At this point it should come to no one’s surprise that I have added another typewriter to my collection. And no one should be sitting down to hear the news that I decided to create a set of Google Sheets to inventory my typewriters and give myself a space to record their condition and any maintenance or repair work that I do on them.
Despite the fact that my price range for new old typewriters is in the $0-20 range, I have come across a lot of potential acquisitions in the last month. The easiest ones to get for $20 are the ones which have been posted on Facebook Marketplace for a few weeks at $50-75. When I make contact with the seller, both of us are happy with the results.
The new addition is an Underwood Model 11 from late 1950. It types perfectly. (See below for proof.)
I don’t know how much it weighs, but I suspected that it wasn’t a lightweight when the seller carried it to my car himself. He threw in a new universal typewriter ribbon and a copy of College Typewriting: Intensive Course, 4th edition, 1948, to sweeten the deal. How could I resist?
As I set up my typewriter-collection spreadsheets, it occurred to me to check on each typewriter so I knew what its actual condition was. I was surprised to discover that the Smith Corona Galaxie from 1959 has an alignment problem between capital letters and lower-case letters. The capital letters strike on the ribbons, but when I type lower-case letters only the tops of the letters are visible. As I learn more about typewriter repair (be patient; I’m only on page 14 of a 464-page manual) I may find that this is a simple adjustment to make with literally the turn of a screw. Then again, I may not (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Two typewriters in my collection reside in the student work room across the hallway from my office, and I should be able to test them tomorrow.
I am so delighted with the new Underwood that I forget that not everyone shares my joy. When I brought the latest machine into the house and set it on the dining room table, Youngest started to comment. Their first two words were, “How many—” and then for some reason they didn’t finish their sentence.
In other news, the Forester may or may not be on its last legs; we’ll see what my mechanic has to say about that tomorrow morning, knowing that we were hoping to make a long trip in the near future.
Knitwise, I’ve made some good progress on the Stripe Scarf. One morning last week I got to work early and wove in more than a dozen ends, keeping the initial tail and the four or so most recent ends so that I would still know at which end I should be starting the next stripe. It felt good to literally “tie off loose ends” so I had a cleaner project on my lap.
I’m now in the 10th stripe and starting to wonder how long the scarf will ultimately be. At almost 38 inches it looks like halfway, but it’s hard to tell how much yardage I still have left in each skein of yarn. After I finish this stripe I will weigh the project and the yarn, then do some math that will allow me to make reasonable estimates.
I put only a few more rows on the Skinny Shawl this week. It’s a good project to pick up when Eldest is using my phone after I get home from work to do his share of the puzzle games that we like to do together.
Chocolate Sheep 