Socktober

In the knitting world, October is known as Socktober. It’s a good time for me to share updates about my sock machine journey.

My last post about socks was in July, for team color socks I cranked for my husband. I was busy the rest of the summer with other crafts and activities. After getting back in the groove this fall, I cranked out more pairs of socks, including some in other team colors.

After making two pairs of purple and gold Minnesota Vikings color socks, I left them sitting on the coffee table when we went out of town. Our son and daughter-in-law arrived at our house for a visit shortly before we got back home. Our granddaughter, Blair, found the socks and decided to model them. The following photo reminds me of those reels where supermodels are wearing goofy outfits that no one would really wear.

I cranked a pair for myself using Sweet Georgia Tough Love sock yarn in a variegated purple color. Wayne and I both wore our socks while watching a Minnesota Vikings football game.

I cranked some Green Bay Packers socks for my daughter-in-law, and for her dad.

On the second sock of the second pair of Packers socks, I got to the end of the cone of green yarn nine rows before it was time to start the yellow heel. I had another skein of green yarn, but the color was different. I consulted with Wayne about whether to add nine rows of white, use the non matching green, or switch to yellow nine rows before the yellow toe. No matter what, the socks were not going to match. We agreed that switching to yellow was best. They ended up as quirky Packers socks. In the photo below you can see that the sock on the bottom has less green and more yellow at the toe than the other sock.

James and Kelsey are a mixed team family. They modeled their Vikings and Packers socks while watching Sunday afternoon football.

My daughter’s boyfriend is a Los Angeles Chargers fan, so I cranked him a pair of socks with the appropriate colors. They are also a mixed couple. Isaac loves football, and Britta does not care about football. I made her a pair of non football team color socks, that coordinated with the pair for Isaac.

Following is a photo of my sister while on a camping and hiking vacation in Canada, wearing socks I cranked for her.

Last winter Wayne made me a small sock machine table to use in our RV and when going to crank-in’s. It was a little tippy, the piece of wood used for the work surface was slightly warped, and the legs tended to come loose, but it worked for the purpose. I have a better table I use in the house. When I was moving things around in my work area at home, the hardware on one of the legs of the small CSM table completely broke off.

It was time for a new table, that I would need in time for an October crank-in and to bring to Arizona in the winter. When reviewing ideas for portable sock machine tables, one option seemed to be pretty popular among crankers. It was a no-brainer to use a foldable workbench base from Home Depot, rather than reinventing the wheel.

While checking for the product online, I assumed it would be available at my local Home Depot store. Instead, options were free delivery to the store, or to my house. Deliver free to my house? Sure. I got a notice on the day of delivery with tracking information. The product was sourced in Ohio, and from there went to Mauston, WI, then to Rogers, MN, and on to to Fargo, ND. From there it was placed in the delivery truck to our house, which is an hour from Fargo. I don’t know whether it is better for the environment to pick it up in town or have it delivered, but that is another topic.

Following is a photo of the Home Depot workbench assembled and with my sock machine clamped on. The top is two pieces of wood that can slide to different positions.

The new portable CSM table was ready to bring to a crank-in at the Knitshop at Rocking Horse Farm in St. Cloud, Minnesota. That is about two hours from my house, on the way to the Twin Cities. They have crank-ins three times a year. I went to this same event one year ago to observe, and the next day I ordered my Erlbacher circular sock machine.

There is a couple with 30 years of circular sock machine experience who attend the Rocking Horse Farm crank-ins. Deb and Pete Oswald are gurus in the sock machine world. If you do any research online you will find their names. Pete restores old machines and is an expert at making fine tune adjustments. He did some tinkering on my CSM ribber attachment.

Pete and Deb were willing to stand with me for a photo.

Deb is known for her “Fast and Easy Heal” method that is available online. She demonstrated how to made a knitted pumpkin during the crank-in. I made one using orange acrylic waste yarn that was offered to me.

Wayne ran some errands in St. Cloud, hung out at a golf course, and kept busy until the crank-in was over. We continued on from there to St. Paul for a grandchildren fix over the weekend. My knitted pumpkin is displayed on our son’s front porch.

After that weekend Wayne made a new top for the workbench base using a piece of wood in the basement, and with a cutout like my other travel CSM table that broke.

In other sock machine news, the School of Sweet Georgia is offering an online beginner circular sock machine (CSM) class. Over the summer after launching their new online community, the founder Felicia Lo asked if anyone in the community wanted to be available to review and proof patterns before publication. I was a little intimidated, but added my name to the list, knowing that I could choose which projects to help with. Felicia reached out to me and another person about reviewing the new sock machine class workbook and patterns. I was up for that! We received a link to some PDF files, which I printed out on paper.

Following is the cover of the workbook, which looks amazing. Felicia has an Erlbacher sock machine, the same kind as mine.

I read through all the information carefully, and actually did all the things as instructed in the workbook. Felicia used a slightly different method for doing heels than I had been using. I liked it better and am now doing my heels that way, resulting in fewer dropped stitches.

I did not find any mistakes per se in the workbook. However as a newer cranker, I noticed some things that were confusing or could be more clear. I typed up a document and sent it back to Felicia, with detailed notes and comments, specific points that could be added, and other observations based on my experience. Later Felicia shared a revised PDF that included many of my suggestions, and I got credit on the last page of the pattern! Following is a photo of the front of the starter sock pattern, followed by a snapshot of the last page with my name in the credits.

In conjunction with Socktober, Felicia interviewed Grayson Erlbacher, the general manager at Erlbacher Knitting Machines. She talks about the history of sock machines going back to the late 1800’s, and how her father’s gear business got involved in manufacturing them. It is quite interesting, even if you do not know anything about knitting or sock machines. You can listen to the interview on youtube here.

I received my CSM in November of 2024, just under a year ago. I have come a long way since then, as evidenced by the pile of practice knitting and fails shown below.

Last fall I was trying to decide if I could justify buying a circular sock machine. I decided to go for it, and I am so happy I did. There was a learning curve as expected, but it has been a fun journey with many blessings.