I know this is an old post, but just in case someone comes across it later I'd like to add my 2 cents. Currently not many pl do hydro gardening- at least not for vegetables. I think you could make it profitable- but remember growing is only half the equation selling it is the other half. It doesn't matter if you 10 tons of tomatoes but no one buys them, so before you even begin make sure you have a market for it. Now getting back to hydro vs soil. Doing hydro indoors I doubt would be profitable bc you have to pay for the electricity, but if you do it outside the sunlight is free and your only cost is the nutrients, and initial set up cost (trays, pumps, reservoirs, "plumbing", ect). the cost of nutrients will be your main cost vs soil, but many farmers use a lot of fertilizers in their soil, so the price bt fertilizers and nutrients may be comparable. I personally grew vegetables, herbs, strawberries, peppers, carrots, ect on a 4X8 table outside with min care and had good results. At the same time I grew a soil garden with the same care and had ok results. Hydro took a little more time bc I was always mixing nutrients, adjusting the ph, cleaning the table/reservoir, but it was manageable, were as with soil I just turned the hose on to the sprinkler. Both soil and hydro will require some type of pesticide, so no cost saving there. All in all I think some of the biggest reasons pl aren't growing hydro commercially is 1) farmers don't know how- why learn a new way when the old tried n true method is still working. 2) hydro is mainly associated with growing weed- thus has a negative connection with it. Most pl just think it is good for illegal activity so they don't learn it. 3) It does take a little more time/effort and is less forgiving than soil, but easier to fix/make corrections too than soil- your always checking ph/tds, drip lines get clogged, keeping the trays/tables clean, ect. The biggest advantage of hydro that I found was speed of growth. Compared to soil my hydro garden blew it away- it was like a donkey racing a sports car. However, when it came time for "fruits" I didn't see much diff. Soil and hydro produce relatively the same amt. Hydro may have done a little better as the plants were much bigger, but to be honest I didn't see the huge difference I was looking for. It could be the min care I gave them or using a "generic"/standard nutrient formula with a target ph of 5.8. I was growing several types of plants on the same table just to see what would work, so maybe if I worked with just 1 plant and tailored the ph/nutrientss for that specific plant rather than a avg/broad approach they may have produced more. As far as taste goes I didn't notice much diff. I will say (maybe it was just in my head) that I thought the hydro tastes juicer, I got compliments on taste from both hydro and soil. Maybe next time I'll do a blind taste test. Anyway if you have the market for it hydro can make money I think, but it will have to be outside with free sunlight, and lots of space- squash & zucchini did amazing before V.S.B. killed them but they did take up a ton of space, strawberries grew great but I couldn't get them to taste good (thinking it had to do with ph or nutrient strength) if you tuned it in right I think strawberries could make money, and of course tomatoes- the problem with them is they grow so big that every storm or hard wind would knock the over and brake branches- I'd recommend setting up a trellis if you do tomatoes. Any way to end this post I absolutely believe hydro is profitable if you know what your doing, do it outside, AND have a market to sell it- plants rot after picking them, so it's not like you can grow them and then sit on them till they sell like you could with the illegal stuff.

I looked around for you but didn't find much. I saw a soccer ball cloth on Ravelry, but it's $2. Think I also saw a football there, maybe even a bicycle. Can't remember. I did find this nice site with good photos so maybe you'll find something appropriate there. Here is a link that might be useful: dishcloths

Also older than ... and glad to be above rather than under the ... dirt. Anyone remember 78 mm. ... no, that was r.p.m. ... records? And the needle being on a circular disk that one lifted off of the record and put up, over and back to be held in place above the arm that swung back and forth over the record but didn't move up or down? Our "Party line" phone was a big brown wooden box on the wall with a metal thing like a tulip sticking out of the front into which you talked, and a line with a black tube on the end that hung on a yoke sticking out of the side of the phone, that lifted when you took the receiver off to listen, which connected the phone to the line, by making the contacts with the large batteries inside. If you wanted to call some other person on your line, after listening to see whether the line was busy, you turned a crank on the right side to make the double bells on the front of the phone ring, in a code of short and long rings, which rang in everyone else's phone on the line, and the ones whose code it was answered ... sometimes others did, as well (almost always remaining silent while doing so). If you wanted to call someone on another party line, you pushed a black button on the left side of the phone and turned the aforementioned crank on the right side, which silenced all of the bells on your line and sent a signal to the operator on the central switchboard and she connected you to the other line and pushed a button or turned a crank to ring the code of the person to whom you wanted to talk. ole joyfuelled ... who liked eating at the dining room table ... in the large kitchen

I did some climbing years ago, mostly indoors. Based on that I would say avoid the chalk and instead get him chalkless chalk. Many place both indoors and out prohibit the use of chalk because of the marks and the mess it leaves. I forget the brand of chalkless chalk I used. Climbing shoes IMHO would be a tougher thing to buy without him being present than a harness. Harnesses are fairly adjustable, so getting close in size would be sufficient. With climbing shoes though, they have to fit or they are useless. The half-joking rule-of-thumb I remember for selecting the correct climbing shoe was try on progressively smaller size shoes until you are sure that the ones you are trying on are too small and too tight, and then buy a pair two full sizes smaller than that.