{"id":6178,"date":"2021-03-20T08:10:53","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T07:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=6178"},"modified":"2021-03-20T08:10:57","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T07:10:57","slug":"mending-apparatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/mending-apparatus\/","title":{"rendered":"Mending apparatus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For some years now I have been longing to get hold of a 1940’s mending machine, “Stoppapparaten Perfekt” (the mending apparatus Perfect), also known in English as Speedweve<\/a>. This week I won a bid for the mending apparatus at Swedish eBay (Tradera). As soon as I had got it out of the box I searched the house for holes to mend. I found plenty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Stoppapparaten Perfekt is such a great little tool. Small, portable, lightweight and with everything you need to mend holes, except for the hole itself and the mending yarn. But it is so much more than that. It is a piece of history in a little cardboard box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mending apparatus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The mending apparatus was produced in the thousands in the 1940’s. The Swedish version was made in a welding workshop in Stockholm. The daughter of the owner writes<\/a> in an article that she and her brother used to put them together in the workshop for 5 Swedish \u00f6re a piece. Street vendors stood in every other street corner of Stockholm, demonstrating the mending process in the speed of light and sold box after box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stoppapparaten Perfekt, a perfect little mending apparatus. From the manual: “A practical novelty for mending any kind of finer or coarser woven or knitted goods. […] The mending becomes a pleasant pastime.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A tantalizing textile tool treasure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most people have no clue about this apparatus when they see it. But among textile people this is a highly sought after item. When it happens to turn up at an auction lots of people bid lots of money. The box says it cost 3 Swedish kronor in 1940. In today’s money it would be around 80 kronor\/$8.5\/7.5\u20ac. My winning bid at the auction was 800 kronor, a normal winning bid for the mending apparatus. I am aware that it is a crazy sum for a small piece of metal. At the same time it is a cultural heritage. Even if they were sold by the thousands in the 1940’s the supply isn’t endless, especially considering that most people who find it in their attics or dusty old boxes have no clue what it is. So I’m happy I got mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awkward syntax<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another piece of history in this cardboard box treasure chest is the instruction sheet. Or, to be more precise, the language in the instruction sheet. As a linguist (and ex interpreter) I am truly fascinated by the way every sentence is made in a most fascinatingly complicated and heavy fashion. Loads of passive phrases, obsolete expressions and unnecessary words. It takes a long time to read and even longer to comprehend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The lovely, yet horrific manual to the mending apparatus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Quick, artful and no previous knowledge required<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The funny thing is that the manufacturer advertises the use of the apparatus with the exclamations “Quick! Artful! No previous knowledge required!” Well, once you manage to get through the instructions it may be sort of quick if you have basic weaving skills (that were most probably considered common knowledge among housewives in the 1940’s). But instead of getting you stuck already at the instructions, I invite you to watch this beautiful video where Kajsa Larsdotter methodically explains how to use the mending apparatus.<\/a> After that you will be all set to mend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultivated, simple and comprehensible<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In my day job I work as an administrative officer at a Swedish authority. Every day I make and write decisions. One of my most important jobs is to make the decisions understandable to the receiver. They have the right to know what we grant, what we reject and why. As a government official I need to follow the Swedish language act<\/a> that states that the language in the public sector should be cultivated, simple and comprehensible (v\u00e5rdat, enkelt och begripligt). In the beginning we wrote horrific texts that weren’t even comprehensible to our law department. However, since then we have made quite a journey in writing the decisions in a cultivated, simple and comprehensible way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading a text like the instructions to the mending apparatus makes me gasp for air at the first sentence (or the first quarter of the first sentence since they are a mile long). Here is a translation of one of the sections in the instruction sheet: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“7. Insert the pin in the loops and remove the darning mushroom, when enough transverse threads have been threaded that the hole is covered, and turn the frame so that the longitudinal threads fall out of the hooks, and weave in the ends in a regular manner and the work is finished.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could go on. But I won’t. Instead I will mend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mending <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I chose a cashmere sweater I have worn to pieces. I actually bought it for my husband a few years ago. It was quite cheap for cashmere (and I do understand why now). Unfortunately he accidentally felted it in the washing machine. Fortunately it shrank to a perfect size me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n