The Sock Lady Lives

It's been a year! Yes, I'm still alive. My sock machines still number four. My NZAK stands with last attempted sock half completed, still swinging from the cylinder.

It's been there a looooong time, the sock that is. I just moved the machine to the light this morning to take the picture. The other three are a little forward and to the right of it. The four machines reside in the room previously called "living" and then "studio" and now . . . I don't know what to call it. "Junk" would be good except the stuff is not junk to me. Maybe "junque," but never "junk." Actually the room and the foot of the L shape of it, which is (or would be) the dining area, are filled with boxes of the flotsam and jetsam of my many hobbies, construction debris and my play doll collection along with all the furniture of a living room and dining room. Are you getting the picture?

I am in the midst of an ongoing two-year-long house renovation/redecoration. Space is so tight I cannot set up a chair to sit at my sock machine. It all began with the kitchen renovation that began while I was in Frederick, MD, at the 2007 CSMSA Conference. Much of the old kitchen ended up in my supposed-to-be studio. The studio never recovered. I did order the NZAK during the confusion and had just barely enough space to set it up and play with it a few weeks before real life intruded (a long and sad story) and I dropped from the charts.

Right now I am waiting for the garage to be converted to my new "studio." I have visions of a beautiful new room with a big bow or picture window where the garage door is now and two walls of shelves from floor to ceiling and pocket doors leading into the foyer of the house--pocket doors so that wall can be utilized as well. Any day now the work will begin. In the meantime my hobbies other than hand knitting stand or lay in wait for space to be provided.

I missed the MD Sheep and Wool Festival in 2008 and a few MARS meets. I did go to Stitches East 2008 though. I'm trying to get back into the fray, take inventory of my sock yarn stash, put some socks or something in my Etsy shop. The Sock Lady is back.

The Sock Lady

Now You See Them . . .

. . . Soon you won't.

I'm working with my 80/40 setup on the NZAK. The yarns are Opal (denim) and Soxx (dark red). I'm getting 9 rounds to the inch. The second Opal sock had issues. I remove all the needles when making a heel on a ribbed sock. Something went haywire when I finished the heel and added back the instep needles. I put the instep needles in the wrong slots. What was I thinking?!!! I tried to salvage the sock. I really did. It went from bad to worse and I finally threw in the towel and cranked the whole mess off to start over.

The Soxx sock has size issues. For some reason the foot came out much longer than I planned. I've been procrastinating trying to decide whether to duplicate it and have a gigantic pair or rewind and start all over. I'd just like to get a pair of ribbed socks in the size I'm aiming for from the 80/40 setup before moving on. Starting over seems to be the thing to do because I made a slight adjustment to the NZAK forgetting that I had another red sock to make.

The pigtail came off my NZAK. That's the little coiled wire on the yarn carrier that the yarn is fed through. I jerry-rigged, in McGiver fashion, a bit of copper wire to hold the yarn down and guide it through the carrier. That's what I've been using. That is, until last Friday. In preparation for attending a MARS meeting, I finally cold welded (JB Weld) the pigtail back on so I could take my NZAK out in public in factory condition. As it turned out I couldn't attend the meeting (Real life got in the way.) and now my machine is just a hair different than when I made the first red sock. I will not even try getting a second sock to match. It has been my sock machine knitting experience that the least change on any machine makes a difference that I don't want to deal with.

I have not gotten my NZAK cranking out socks to my satisfaction. I have not been able to devote the time I need to jump over the learning curve I suppose. Using the 60/30 setup I made a few pairs of socks for myself that I was very happy with using KnitPicks Essential. I finally have some black socks! But not without some pain and suffering! It took a while to get used to the needle lifter (which I haven't even used yet) being there. It gets in my way. But at least I now know when that happens. I have a hard time with the heels. Once past the decreases, that first wrap starting the increases on each side is a doozie!

I was hoping to be an expert on the 60/30 compound by now. I have little socks to make! I've gotta get with it!!! Oh well, tomorrow is also a day.

The Sock Lady

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival--A Fun Weekend

I've been off knitting socks on my circular sock machine trying to get ahead of my sock yarn stash. I did a pretty good job of it. Another reason for cranking out socks nonstop was to get my Legare machine revved up for a demonstration I was to take part in at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this past Saturday. What a blast I had there this weekend!!

I arrived before the public opening on Saturday morning and was allowed to park near a door at the Main Exhibition Hall because I had my sock machine to unload later in the day. I spent the whole morning shopping the Festival. Unfortunately my favorite sock yarn vendor, Koigu, was not there this year. Many people make sure to get there early just for the Koigu mill ends at half price. Mine wasn't the only face showing disbelief and disappointment when learning of Koigu's absence.

I recovered quickly and immediately set out to see who else might have sock yarn of interest. However, I have such a sock yarn stash I limited myself to sock yarn bargains--of which I found few. In fact, I bought yarn for only one pair of socks to hand knit and a couple of cones for sock machine knitting. My main yarn purchases of the weekend were a sweater kit, Pastel Stars, from Philosopher's Wool and 12 skeins of a bargain cotton blend yarn from Little Barn that might one day become a ruana from the pattern in Sally Melville's Knit Stitch.

The MidAtlantic Region Sockknitters (MARS) sock machine demonstration in which I was to participate was scheduled for 2 p.m. in the Main Exhibition Hall. Having parked at the wrong end of the building it took me a while to maneuver my equipment through the throngs of shoppers in the aisles and arrive at the demo area. Some of the group was already cranking. I got there just in time to unpack, unwrap, set up and start where many interested people could see the whole operation from beginning (pulling a machine out of a carrier) to end (making a stockinette sock with ribbed cuff).

Here I am standing to give someone else a chance to crank.

She gets the feel of it.

Barb (peach blouse) oversees a cranking.


Barb and Gregory (in black) answer questions.

As the day winds down, Stephanie (brown print blouse) answers questions with a smile.


Joyce works on her machine. Notice her stand and color coordinated packing boxes. The stand is a work of art made from a stained bar stool and colorful Formica. The shelves come off for packing and transporting. The two machines are transported attached to the shelves in the crates. It's all her design and she made them all herself. Compact, colorful, attractive. Fabulous!

The demonstration was a huge success. There were many people interested in the sock machines, men and women, and a surprising (to me) number of those people have machines. Many of them have not gotten as far as making a sock or even getting a decent tube. Some have hardly touched their machine since they got it. They were glad to find us there and thrilled to see a sock made.

The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2007 was a wonderful weekend for me even without Koigu. Our circular sock machine demonstration was the icing on the cake. I witnessed only one incident of displeasure the whole weekend. I captured it in a photograph.

"B-a-a-a-aaa. I don't want my leg hair combed!"

The Sock Lady