Oh...and I forgot to mention...

...that we went on another road trip, and you know what that means, don't you?

It means that Ann, AKA She-who-walks-with-horseshoe-firmly-planted-up-posterior, found another, YES, another circular sock machine, or CSM for those in the know.

Drum roll please!

Albert and Marie, meet your new friend Victoria:

A close up of the crud, and I truly mean CRUD:

This machine is going to need major elbow grease to bring back its original shine. It's already in pieces, liberally sprayed with WD-40, each piece beckoning me one-by-one.


I wish I knew more about this machine. I haven't found a serial number, but from what I can tell, I think it is a Legare 47, probably one of their earlier machines.

Do you think it's time I actually cranked out a pair of socks?

Yeah, me too!

Once our renovations are over, and we have finished the slate patio, completed rebuilding the fence, and done a multitude of other outdoor chores, I hope to have some spare time to crank to my heart's content!

Cleaning Mr. Cranky

Mr. Cranky's ribber attachment arrived in a separate parcel on Christmas Eve. Perfect timing, since I was morose that Eric had to work, and to add insult to injury, a crappy cold kept me from socializing to my heart's content. So, I threw a couple of sausage rolls into the oven, poured myself a glass of ginger ale (my Christmas treat - no pop allowed in this house otherwise), and donned my rubber gloves.

The ribber unit is complex, so I decided to cut my CSM teeth by cleaning it first. My resounding attitude: I might as well get the worst over with first. CSM boards advise cleaning the machines with mineral spirits or Marvel Mystery Oil, but my conscience won't let me purchase consumer products marketed with the word "mystery". As for the mineral spirits - where are they supposed to go but down the drain? Thanks but no thanks, our sceptic flora might not like that too much. It's also the middle of winter, and the windows in the kitchen are frozen shut. Using mineral spirits in an un-aired environment is a migraine guarantee. Again, thanks, but I'll pass.

I recently bought a citrus-based cleaner called Citra-Solv, a powerful degreaser that is sceptic-tank friendly to boot, so I figured I had nothing to lose by trying it. (And what this product does for stainless steel appliances cannot be described and must be experienced first-hand. If I won the lottery tomorrow, the first thing I would do is rip out our stainless cooktop and put it at the road with a sign that says: TAKE ME, PLEASE!)

Armed with the Auto Knitter manual I downloaded in PDF format from Angora Valley's website, and Yellow River Station's CSM Cleaning Instructions, I was ready to rock and roll.

My first step was to take the ribber apart. No problems there, save for removing the switch pin (part H-8 in the parts list). I was a bit stumped. I grabbed the micrometer, and took some measurements. Hmm. The switch pin is not tapered, which was my initial suspicion. That meant I could remove it from either end, but it would not budge. Finally, I oiled it, waited a bit, mulled over my options, and grabbed a motivator. That's a Shim Farm code-word for hammer.

Yeah. A hammer.

I gently tapped the pin, shielding it with a shim until I had success! (We keep shims lying around all over the house, they keep all sorts of stuff from squeaking, falling over, opening up, really, if you lived in a house as crooked as ours, you'd understand the usefulness).

The underside of the tappet plate looks like this:


I can't go into details about how it works; I understand the fundamental rudiments, however, even with the manual in one hand, the ribber in the other, without the needles in work, I'd be scratching my head if I had a free hand. I am sure once I get my needles it will make sense, but for now, my main concern was to clean it, not analyze its engineering.

During this exercise, I discovered I had a part missing, namely the driving pin, (part H-3). We keep a machinist on speed-dial (no joking!) so this is not a problem. In a pinch, a 1/4" Allen key can be used.

I buffed all parts. I took some 600-grit wet sandpaper and gave all stainless parts a gentle cleaning. This removed any rust spots, and with a liberal coating of oil and proper storage, rust formation will be inhibited. Any parts that had original finish on them were treated with Citra-Solv, maintaining the integrity of the enamel. The enamel is surprisingly tough; all I needed was to dip an old toothbrush into the solvent and scrub away. Good as new.

I dried all parts, oiled everything liberally, and reassembled the whole shebang.

This is what the ribber looks like now:


And another view from the side:


The ribber is mighty purty, if I may say so myself...

I ordered new needles for both the ribber and CSM from Angora Valley's site above. They were mailed out on December 22, however, between Canada Post and Canada Customs duking it out to see who can give us the crappiest service, it might take a while for the shipment to get here. The needles are the proverbial missing link I need to try out the unit and tweak it before I actually get to knit something.

I can hardly wait!

Mr. Cranky is here!

Today turned out to be Christmas for me! My new Auto Knitter circular sock machine (CSM) is finally here!


I had been emailing back and forth with the seller for 2 weeks to coordinate payment and delivery for my new toy. I don't know how long I have been after one of these, in fact, I can't even remember where on the web I saw one first, but one thing was sure: I needed to get my hands on one!

I've been watching Ebay auctions, calling antique dealers and watching auction web-sites for a few months now, but through a stroke of fate, I snagged this machine in a classified ad all the way from Calgary, Alberta. If you have ever been to Calgary, you must have noticed how bone-dry it is there; if this baby was half-decently stored there would be little rust on it, and as it was, it is in fantastic shape.


And it came with a bonus cat! (Just kidding, Howard "The Howarnator" Hughes is our cat, and a curious little devil he is. He has this marvelous way of looking so innocent, as in, "What? Me? What did I do now?" as the Christmas lights dangle from his fangs).

Back to the machine: the seller promised me it works, and that he actually knit socks with it. I am skeptical by nature, but part of me was screaming: JUST BUY THE DAMN THING ALREADY! And that's what I did: I threw caution to the wind and bought it. The seller was kind enough to take it to a local UPS store who packaged and shipped it for me, and before I knew it, the courier truck was in our driveway!

You remember when you were a kid and got a really cool gift you'd been coveting and begging Santa for? Well, this is my proverbial Red Ryder BB gun. (Just hope I don't lose an eye!) I even got up extra-early the next morning to check on it: was this real or just a figment of my overly-active imagination?


I had been following the shipment across the country and had planned a stay-at-home day for it's arrival. I was disappointed when I called the courier company that morning and was most positively assured that the delivery would be postponed a day or so because we are in a rural area. I figured I might as well make the best of the day and do some Christmas baking: the cookies were in the oven, and a batch of roasted almonds was caramelizing on the stove top when the courier truck arrived. I was too engaged to give the box the attention it needed, but once my kitchen duties were under control, I attacked the box with my trusty Olfa knife.

Everything was gingerly wrapped and padded; I quickly clamped the CSM on the kitchen counter and gave the handle a turn or two (okay, mebbe 5 or 6, okay, I wasn't counting!), it runs smoothly and literally purrs. This is a good sign.

A really cool detail (besides the original box and lid) was the original "Old Tyme" Auto Knitter sock that came with the machine.

Despite a few moth holes, this sock is a piece of history. I can hardly believe I own it! The wool is so soft, it dispels my preconceived notion that all old socks had the texture of a Brillo pad.

So, the next few days will be spent documenting the parts and how to take it apart and clean it. I have downloaded a lot of useful information from the web, and I will be happy to share all these details at a later time.

I hope this is the start of a long and fruitful relationship!