Sock knitting?

I have not posted in some time now. To those who follow my blog, I apologize.

  I would love to be a prolific writer, I really would but to be honest between working full time, raising three young boys and pursuing my many hobbies and life goals writing seems to be more of an after thought than anything. I will try to do better this year, getting and staying organized is a top priority as well! I start out great but seem to slip as time goes by.

There are new plants, places to go, kids to chase, animals to be taken care of etc.. However we never really know how much time we have left, taking care of business takes up a lot of time and fretting over things that won’t matter in five years from now is a waste of time. I’m working on building a life I don’t need a vacation from! As should we all.

Enough rambling, on to what’s going on today. I realized the boys go through an amazing number of socks in a given year. I feel as though I could retire if only I didn’t have to feed thier sock addiction. Once, many years ago I lucked upon a sock knitting machine, not a little hobby type one either. I was disabled at the time and figured if I could learn to make socks I could make some money. As fate would have it was missing a few critical parts and I ended up having to move away. It got left behind, I think it was donated to the same thrift shop I’d bought it from.

Fast forward to today, I’m 3D printing a small hand crank sock knitting machine.

Crank gear and cylinder pictured above. I was going to buy one of the ones available on Ebay and Amazon but was told by countless people that those machines was more for slipper type socks and possibly boot socks but only two of us actually wear boots. I priced circular sock knitting machines and found the ones I was interested in cost considerably more than I was willing to pay for something that may not get used a lot.

As I was looking for an alternative I stumbled across the stls for the machine I’m printing now. When I first got my printer I mostly made silly things but as time progressed I started making more practical things. Glasses holders, phone and tablet stands. Then I started printing 18650 battery holders fot the Tesla style power wall that I am currently working on. And now this, a machine that can make things we need.

I’m thinking if this works well and the boys enjoy using it I will attempt to use this one to make molds to cast a machine in aluminum for each of the boys. They of course may not want one when it’s so much easier to just buy socks premade. But what if is always stuck in my head, I’m learning skills and prepping for an event that could cause major hardships. It may never happen but I feel I need to cover all the bases for a just in case and I am teaching the boys how to do things for themselves just in case. I will post more as I near completion and get this thing figured out.

I plan on making cheese and yogurt from sctarch without buying a starter for my next adventure so if anyone has hints or tips on making socks, cheese or yogurt please feel free to share your experiences! I hope everyone has a prosperous and happy new year!