Maya made us a stuffable tote-bag from recycled umbrella fabric. These can be really useful, because they are really sturdy, and also really easy to carry around.

What’s even better, is that she left us the pattern – so we can make more! If you see any broken umbrellas lying around – pick em up and bring them to Fixers! We know how to fix them AND recycle them!

Clock

My father’s 1942 clock stopped working in 1987, so I brought it into the Fixer’s Collective tonight.

We didn’t plug it in first–we probably should have tested it first–so
we’ll never be able to say whether taking the wires apart and
retwisting them fixed it or not.  But that’s what we did, and lo and
behold when I plugged it in, it worked!!  Either it was retwisting the
wires that did it, or else the shaking around in my backpack when
bringing it in.  The fix will remain mysterious, but the outcome is
very satisfying!

ToolBelt

We’ve been thinking about putting together some Fixers’ merch for a while now. Here you can see Jane stitching a together a toolbelt. The toolbelt has a beautiful wrench patch on the front and is made from recycled canvas! It’s also for sale!

Bike

The right crank arm – attached to pedal -  was loose.

This is probably because the rectangular interface between crank and bottom bracket spindle (axle) has worn at some corners.

Temporarily and successfully fixed by tightening the bolt that goes through crank and axle.  Much information gleaned from www.bikewebsite.com.

Coffee Grinder

Tammy bought a coffee grinder last week and when the knob on the crank handle broke — true to her fixer nature — Tammy set about thinking how to fix it ( it somehow didn’t occur to her to take it back to the store). We could have tried to reattach the original knob, but we found an object that we thought might be even better — a wooden handle orphaned from its jump rope!