Loons At The Lake

Light snow and cold arrived this week making it perfect. Perfect for what you ask? Just wait and see The ladies started arriving one by one setting up in Muskie for our first official Crank In at the resort. The 1st Annual Loons At The Lake Crank In started with 15 - 20 machines and crankers set up in. We moved out all the furniture to make room for everyone. We spent 3 days laughing, cranking, eating and learning from each other. The farthest traveler we had was Missouri. Many people ask me does anyone else do what you do with sock machines and the answer is yes. We had a waiting list of more who wanted to come but we ran out of room Cindy above bought one of my old machines back on vacation in June and was back to learn more. Vicki behind her was a pro who was sharing her knowledge of the ribber with the rest of us along with much more Shari and her husband John enjoying time together and helping others. Emily behind them was our farthest traveler from Missouri along with her buddy Hilly. Emily was working on a Legare machine from Canada We had several newbies stopping in like Linda above who used one of my extra machines to make her first sock. It may be the only sock she ever makes but she did it herself and was thrilled. Working on my first machine I ever got a 1924 Gearhart My buddy Hilly who invented the pedals for my sock machine is next to the windows with her machine from the 20's hooked up to her original pedals Hilly traveled from Hanibal Missouri to join us and get the only 2 pedaling machines in the country together for the first time. Amy is on the right side of the machine who makes all the soaps everyone in the resort has enjoyed this summer and was learning how to use her machine that she also got from me. Deb on the left who never had been in a room with other sock machines brought her 20's Legare to learn from everyone. Peggy on the right had a new machine like my red pedaling machine from Erlbacher Gearhart in in Missouri that makes about 10 machines a week at the moment. Erlbacher has a 2 month waiting period to get one of their new machines. So far they have put abut 1500 new machines out into the world. 4 of them were at our crank in Christy from central Wisconsin was teaching techniques on her Legare. A Legare is just a brand of machine just like Ford is to cars. Christy bought her machine in January when she saw the article about my machine in Our Wisconsin Magazine. Christy in 10 months has learned more techniques than I have in my 7 years of sock making. She had everyones undivided attention solving the problem of dog eared toes and explaining the joys of ravelry cord. Christy with her friend Diane could not wait to get her hands of my hat machine and try it out. Diane works at the Nueske's Meat store and antiques. Many of our guests stop at Nueske's to buy great meat on their way to the resort. Say hi to Diane and you may see her sock machine which is now on display at the store. Hilly giving instructions to one of our newbies who dropped in. Pat had run into a sock machine in an auction for 95 dollars and snapped it up 3 weeks ago from 1904. Pat was thrilled to find a group to give her a hand learning this new craft and is headed down a rabbit hole. It was fun to see all the different tables and set ups everyone had come up with from Amy's ladder to Diane's antique table to Hilly and my pedal seat up. Hilly on the left used an old treadle base for her set up. After day one it was time for a little wine Wine was enjoyed and laughs and food. Some enjoyed their wine a lot We also had a sock machine mechanic stop in Pete Oswald with his wife Deb. They brought back to me my 1890 Lamb flat bed knitting machine that I had tried to restore this summer. The number of parts when I was putting it back together baffled me and I sent it off to visit Pete for a few months. Pete cleaned it up amazingly well. It still needs some tweaks and I have yet to learn how to use it but it is very pretty and an amazing piece of history. Troy and I have our home work to do from Pete and will be heading to Ham Lake Minnesota in January to get Pete to fine tune it after Troy makes a 100 clips for it from wire. Deb will be giving me some instruction on how to use the old machine and we may have it going by summer. Time will tell The beautiful finish and decorative painting on the machine survived the years and rust. Pete helped me clean up the brass fittings without loosing the black finish Thanks Pete!!! The ladies took a cranking break to enter Hilly's dye shop. Everyone got on gloves Hilly was like a mad scientist mixing up the colors of dye Off they went dyeing away sock tubes I did a polka dot tube Everyone went home with a tube to make a sock out of dyed by themselves. The Packer colors in the middle will be Packer socks and gloves for sale at the gift shop as soon as I get them knit up. Hilly will be dyeing Packer yarn for me in the future and you will see her yarns made up into socks in the shop from now on. Just ask me what Hilly socks I have done when you are in the shop. Hilly promise to keep my mail box full of special dyed yarns from Missouri that will be Hilly originals just like she is All good things must come to an end and so they did.... Looking forward to the 2nd Annual Loons At The Lake 2020 already!