I was surprised to see 'crankers' from Canada, Minnesota, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois as well as those of us from Indiana. The crank in is for fellowship and for learning new techniques or like me, just learning how to use my antique circular sock machine.
Friday was extremely frustrating for me. I had problem after problem. Jenny Deters worked with the machine and found that I had 5 0r 6 rusty needles that were making stitches drop. One problem solved. I got so excited, I forgot to follow the pattern and had to rip the sock out. Back to the beginning # 1. I started again and forgot the second step....dang, I was sooo excited and wanted to crank that sock out quickly!....Rip it out again and on to beginning #2. Now, I thought, I would remember the steps! On I knit, ...... oops, I dropped another bunch of stitches. Beginning #3, #4, #5...by now, I had a raging headache! I kept going though, this silly machine was not going to get the best of me, no siree, not, no way! Let's see now, I start again and again dropped stitches. By now it was 6:30, I had not had lunch, had a raging headache, was so frustrated that I thought I could just scream.
Instead of making a spectacle of myself, I chose to head back to the park and the safety and comfort of the motor home. I was greeted at the door by John....all smiles! "Well, how did it go?" I held back the tears and grouched at him instead. I grabbed a ham sandwich and was in bed before darkness fell.
Saturday morning, I woke up ready to tackle that machine. I walked to that dratted machine and thought, buddy, I'm BACK.....we ARE going to make socks today, so no more dropping stitches today, ya hear? That machine didn't hear! I kept dropping stitches until an angel from Illinois came over and asked if she could have a try at my CSM. Even she dropped stitches!
She went over the CSM just like Inspector Gadget and found another problem. When using the CSM and you are knitting socks, weights are supposed to create tension. If the tension is too tight or to loose, the CSM will not knit properly. Usually to drop stitches. Barb Woodard, my angel from Illinois, gave me tips on placing the weights so that the entire sock is at the same tension. Voila! I was off and knitting. When the sock was almost finished, yep, I did it again, I dropped 3 stitches. I had not moved the weights up as the sock was knitting. Lesson learned and another rip out. BUT this time I was not discouraged. I started the sock, stopped for the evening and went back to the motorhome for a delish dinner, thanks to dear John! I didn't go hide in bed and we even played a game! I took Oliver for a walk and we sat by the campfire that would not start. What a nice evening...until more rain came!
Sunday morning came and I was off to my last day at the crank in. I cranked a bit, talked to a lot of crankers then came "home". I set up the CSM in the motorhome and was off! I'm to the toe now. I have never come this far. I dropped a stitch! Guess why! HA! I left it be and went to bed. When I got up yesterday, I decided to take the day off and now, today, I am gonna pick up that stitch and finish that sock....hopefully, it's mate.
When I purchased the CSM at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in September, I was warned that there was a huge learning curve. I underestimated just how huge it is. I feel that I'm over the hump, but will still run into road blocks. It's just like when I learned to spin my own yarn and now I am a good spinner.
Now, what did John do all week end? He re-couped from a cold and tied flies in hopes that someday, it will quit raining and he can go fly fishing.
What a memorable week end!
Blessings to all! This IS the day the Lord has made....Let's rejoice and be glad!
