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Monday 14 July 2008

Pressurized into consuming

I don't like mobile phones - in fact we refused to buy one for years now (they are an ecological nightmare as well as unnerving to non-users)! unfortunately people slowly but surely are pushed into buying one as services once thought of as being essential are now vanishing, because nearly everybody owns a mobile phone (it's the same with the internet - much as I love it, I hate it when companies stop producing printed catalogues and put everything online instead. ok, if they collect everything into a downloadable file, that's fine with me - but I just don't like browsing the net for hours! and yes, I know that catalogues need paper...). we have been stuck at the train station in Ballyhaunis several times now, because there is no public phone inside it! unbelievable? yes, but true! if you need to call a taxi to get home - you either have to have a mobile phone or walk down main street several hundred metres - to reach the first public phone! that doesn't sound so bad, but only to someone who hasn't had to carry very heavy bags in pouring rain down that way - only to discover that the phone is damaged and won't be repaired any time soon:(


well, to make it short - we finally caved in and bought one of those gadgets. mind you, it's in a box here and we don't use it. and it won't be unless one of us goes somewhere, by train or bus. I still can't see why people with a perfectly good landline make phone calls at home on their mobiles!! it costs a small fortune - as we discovered now that we have one, too!
but of course as a craftie you cannot run around with a "naked" mobile phone - or even worse, a ready-bought cover. so I decided to go back to my leftovers of naturally dyed lambswool yarns. as I did before I knitted and felted a cover (I did one for the digicam and one for DS's Nintendo).

this one is "with a certain twist" but I won't write about that on the blog:) I find that knitting with two colours and carrying the 2nd yarn on the back makes for a thicker felt - that will cushion the mobile better. I knitted it in the round, apart from the flap. I finished it with an attached I-cord and a loop for a crocheted, then felted ball-closure. the strap isn't very long as it isn't supposed to be used to carry the pouch but to fix it to the handle of a larger bag. gone are the brick-sized mobile phones from a few years ago - the new models are so small that you have to turn your (or at least my x-large:) bag inside out once it vanishes inside!


the pictures show before and after felting - I put it into a normal wash cycle - with washing powder. I had that effect before, red (brazilwood) changes to purple, purple (logwood) changes to grey. I had to choose a colour scheme suitable for sensitive males - if you share the phone you have to be careful:)) pink, red or yellow just won't do....




8 comments:

Leigh said...

Don't you just hate it when technology forces itself upon our lives like that? Good point about the extra thick felting. Yours looks like the best little cell phone case I've seen so far.

Woolly Bits said...

thanks Leigh - though I was already asked why I put so much effort into it - when I hardly use it:)) true enough, but who wants to be seen with some ugly handmade thing - it might give handmade items an even worse name than they already seem to have! I have my pride after all:)

Dorothy said...

Having seen your lovely knitting I'm now wondering if my mobile phone needs a case.

Like you, I'm not keen on the things. However, I got a mobile about 8 years ago so I'd have it if (or when) my 20 old motorbike brokedown (as old bikes do from time to time). I don't give the number out and spend £10 - 20 on pay as you go per year. So I have a venerable old brick of a phone (much better made than modern ones!) and maybe I should wrap it in a well crafted case to help it survive the next decade...

Woolly Bits said...

Dorothy, I was worried that I might damage the tiny thing when it's bashed about in my large bags! I won't give out the number either - what would be the use when I never switch it on?:) and you should definitely keep the old one - you probably don't have a gps in it? I don't trust a gadget that people can find you with as soon as you switch it on!! or maybe I am just being paranoid?

Helen said...

I can't believe all this ! You are all a lot of luddites :) What is the point of a mobile phone if you never give out your number? I love my mobile phone in fact I adore it! I love being able to ring somene I love when I have an odd spare moment where ever I am and I love getting phone calls form my sons when they can get in touch. I rang my mother every night when I was on hoiday in France and she was ill -they are fantastic for keeping in touch! More seriously I was very glad I had a mobile phone as I lay one and a half miles from the road with a broken wrist and a broken elbow and talked through it for 40 minutes to the operator while I waited for the ambulance to arrive. I am also very glad of it as I walk the dogs in the hills on my own. Good grief! ps love the case Bettina

Woolly Bits said...

Helen, I am nearly always at home and reachable through my landline! I only take it with me when I am not at home - for emergencies. and then I ring whoever I need to ring - but why should anyone ring me on my mobile when they can do so on the landline? it's cheaper anyway- much cheaper! and to tell you the truth, I just hate it when I am in town or elsewhere, where I talk to a person who is interrupted by a ringing mobile, most often just for something trivial! they could just as well ring them at home a bit later! that's why I put it into a box as soon as I am home again:)) and hell, why would I want to be contacted all the time - I am glad to be able to escape the dreaded phone every once in a while:)) the whole point for me is to be able to ring for help or a taxi, when there is no other way for me to reach someone....

Anonymous said...

Liebe Bettina,
die Farbveränderung kommt nur durch das Waschmittel beim Filzwaschgang? Wenn ich es richtig verstanden habe - höchst beeindruckend!
Liebe Grüße
Jana

Helen said...

Hi Bettina -well I agree with your point about the ringing of mobils in towns and on trains- it is horrendous but I think that it is throwing the baby out with the bath water to condemn the use mobile phones because others misuse them. I also submit a plea for the text. It is such wonderful means of a quick reminder and an urgent communication . Dh and I use it all the time. Remember the olive oil we say or don't forget to pick up my prescriptions. However I know that there are those who love mobile phones and those who don't so won't pursue it! Bw Helen