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!

Cranky Works!

Well. I can hardly believe it. Cranky is all clean and happy, clamped to the kitchen island as a temporary measure. Observe:

Here's another photo of Cranky and some of his accoutrements:

I have a spare 80 needle cylinder, still in its original wrapping, a buckle and weights to weigh down the work-in-progress, 2 wooden bobbins for winding the wool on, and a very tedious, fussy set-up tool used to start the knitting that resembles umbrella guts.

Happily enough, the needles were lying in the mailbox this morning. This evening, I decided to knit a tube.

Here's my first attempt:

If you look closely, there are a few stitches in that piece, or should I say pieces? It didn't take me long to call it a loss and cut the work off the set-up tool. I think I kept the set-up tool too high in the cylinder, and in my excitement, I forgot to hook the weights on the bottom of the set up tool, which resulted in the knitting working its way up the cylinder and dropping, err, almost every stitch. So, scratch that off the record. It's only a bit of left-over wool, and my patience pit hasn't run dry yet, so I gave it another shot.

Success:


I actually managed to knit a tube, and if I can say so myself, the tension isn't half bad!

If the wool hadn't run out, the tube might have ended up...like...miles long! There is something completely meditative in the degree of concentration it took, and the output it gave. I could have cranked, and cranked, and cranked...

I have a new appreciation how this hobby can become addictive. Very addictive.

Today, a tube, tomorrow...a heel?