in the little bolt in the center of the whorl — turns out it was not perfectly circular, and that caused a wobble that in turn caused a small thumping noise.

His first “job” today was fixing the seal on the fuel filler on my car, saving me a most likely costly trip to the auto shop. He actually likes doing these things, and I fervently hope that I show enough appreciation, because it actually fills me with joy that he wants to make things for me, and comes up with absolutely brilliant ideas at the drop of a hat. I do admit to actually rolling on the floor laughing when he refills the ink cartridges on the printer, as he often dresses in hazmat clothing for that job. While I do appreciate that this is less expensive and more eco-friendly than buying new, it often leads to more time spent cleaning up than actually filling the cartridges themselves. I’ll also admit to falling down laughing after he worked for several days on his little sailboat, took off into the wind, and promptly sunk…he missed a hole.

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I am, quite obviously, infatuated! And I wanted you to know a little more about him (oh yes, he really is a rocket scientist, writer and climate activist), because he is part of everything I do. We are a team.