Colorado Cranker Restorations

Your Path to Cranking with Joy: Part 2, Why & Where to Start

This is the second in a four part series that tackles where, what, how and why of Sock Machine buying.

 

Why Desire A Sock Machine ?

This may seem like an odd question but why do you want a sock machine? 

The answer goes right to the hart of what machine you should be focusing on. Here is my list of frequently noted reasons for wanting a CSM. See if there is one that comes close to your current reality.

1. Have you seen a Circular Sock Machine at a Wool Festival or Old Thrasher & Tracker days and you can not dispel the compelling thought of cranking or just having one or many sock machines?

2. Do you enjoy history, maybe doing reenactments or think of using your sock machine for producing old time clothing.

3. Do you love making socks and just want another way to make them faster. Or maybe you have a real project in mind like reducing a growing yarn stash or making socks as a way to support your favorite cause or selling custom socks.

4. Are you a flat bed knitting machine user but suspect these curious round sock machines would be a more enjoyable tool for making socks?

For those who just want to crank out socks then what you will focus on is how the machine functions.

When you want a CSM for making socks there could also be an expectation of making socks using yarns you already have. You may also want to make socks or other knitted garments for a specific purpose such as socks for the military, small hats for preemies or producing a line of socks using one type or size of yarn. All of these are reasonable expectations for your first sock machine and it is important to recognize ahead of your purchase what features will be more likely to meet your expectations.   Many of these uses are best addressed at your local and regional crank-ins where you can witness first hand which machines use what yarns and how easily they crank those yarns. Most any sock machine can crank out a sock but with what yarn,  lace weight, fingering or will it do sport or DK weight?  Not all machines can crank the yarn your dreaming of using, or it just may not crank it very well.   For example, how much effort does it take and can you envision wanting to crank with that same effort for several hours a day.   The compelling nature of these machines can fade quickly when cranking is more of a struggle than a pleasure.

 

What about the money?

Crank-ins also offer you the best opportunity to hear about the way the different users found their machines, what they paid for them and if they believed that source is one they can happily recommend. No one person, has experienced all the possibilities and your height, weight and arm strength may make your experience very different from another person using the same machine. So the more CSM users you listen to, the more machines you can try out, the more likely your first purchase will meet your expectations.

When Your Focus Is More For Collecting or Historical Interest

You have just identified your first big fork in the road.  It is likely you will want to focus your CSM  purchase on a particular period of sock machine manufacturing if not a specific brand or type of needle control system. My recommendation is that you start your CSM search at the library and doing a lot of web surfing for all the sock machine pages you can find. It is also important to soak in all the pictures of machines you can find. One place I recommend for learning about what the different machines look like is http://www.oldtymestockings.com/default.asp

 

Though your local crank-in can certainly give you a feel for what a machine looks like and feels like. Much of your first efforts will be less social and very hands on.

As soon as you have a good working CSM vocabulary and can easily recognize the different brands, types and the major parts it is then you can have meaningful discussions with collectors, historians, restorers and long time users to develop your own historical narrative. But be prepared, there is no one version of CSM history and as new discoveries are revealed the story is ever changing and always up for discussion where everyone is part of history but no one owns it.

 

In Part 3 we tackle the issue of what yarns work best with what machine set up and why it is important to believe what the machine is telling you.

Your Path to Cranking with Joy

Part 1

Where to Start

There are many paths to circular sock machines but they do not all lead to an equally satisfying experience.  When I was a kid in Missouri & Kansas during the 1950’s the most common means of getting a sock machine was to inherit it or discover it at a farm sale with little certainty all the parts were present or functioning. Part of the excitement of discover was Wow! I wonder if I can make it work. I was reminded of that this weekend during a crank-in held in the farming community of Brighton Colorado. These fine old sock machines continue to capture our imaginations today just as they did 60 years ago.

Our crank-in was being hosted by the Owner of Brighton’s “Deer Pants” yarn shop on Main street. We had a great turn out of 10 or so crankers from all over the central and northeastern part of Colorado with one driving some 70 miles to come. One visitor actually arrived from as far away as San Diego. She was visiting family but with the intent to attend our crank-in as an essential part of her trip. What a great group of crankers we had. All shared their CSM moments, creative solutions and yarn discoveries freely; everyone contributing and helping each other. That included one guest that had come for help in repairing a broken Auto Knitter shell and like any stalwart Cranker she left with information in hand and new hope. In another turn a wonderful couple walked in the shop without a machine but were clearly stunned to see us all there cranking. She had been cranking socks on her 47 in near total isolation. They had discovered us through a printed notice that we would be in the Yarn Shop that weekend.  They had come to see if we were really cranking socks like she did.  It is our hope she will join us at next months meeting.  
Yes, the fascination still lives and is being renewed in a new generation as nearly half our attending Crankers were younger than 40.

Obviously, being a blogger, my primary audience are those who use the Internet to acquire most of their CSM information. For the last 5 years or so it has become common for new CSM seekers to try using various aspects of the Internet to find there first sock machine. But as cranking becomes more common, at some point for each of us this experience of cranking socks becomes local and very personal.  I would suggest that if you have a local group of sock machine users, the sooner you seek local resources for information about sock machines the more likely you will have a satisfying CSM experience. It is this personal connection to other users of sock machines that can provide the new seeker their best opportunity for not just finding a sock machine but discovering a social network that brings with it a great deal of joy. So if you are a new seeker for sock machine information, a good start is to find a path that leads to your closest sock machine user group. It is among other users that you will experience the practical wisdom of what really works.  There you will have the opportunity to use more of your senses to gain a fuller understanding of how to use a CSM.  As you see, hear and touch the machines as they crank you develop a far more complete picture than can be gained by using the Internet alone.
The old adage of " buyer be ware" was never more true as there is no one stop source for CSM consumer reports.   Because even new is old technology being reproduced, new does not mean trouble free and old does not mean troublesome.   With several sources for full restoration, new needles, cylinders and dials, even the common older machines can be updated.  Today's CSM seeker has every opportunity to  put together a great machine designed around their needs and their pocket book. So lets take a journey between now and December to explore these choices starting with “why buy any sock machine”.