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I mentioned before a good friend of mine passed, which I am finally feeling better about. The sting of not being able to see them at knitting group has subsided. When she passed she had a lot of yarn, tools, and other crafty supplies remaining. About 3 years ago, she asked if I would bring my sock machine to the shop so she could see it in action. I of course obliged since I did talk about it a bit, my machines name is Robert (with a French Canadian accent since that’s where he was made). I brought him in and she was hooked on the idea of making a pair of socks in an hour. She asked about different machines, my thoughts about them, and what machines to consider buying and from where. I mentioned NZAK was an option, being a new machine it wouldn’t need restoring and timing of the ribber and main knitting piece (the cylinder). I told her that my machine I restored and timed myself which took some time and if she was up to it, go for it, but know it will take time. I recommended an eBay seller who does all of this for you and you receive a fully functional machine. She ended up buying one from them and started learning how to use it.
It turns out she did use it a little and was starting to learn how to get it to make ribbing, which is a complicated feat in the beginning. Then she passed and the machine was there. There was someone who was interested but was hoping it was an NZAK and not the original machine. They decided to not take the machine home and I knew it would not go anywhere. The poor machine needed a good home, so there were two choices, let it sit there wanting to make socks or take it home. I had to think about it, I don’t need another machine. She did have some pieces it would be hard to get and I might be able to find, but it would be hard. These machines aren’t big, but they have a lot of parts and all of my tools and yarn are taking up space and I’m running out of it. But an idea came to mind, I’m working on getting my online knitting business going again, focusing on socks for now and maybe doing more down the line. I thought of an idea, any socks made on my machine would be normal (not that the others would not be). Socks from her machine would have part of the proceeds donated to research for the disease that she was battling. So I knew what to do, I bought the machine. It’s home with me now and it’s gorgeous. Needs some oiling but should knit with no problems, she kept good care of it.
So that’s what I’m going to do with it, make socks in her memory and pay it forward. I am also considering doing custom orders from other knitters to make socks on either machine, giving the choice of my machine or hers. Letting them know that I will donate to that organization if they choose hers. It’s what I am going to do and I think it is the best way to pay it forward and remember her.
If anyone is interested in this I can let you know when everything is ready to start production.
I did give it a quick cleaning and oiling last night and out some yarn through it. Knit just like it was supposed to, though I might have gone a little overzealous with the tension and it was not happy with such a tight gauge, but I got it knitting again. I was going to try one of the new cylinders, these pieces determine the number of stitches in a sock, but realized I needed new screws to hold that one in place. But I got it working on one of the original cylinders and that’s something. I’m going to get the screws and make sure the ribber is still going alright. Maybe I’ll crank out some socks for my mom shortly.