Troubleshooting: Needles aren't engaging when doing short rows.

Kathy posted a question to the sockknittingmachines group and I thought it'd be easier to show her here what she's doing wrong.

She's having difficulty doing the heels/toes as her needles won't engage after she's pulled the needles out of work and changes direction to do short rows.

She thoughtfully provided photos.

First photo shows where she stops and changes direction.
First of all, Kathy needed to keep cranking until all her needles that are in work are all level. What she's doing here is not allowing the second cam to drop down.

Remember, this is the path the needle takes while making a loop:

What's happening is Kathy isn't cranking far enough for the needles to clear cam D6 where it's passing under it. Her first couple of needles are still in the V cam. In the next photo, she's changed direction and the needles aren't being lifted. The cam is floating along the tops of the needles.

If you look at the inside of her machine, you can even see where the needles travel. Look at the clean marks.

Hope that clears it up, Kathy.

Silicone Caulking

A recent post on one of the Yahoo groups was too good to not share.

If you have an older CSM buckle that is not holding your socks well, dab some silicone caulking on the area where the buckle is in contact with the sock. Should be holding socks back in no time.

The other thing to do is to use it for non-slip socks. While applying the caulk, make sure you get the caulk down into the stitches so little fingers can't peel it off. Just make sure you don't get the toes or heels if these socks are supposed to be able to slip into shoes easily.

Supposed to be good for felted slippers, too.

2009 CSMSA Convention

I found the home page for the upcoming convention. Go check it out here.

FWIW, it's June 8th - 11th, 2009

Did you know?

LeGare supplied several sizes of V-cams. Your machine's abilities will be affected by the V-cam it has.

Cone Sock Yarn Sources

From eirual :

Wool2Dye4 - sells really nice cones of sock yarn that are ready to be dyed. Also, skeins of pre-dyed sock yarn.

Webs - also sells cones of sock yarn, they are not nearly as nice and squishy as Wool2Dye4’s but - they are less expensive. $15 a lb plus shipping (if you order 4 lbs it’s $12 a lb). I find that the color is more cream, the spin is a bit loose.

Bartlett Yarns - lovely cones of sport weight yarn. I find that you really want to use a bit of woolly nylon with this to give the sock a little body. Very easy to knit, I use it to make socks on my 72 needle cylinder with no problems.

Sylvia’s Threads - Best price I have found for woolly nylon.

From sarahspins:

Lion Brand - 100% wool

I should add that one of my current favorite CSM yarns is Treadsoft from Henry’s Attic. The easiest way to buy it retail is likely from Catnip Yarns (just email them - very nice company and super easy to work with). Treadsoft is a smooth 2-ply superwash with a tight twist, it’s not only easy to knit with (it’s a 2/8 yarn, unlike most of the 2-ply sock yarns that are 2/6 and IMO a little on the heavy side), but it wears very well too.

If you have any more sources, please contact me so I can add it to this list.

CSM Teachers

Northeastern Maryland, and have
a variety of machines.
wollon@comcast.net
410 734-7980
Gregory Dodge Wollon
Havre de Grace, Maryland

Donna Peters
http://www.countryrain.com/class.htm

Maureen Newell
creatne2@yahoo.com,
11 High Street Fairfield, Maine 04937
207-453-7708


Roxana Baechle
Coleman, Michigan
Baechler@mindnet.org
989-205-7476 and 989-465-1526.


Eric Wolff
Pinckney, MI USA
fine knitted items of all sorts
sock machine sales, maintenance & repairs
ewolff1516@yahoo.com

Barbara Clorite-Ventura
eastern MA
bclorite@verizon.net

Judy Scheuneman
Knitewe1@intouchmi.com
Specializes in new knitters/ribbers
carries small parts for sale
Wisconsin and Michigan areas


Maureen Patterson
Roseburg, Oregon
mpat777@charter.net


Stephanie DeVoe
Plum Cottage Crafts
Frederick, MD
sdevoe@comcast.net
www.plumcottage-crafts.com


Katy Abbas
New Hampton, Iowa (NE) 1945 Kenwood Ave. Variety of CSM's
Sales, repair, restoration, parts, new parts machined and
lessons katy@thelegacyfarm.com 641 394 3627


Laura Schickli
http://handwerkstextiles.com
teach 3 classes as well as give private instruction based on the customers needs. classes are:
Basic CSM set up and Machine Adjsutment, Knit a sock, Fancy Sock Tops
hand dyed sock yarns, and needles laura@handwerkstextiles.com San Francisco Bay Area, CA. BayAreaCSMers group


Susan Forsyth
http://www.woolcombs.com/
+1 (604) 288-9811
susanf@rocketmail.com
Located in Mission, British Columbia, Canada
classes in all levels. Willing to travel
new knitters welcome.
CSM Repairs and maintenance.
classes also in spinning, felting, dyeing.
wide variety of small parts: - lifters, picks, crescents(wood and
metal), heel hooks, long handled stitch catchers.


Melanie Wilson
Leicestershire UK
Willing to help get people going on sock machines. Also Dyeing instruction.
0116 2604442 or socks@dragonflight.co.uk

Maker Faire

This was just posted to the Make: Magazine website earlier this week.

It's a video of my demonstration of my machine.


Antique Sock Knitting Machines - CRAFT Video Podcast from make magazine on Vimeo.