I have already revealed some of my obsessions. You may remember the canning jars from March. I haven’t picked up any more jars lately, I seem to be doing fine with the ones I have for now. For now…
my favorite style – I can’t find them anymore
The other day I couldn’t find a pencil at our desk. I can’t blame anyone for that, just myself. I love mechanical pencils. I can’t pin-point a time when I started using them, I know for sure I did in college. I have a degree in Art with a concentration in Interior Design and many of the classes I took where in architecture and planning. I know I used mechanical pencils then, but I think it goes back further than that.
My dad was an electrical engineer. Yup, pocket protector and all, with the mechanical pencils and pens lined up. If my dad were still around, I am sure that we would still be wearing a pocket protector with his pens and pencils line up. I have to chuckle, because my father-in-law also was an electrical engineer. Even though he is retired, he still carries a pen in his front shirt pocket. We had a conversation a few years ago about pocket protectors. He said he couldn’t find them anymore. After that conversation, I looked and looked, and I couldn’t find one either. Since then I have found a few sources on-line. I haven’t ordered them yet, but I want to get him some for Christmas. I know he will get a good laugh out of it, but I know he will probably use it too.
got this one from a friend, she didn’t want it anymore. NICE!
Back to pencils. I had to take a walk around the house to collect all my mechanical pencils. I have quite a few and they tend to travel around the house with me. I set them down here and there. I try to keep one in certain spots where I use them a lot, like the night stand, kitchen counter, kitchen table, and in the living room next to my chair. Even then they sometimes travel, like now, when I didn’t have any at the desk.
I have several that date back to the early 90’s when I worked at a satellite airport in the Minneapolis area. Like most offices, the pencils and pens at my desk would travel to other offices. Not by me, but by others that I worked with, so I labelled mine. From time to time I would have to go to the other flight instructors desks to round them up. They were easy to spot because no one else had mechanical pencils and I had my name on mine. In fact, I still have one of those. The label has long faded and I can’t read my name anymore, but it’s mine.
1990 label is still there
I also have one from that same era when I was taking flight lessons. I had a clip board, and I needed a way to attach a pen or pencil so it wouldn’t fall off while I was flying. I attached Velcro to my clip board and my pencil. Yup, still have it. It works fine.
From my flight training days, circa 1990
There are so many things that I love about mechanical pencils.
- You never have to sharpen them.
- They are recyclable; you use them over and over.
- Sure, I have to buy lead and erasers for them, but that part is easy, I have a nice stockpile and you can store several of the leads inside the pencil at a time.
My husband doesn’t care for mechanical pencils at all; so these beauties are all mine. If I can’t find them I have no one to blame but myself.
I imagine if I wore a shirt with a front pocket, I would have a mechanical pencil sticking out. I better get those pocket protectors ordered from my father-in-law.
Do you have a favorite pen or pencil? how do you keep track of it?
Sincerely, Emily
You can see what else I am up to over at Sincerely, Emily. The topics are varied, as I jump around from gardening to sewing to making bread or lotion and many things in between.
My love is pencils with rubbers on them. If you ever get to the UK, there is a pencil museum in Keswick.
Hi Sarah – I’m with on the rubbers/eraser. I must have an eraser on my pencil. Here’s a link to the pencil museum you mentioned in Keswick. Looks like a neat place. Thanks.
http://www.pencilmuseum.co.uk/
Yes! I too love mechanical pencils. When I was a kid, my dad was a computer programmer (still is) and he always had a pencil in his front pocket too! I don’t remember him wearing a pocket protector, but he might have.
I have one pencil I love the best, and carry it in my book bag, so I always know where it is. It’s plain, smooth black with a very long, replaceable white eraser. I think I got it from my Electrical Engineer boyfriend. 🙂
Hi Karenish. I like the sound of your mechanical pencil. Love the replaceable eraser. It’s a must. Neat how you have a specific place you keep it, then you always know where it is. I just had to go round up on of mine – found it on the kitchen table. They never go too far.
Sigh…I now feel inconsequential and substandard because all I do is eat the graphite out of pencils…oh well…SOMEONE has to do it! 😉
So, is that a craving you have for graphite or do you just do that as you sit and think deep thoughts? I won’t be chewing on my mechanical pencils anytime soon, but toast with cream cheese is hard to pass up. ha
Pencil graphite is my guilty secret. I love the stuff! I think it’s because it’s crunchy…we all have our guilty little secrets…mine has zero calories, is gluten free, raw AND vegan and I am thinking of sharing it in a dieting book with the rest of the world, making a fortune AND retiring to the Bahamas. All I need to do is get Oprah interested and I am home and hosed 😉
I love working with pencils, though I don’t have mechanical ones. I write with colored pencils (usually blue) and when I use pen I use green or purple, unless I’m filling out a form or something that requires black or blue ink. Fun post! Glad to see there are other pencil lovers out there.
Hi Angela, I rescued your comment in the spam folder again. I used to write with fun colored inks, now I am just happy if I can find a pen when I need one. I do have some favorite uni*ball pens that I like a lot. hmmm, maybe there is a post about pens in my future.
[…] have told you about my Obsession with jars (to use of course), I like mechanical pencils (that is not too strange I guess), and that I can write backwards (yup, I know that is […]