A Knitter's Tool

Sometime this past winter, the awning blew off our trailer. Sunday, with the help of Charlie - #1 son - and daughter-in-law, Kim, we managed to get it back up.

It was a BIG job. Hard work and frustrating. A 16 foot awning is heavy and awkward.

For those of you that don't know, installing an awning on a trailer is a two-step process. First you must stuff the thick, stiff, vinyl pocket that runs along the top of the awning into the teeny, tiny rigid aluminum rack that runs along the top of the trailer. You let our son do that.

Next, you insert a plastic rod - in our case a 16 foot plastic rod - into the pocket to hold the awning in place. We first attempted the insertion of the rod with the 'push' method. When it became obvious that heat-induced, heart attacks were imminent, we knew we had to re-think. Or maybe, simply, think.

So we decided to try the 'pull' method. But in order to pull, we had to poke a hole in the rod and attach twine. Out came the tools: screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers. Nothing worked. Just when I began to think that we would have to hire - at great expense - this job done, Charlie asked

"You wouldn't happen to have a needle, would you?"

A needle? A knitter with a needle?

"Indeed, I do." I declared.

First offered was a 3.5 mm Knit Picks Option on a 16 inch cable. Then various sized crochet hooks, then finally the Chibi. Turns out the itty bitty Chibi was perfect for the job.

Mind you, the Chibi's destroyed. No future fibre work for this Chibi.

Just for comparison, here's one that hasn't been injured.

But that's a small price to pay. I'm a happy camper. The awning's up. I can once again knit in the shade. And smile. Smugly. A knitting tool saved the day. The awning is up because I'm a knitter!!