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Lemonade!

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So, this should have been my very first blog post!! What do you do when you’re the recipient of what was meant to be a bowl of sour lemons??? Well, you go to your friends house and she meets you at the door with a glass of…you guessed it! LEMONADE!!! For those of you who don’t know, I used to work at the family machine shop. I started there when my stepfather was alive, he built a sock knitting machine and I found my passion in making machines, selling them and teaching people how to use them….Last spring, three years after my stepfathers passing, my mother relieved me of my duties there. So I started my own business.

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Since sock knitting machines are my passion, I travel the country teaching people how to use them, people make the journey to Cape Girardeau for private lessons and three times a year I host a SOCK SCHOOL with Jenny Deters. In 2020, we will be taking sock school on the road, more info will come soon! I also (with the help of a really great friend!) started this website to selling supplies needed to make socks on the machines. I know what I like, and I’ve tried an awful lot of things that I would not recommend do it’s easy to choose what things I would like to sell people for knitting on their machines!! I now use different types of antique machines, which was and continues to be a fun challenge and is broadening my knowledge of machine knitting. I have learned some new skills (turning wood, and using lots of power tools to make machine stands) and make things every day.

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But the real thing that has made this transition down a new life path easy has been the support and encouragement of all of my friends in this segment of the fiber crafts. I cannot tell you how much the thoughts, prayers, and words of encouragement have helped me know that this path is the one I am supposed to be on. Above all, I can see the hand of God in this whole situation. I am at peace!

So now you know why lemonade is my theme! And, having this cheerful theme really helps me in those dark quiet moments when the evil one whispers in my ear…I simply look around and just about everywhere I look there’s something with a lemon on it that someone sent me or gave me and my soul is restored.

I thought I would share Sue’s Lemonade recipe. It really is the best I’ve ever had!

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I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!! And remember this post.

Last summer, we (Sue and I) were playing around at a crank in and we revamped an old pattern into the Lemonade Sock pattern! It’s pretty easy to make, and now that spring is just around the corner, we’re all thinking about shortening our socks for the warmer weather…Here is the pattern link: https://csmsupplies.com/store/patterns/lemonade-socks/ all written out and downloadable for free. It’s a fairly straightforward pattern. Essentially, you will hang two picot hems, with one being shorter than the other, so one sticks up and one lays down. Then a deep heel (a deep heel means you use more than half of the needles to knit the heel…this is essential when you make shortie socks, so they don’t fall down inside your shoe) a foot and a toe. These are pretty much the first skills you learn on the knitting machine, so it makes a great beginner project. Now, it makes a really cute sock to wear in a tennis shoe if you ask me!

When life gives you lemons, what will you do? Happy Cranking!!

2 thoughts on “Lemonade!

  1. You are an inspiration with your creativity as an artist and as a person! When a door closes, a window opens! We just need to ask G-d for patience and stay busy trying to do the right thing at any given moment. And crank, not be cranky – muttering that to myself. 🙂

  2. Growing a great business there, Jamie. Well done!
    Love that you share your knowledge freely and encourage the CSM community with SockTV and shared patterns.
    Also thanks to your friends who gift their patterns to the site.
    In UK I have also found that CSM owners are helpful and give their time and ideas to help others and I try to pay it forward in helping others too.

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