Stumped

It was so exciting yesterday to be interviewed on Mark Lipinski's Creative Mojo show on Toginet Internet Radio. Mark's show is downloadable from iTunes, so I grabbed all of the past shows I could fit onto my iPhone. My little segment was fewer than 10 minutes long, and I didn't get a chance to talk with his psychic co-host, Silvia Rossi. I would have like to know a few things about my future.

There was one particularly awkward moment in the show yesterday that I would like to clear up. Mark stumped me with his question about the Spooler storage system from Blue Feather Products. He said the name aloud and even told me the page number on which it's featured in my book, but I was still clueless about exactly what he was referring to. I have to admit that my publisher selected that product for the book, so I had been unfamiliar with it--until now. Rats.

As soon as my interview was finished, I researched the Spooler. I came to find that I really like the idea of this little device. In fact, its inventor has applied for a patent. What I think is most useful is that the 12 spindles along this rack are repositionable, allowing you to slide the spindles into various positions to accommodate different spool diameters. The tip of each spindle has a slit into which you can press the loose end of thread from the bobbin. What I don't quite understand is exactly how the bobbins stay in place. I'm also questioning the orientation of the photo included on page 64 of my book because I think the Spooler is correctly installed when it is in a vertical position with the spindles facing outward. Nonetheless, I have included here (for grins and giggles) excerpts from the Spooler storage system patent application filed by inventor Feather W. King of Tiburon, California.

"A thread spool holding device, comprising...an elongated spindle stem extending from the head and configured and sized to compress when a thread spool is pushed over the spindle such that the spindle stem extends into a central cylindrical opening of the thread spool, so that the thread spool becomes gripped on the spindle stem...[and] wherein the thread retention feature comprises a slit in the end of the spindle, for receiving a thread pulled down into the slit, the slit being at the bottom of a notch in the end of the spindle, and wherein the spindle stem has a deformable U-shaped cross section, and including a second notch formed in one side of the U-shaped spindle stem, near the end to receive and guide the thread end on its way to the slit."

Got that? Wow, now that's a tough read. If you already own and use the Spooler storage system from Blue Feather products, please reply to this post and let us know what you think of it.

My thanks to Mark and his production team for inviting me on to Creative Mojo. May there always be a connecting tunnel from Totally Tidy to Pickle Road.