Have you weighed your weights?
Getting to know your machine will give you more control over the results of your sock making. Experiment with the range you get with your machine starting with the two most important adjustments that affect the size of your socks. Do you know how much weight your adding if you pick a thicker weight? After you discover this, observe how changing the different weight amounts changes the number of knitted rows in one inch. Measure this with one of the newer transparent quilting rulers inside the cylinder with your knitting on the machine. In the old manuals they recommend you use a ruler to measure your sock as you make it to get exact sizes. Today you can be sure your socks will be a matched pair in style and size if you understand that tension spring and weight, change sock sizing as much as the stitch size adjuster.
Notice how much change there is if you add or remove the heel /tension spring on the Yarn topper with the different weights. Document what you discovered and when you make your next pair of socks, make a note of how much weight you used on the first one and when you used the heel spring. Now do the same for the second sock and you will have 2 socks that are the same size.
Critical Care for a broken post
For this ribber arm the fix could be what really sends it to CSM Heaven. This damage was said to be from being left in the shell when shipped, lightly wrapped with paper then dropped.
If nothing else it makes a good visual aid for why it is OK to suggest your seller needs to separate out all the parts and wrap them individually in bubble wrap that is taped on. But back to the fix; in dealing with this repair what do you do with cast metal ? In this case having the post reattached is not the only issue. The real test is if the post can be reattached and retain the ribber arm's center as that is necessary for the ribber to function. The fix for this can be welding, or using an epoxy. Welding takes someone who really understands the job, knows how quickly cast metal can fall apart under to much heat and has a means to mill away the messy excess. Epoxy, though requiring less expertise and expensive welding equipment, will permanently change the nature of your metal and eliminate a second attempt at any fix as well as the use of baked on powder coatings.
