YouTube wow!

I have just seen the latest and last Mongrel Sock Machine Video Wow! We are blessed to know a budding film maker, who has so kindly made 3 short films featuring our Mongrel Socks one way or another. We've been building our new website for (it seems like forever), and that's the royal "we" because I am personally so IT illiterate. I think we go live this week. Yee ha!
As a part of our online line business progression we were advised to have a youtube video put up as our customers would find that sort of thing interesting. Yeah, sure but the cost is phenomenal, way out of realms of our reality. Luckily, we know this talented, big hearted, young guy who has done us and himself proud.

I've written before about the community feeling that comes from our long time participation in Salamanca Market. Our daughter grew up going there, and so did our film maker Leuke. Leuke sharing his film making talents (and a lot of his own time) with us is what the nature of community is all about. Why did he help us out? It sure wasn't the money, it wasn't "close" friendship obligation, he helped us out because while he sincerely loves film, the process etc, He helped us out because he could. Leuke's brought and worn our socks for years, but I think now he's earned "socks for life" because what comes around goes around. Thanks Leuke!

Blown away!

I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I just can't help being blown away by the reach the internet has. Anyone who knows us or even has read a few entries on this blog, knows we use some wonderful antique Bentley Komet sock machines to knit our pure wool Mongrel Socks and from time to time experience problems with them. As they are so old and the technical knowledge we need is hard find, even small issues can be a production stopping event. Well.....it is kind of comforting to know there's some one halfway around world dealing with the same thing. Even I have resorted to trawling the internet looking for more information on these mongrel machines, without any success I should add. This morning an email greeted me, a plea from a man in the UK, having problems with his own old Komet. Here's how our our email volley went
(complete with our shocking spelling)..............

I see from your blog your a bit of a hand with a Bentley Komet. I have a Komet BR model and due to well a few issues I had it part stripped due to a break down but got dstracted for a while father was taken ill and the machine got left.I've got back to it now but it keeps locking up when the recip.clutch disengages, I've timed it to the marks but does the cylinder have to be in a certain position also when timing. Ive varied the quadrant mark on the recip pinion a tooth either way but then it either locks going in or coming out of the toe / heel. Any help would be apreciated my UK contact has been taken ill with cancer and I don't want to bother him with my problems.

Richard

My reply...
Hi Richard,
Argh! I sorry we can't be much help to you. We still have to get our guy in when problems with the clutch arise. Thankfully that only happens very occasionally. These BR's are great old machines, but we have found over the years, the less fiddling with them the better. The only thing I can think of tht might be the problem-hard to explain because I don't know what the parts are supposed to be called-it the 2 cogs that lock together @ the top of the machine in the top right under the insection plate as you stand in front can be 180 degree's out which will cause jamming as you've decribed.
Don't know if that'll help but worth a try.
Goodluck.
Helen.

His reply....
Well many thanks for the reply; its late now so just a quick thank you, for your prod in the right direction it was indeed half a turn out due to me misreading what in my defense is a poor quality drawing. It looks like a fine tune and all will be well again now it’s timed correctly. Do you have any set up information on your machines, I have a little and it may be of use to you also, perhaps we could pool what we have, information is hard to come across. The cogs are called the clutch the one on the left which reciprocates is the reciprocating pinion. I know the names but couldn’t get them to work.

Thanks again
Richard

Yay! what a nice result. I'll definitely be getting back to him in the future and organising an exchange in information, I think this may be the beginning of a mutually beneficial e-friendship.
PS I was also delighted to see he hails from a place called North Kelsey Moor in the UK, our daughters name is Kelsey too. She's gorgeous inside and out, and I bet so is North Kelsey Moor.

Bring it on!

After the last few weeks of winter weather, this week we have had some beautiful days, which is all good as far as our sock drying goes. It is only in the midst of winter that we struggle to get our socks to dry. Endeavouring to be kind to the planet, we have made a conscious decision to not artifical drying processes, we get lots of sun here in Tasmania, and it is only for a few weeks in winter that it's not possible to get our pure wool socks to dry. So although we have still been busy knitting, we do have a bit of a back log to steam and dry before they can be labeled and ready to go out. It is alway's a good feeling to be ahead in production, we really hate playing catch-up. Just not having to stress about our stock levels, when the order's come in, knowing we can fill them is a good feeling. We have had a few hiccups with the old machines this last couple of weeks, which left us scratching our heads, unable to get them going properly. Lucky for us, a friend, whose a wizz with machinery took a look, and as embarrassing as it is for us, he had the problem worked out in under an hour. We'd been picking over the glitch for many hour's, and we know the old Bentley Komet's well, he's waltzed in and had it sussed in record time. Bless his heart. Never a dull moment around here in the Mongrel Sock business.