January 3, 2012 Blog has started and all is well till next time

Tuesday evening January 3, 2012.  My blog has been started and I caught up my story to date.
It seemed fitting that I start the blog tonight after completing the business transaction.
MrB is still studying and not yet ready to crank out socks but once he is I will surely let the world know here on my blog.
He goes to sock-school every day now studying and taking in what he can with the learning curve of the art of making hand-cranked knitted socks.  Our venture has only begun!  Today is the official day of announcing it to you!  I will tune back soon. Good night and Take Care,



msb from Socks Made On 88

Our CSM machine ...a little about it and its brand and given name

Our CSM is a reproduction of a 1924 model Gearhart CSM. The machine we have is made by the Erlbacher Gearhart Knitting Machine Company in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.   PeeWee Erlbacher started producing these new machines in 2011.  In fact our machine is numbered 2011-88.  The machines often get the nickname Erl....and our Erl has now been given a special name by us.  But before I go any further, I must tell you the name of our little hobby/industry/mini business....the name that I told you got approved on Dec 20, 2011.  The same name that we got registered today!  It is: Socks Made on 88  Now you can see where the 88 comes from, as it is the number of the machine.  We were told the name should be simple and tell what it is we are doing and how so that's pretty much as simple as we could get.  The name we have given our Erl is Brigadier 88.  Some of you may think , how did they arrive at that name?  We picked the name from MrB's family history.  It was after MrB's 7th generation grandfather, Brigadier General Timothy Ruggles who trekked from the USA to make his new home in NS.  Our Erl also made his way through the USA to make his new home in NS also.  We wanted a name that started with "b" since we are msb and MrB.  We wanted to keep B all in the family.  Also since this is a type of machine that can be passed on from generation to generation in our blended family we wanted a name that meant something, had some significance.  The Brigadier of high standard, and the company we got the Erl (CSM) is known for high standard quality work and service.  We had a very pleasant experience with our whole ordering and receiving of product, and continue to have constant contact with family members on a CSM online groups for support and frienship of liked interests.

Continuation the beginnings of our CSM story

OK backtracking a little here......or to contnue on with our story.
We did place the order for our brand new Circular Sock Machine ( CSM) on November 14, 2011.  We decided we wanted to enter a venture of MrB learning the art of hand-cranking out knitted socks, and maybe even other items when he has mastered the machine totally.  Again, we both researched, researched and researched.  We had many days even weeks until the machine was going to arrive and we knew we had to be prepared in every way.  MrB was studying his you-tube videos over and over again, and me setting up all the steps to make this little venture flow by talking to people on the phone with muncipal laws, provincial laws, federal laws, NS Joint stock, thinking of a name, doing up paperwork, going to search a name and the one we wanted was rejected flat on the spot, coming up with a spur of moment name, and finally submitting it on December 15, 2011.  on Dec. 20, 2011 we got a letter in the mail....YES our name was approved.  Now we had 90 days to register it.  Ok we are good with that, actually we were both so happy that things seem to be going along very smoothly.  It was December 23, 2011 that our machine arrived.  Oh Happy day, it was so exciting that I think both MrB and I did do a little happy dance if not phyically our heart and soul sure was doing some dancing inside.  Now who would think two grown 50 plusers would be so excited about receiving a boxed, and crated machine?  Well we were.  Oh yes I forgot to mention the table came the day before so that gave MrB time to set it up varnish and check out all the ins and outs of it beforehand.  It was like the calm before the storm. 

What does CSM stand for, what the heck is it, and why do we want one?

CSM stands for Circular Sock Machine.  A few short months ago, that was something that I myself was not familiar with, and I have learnt so much since November 9th, 2011.  That was the day that MrB approached me with an ad that  he saw and was very interested in purchasing one.  So like a crazy mad woman I spend hours and hours researching and networking trying to find out as much as I could about CSM's.  Why?  Because we were perhaps going to be newcomers to owning one.  We were not only going to be newbies to a CSM but we were going to be newbies to a brand new machine.  Oh my, this was so exciting indeed!  So for the next 6 days we spent most days reading as much information as we could, and I was networking my little heart out talking to people in groups, joining groups, reading blogs, checking websites, book marking websites, and more and more research.  Meanwhile MrB was printing out information, searching patterns and studying you tube videos.  On the 6th day it was actually November 14th, 2011, we decided to take the plunge and just order the machine!  It was a dream of MrB's to be able to knit wool socks.  He had tried to do it the manual way, hands, knitting needles and yarn but he just could not wrap his arthritic fingers around what and where they needed to be to even start the process.  Thereafter, he found quite by accident, the add that led us to this little retirement venture.  And here I am ....and so commences this blog!