Kilt hose on a CSM

[The Wizard of BC]

Some of you may know that I have a hobby making kilt hose on a Hand-cranked Circular Sock Knitting Machine. (CSM)

But just what is a CSM you may ask?

Back in the days of steam engines, near the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, there were many machines made to reduce the labor of producing items by hand.
Knitting has been around for centuries, but making socks with sticks can take up to a week per pair.
A few companies developed machines to try to reduce the hand knitting labor. One development from frame knitting machines were circular knitting machines.

These circular knitting machines, or CSM's as they are known, really came into their own during WWI when the troops needed thousands of socks to prevent trench foot. The American Red Cross put out the call. "People, start knitting!"

Men were knitting on the morning commute to work. Colleges started student knitting groups. Industrialists converted their mansion ballrooms into knitting factories.

And hundreds of thousand of socks, mittens, hats & scarves were knit on the new circular knitting machines. They were sold door-to-door like Fuller brushes.



Today, there is a company in Cape Girardeau, MO reproducing these amazing machines.
The Erlbacher-Gearhart Knitting Machine Co. began when the owner of a 5th generation machining business bought an antique machine at a farm auction, brought it to his shop and bolted it to his secretarie's desk. Each day a piece would be missing. The next day a brand new piece would replace the old.

Here is my first Erlbacher-Gearhart machine. Their "Speedster" model. I now have 3 of these, all different models, and most evenings you will find me in my basement apartment cranking custom made kilt hose.






I recently made a pair for X Marker Truitt to go with the Scottish Wildcat Tartan fabric he hand wove and made a kilt from.



These have a thick, double turn-over cuff. A smooth band for the garters. A fully ribbed leg. And a heel & toe method I developed from three different techniques melded together.



I have found sourcing yarns to be the hardest part of this hobby. I found a custom yarn dying shop in Vancouver, BC and currently have 12 different colors.
I am having fun mixing and matching cuffs and legs.





I'm not looking at this as a new business venture as much as a hobby. Some day soon I will have my technique down and the hope is that I will be able to do Argyles and diced hose. Wish me luck with that.

I am really enjoying going to fiber art festivals and demonstrating these fascinating machines.

[davidlpope]

Steve,

Do you have a place where we can view the currently available yarn colors?

Thanks,

David

[Dale-of-Cedars]

Frankly I was expecting to see the kilt hose of a Company Sergeant-Major...

[Steve Ashton]

Steve,

Do you have a place where we can view the currently available yarn colors?

Thanks,

David

I currently have 12 colors in stock.

[MacKenzie]

I'd like to get on the list.

Olive leg w/Stone cuff & Oxblood leg w/ginger cuff, please.

[The Wizard of BC]

There is no list.

If you would like a pair of hose please send me an email to service@freedomkilts.com.

I will need your shoe size and width. i.e. size 11 EEE.
I will need to know the length you want measured from the floor up to where you want the top of the fold over to be on your leg. Take this while standing. This can be in inches or cm.
I will need the circumference of the largest part of your calf. Use a tape measure in either inches or cm.
And finally I need to know what color you want. If you want the cuff a different color from the leg let me know which color is for the cuff and which color is for the leg.

Please do not ask me to make diced or Argyle hose yet. I am still working on my technique and am not comfortable doing those yet. YET!

Please expect 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.

[MacKenzie]

I'm on it!

[kiltedcontractor]

Steve, you are a patient man. That looks tedious. I especially like the story of taking parts and replacing them. I imagine in the end a new machine where old was and the old machine reassembled in his workshop. Like super slow motion transport.

[Steve Ashton]

David, "PeeWee" Erlbacher was one of those old school, decent and honest sort of guys.
A 5th generation machinist who's family had built and worked on Mississippi riverboats.
He passed just a year ago.




Perhaps if I relate a story you will get a feel for the respect I have for him.
I had owned a Circular Sock Machine before. An antique I got off Ebay.. Now, these machines are old world, steam engine technology. They love to be oiled and there is nothing automatic about them. You don't just turn the crank and out pops a sock.

But that old machine never did make a good sock.
It used to be that you could pick these up for a few bucks simply because no one else knew what they were. You could bodger one together from three or four separate machines and resell them for astronomical prices.
So I ended up my original machine for parts.

Then I heard about this new company that was producing new versions of these old machines. They have one feature that the antiques lack. It is called an "Equal Slot Ribber". All of the old machines have a ribbing attachment with 1/2 the needles as are in the cylinders. These new machines have the same number of needles in the ribber as the cylinder. Computer controlled milling machines now make this sort of precision possible.
I know this is total nonsense to most of you but it is a really big deal on these machines.



Each slot can produce either a knit stitch or a purl stitch depending on if you put in a cylinder or a rib needle. This was the first time in over 100 years that this had been done. When I heard about this feature on the Erlbacher machines I bought one sight unseen.

Well, as I said, these machines are totally manual. You have to fiddle with them and adjust them just to get them to run. The learning curve is huge.

So I get my machine and start out learning to use it. And one day I break a part. No fault of the machine nor the maker. It was all my stupidity.
So in a panic I call PeeWee. I'm apologizing and trying to assure the guy that it was not his fault.
In a quiet, calm voice he says. "OK Steve, don't worry, a new part will be in the mail today.".
And you know what? It was. No questions, no excuses. He didn't even ask for, or expect payment. A machine he made had a broken part and he replaced it. Just like that.

Well, I was so impressed I bought a plane ticket, flew and drove to Cape Girardeau, MO just to shake the guys hand. While there I was treated like a king. They gave me full run of the machine shop, took me to lunch each day, and even invited me to their home for dinner.

I now own three of these sock knitting machines. Two are new Erlbachers and one is an antique which has been upgraded with new Erlbacher parts.







And I love playing with these machines. There is something very soothing about turning a crank, hearing their rhythmic clicking and having a sock come out the bottom. My engineer's brain just syncs with the idea of how they work. And I have gotten pretty good with them. The CSM world is even smaller than the kilt world, so it is easy to become fairly well known. I am asked for advice and help about once a week. There will even be a gathering next year, here in Victoria, of people with old and new CSM's. We call them 'crank-in's" and we we share experiences and learn new tricks. A representative of the Erlbacher Co. will fly up just to offer expert advice and assistance.



If you hand knit it takes about a week to produce a pair of Kilt Hose. With these machines I can make a pair in a day. I will never be able to do this, and make a living from it, but it is not about making money.
I have one customer who lost the toes on one foot due to diabetes. I'm able to make the right sock only 4" long to fit him perfectly.
I have another customer who is a Highland Games athlete. He has massive calves. For the first time in his life he is able to have a pair of kilt hose that actually fit his legs.
Pretty soon I'll have my technique down and will be able to make Argyles and perhaps even full Tartan hose.

And I'm having a heck of a lot of fun doing it. An old, grey haired guy in a kilt, surrounded by women. The world just does not get any better.

[The Wizard of BC]

[COLOR=#000000][INDENT]Someone PM'd me and asked about solid colored socks,

Yes, single colored sock are also possible.



As are traditional style, tied garters.



Here is where i am headed. I'm not quite there yet.