Socks and Locs

May 19, 2017
3 min read

Ah so much has gone on in the last few months! I'll get to that stuff another time though. For now I'm obsessed with 2 things - knitting socks & my new dreadlocks. I totally meant to record my whole dreadlock journey, but as you know, I'm the Queen of Procrastination. I'll be making a post with a bunch of progress pics and everything. I'm so excited still about my hair! I'm entering my ninth month of locs and I love them just as much as I did in the beginning :D

Now on to the socks....

I do love knitting socks, but I really hate when I get to the oh so boring foot, where the fun patterning stitches stop and it's all just knitting around forever. You can break it up with some ribbing, but that's still really boring. Not quite as boring though as when someone asks you to make them "plain" socks. That's the kind of knitting that will make me quit knitting. BORING!!!!

Well, I fixed that problem. I went on a hunt for an antique circular sock knitting machine! They're not too hard to come by, since machines from the late 1800's are still working just fine. Browsing e-bay for a couple of weeks will find you a few to choose from. They're certainly not cheap though. I really wanted an antique one, but I found a company that's making replicas of the old Gearhart machine, and decided I'd go that route where I'm sure to get all the accessories, and a few extra goodies; whereas the antiques do work just the same as day one, but not all of them have all the accessories needed, and not all come with the needles.

I've been having so much fun learning how to use it, and I just love the sound it makes! A nice, rhythmic light clicking. Here's a video of one in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGplTsVq4GU

Cool, isn't it!

Here's what mine looks like

Because it's new, it has nice shiny race car red paint :)

I'll get some better pics and maybe some video to post.

I just love learning to use this machine! I've made so many tangled messes trying to get the hang of it hahaha. I've finally been able to make a pair of great looking socks after 3 weeks of practice. I haven't even tried to do ribbing yet! so far, I have the hang of the simple knit stitch. I can't wait to start making amazing looking socks that I can sell! I'll be able to whip out a pair of socks from pretty sock yarn for someone in just a day. I'll also be able to knit all kinds of cool patterned, lacy, cabled, or fair isle socks and when I get to the super boring foot part, I can transfer it to the machine and crank it out in no time! I'm planning on hand-dying yarn soon, and I'll be able to offer people the option of having a skein turned into socks before shipping! I know that sounds silly to some of us, but there's plenty of people who are intimidated by the thought of knitting socks, or who don't know how to knit. I used to browse sock yarn all the time before I learned to knit and dream of the day I could use it. Machine knit, and partial machine knit will of course be sold for way less than I could ever charge for a pair that takes DAYS to finish.

Here's the pair I finished last night