"Turning the Heel Lesson......"

Pat took on the challenge of showing me how to "turn the heel" on a sock. She'd brought an extra machine "just in case" someone who was interested came to the event and wanted to do some cranking.

Here she is having me thread the machine with new yarn.....

Through the yarn carrier down to the knitting cylinder.......

Placing it between the correct 2 knitting needles and attaching it with a clip (for weight) to hold it in place.

Slowly turning the crank with my right hand while holding the knitted yarn underneath with my left hand, to make sure there is weight/tension so the stitches will knit the new yarn and not drop off the cylinder.

Even though I was slowly turning the crank, everything seemed to happen so quickly!

Uh oh....a skipped or non-knitted stitch?

4 rows knitted!

The clip could be removed at this point since the machine had caught and knitted the new yarn for several rounds.

Oh the concentration! ;)

Picking up a non-knitted stitch (I think....). There definitely was a lot of "user error", but Pat also said the yarn might be a little too thin as well. Needless to say, I picked up on that comment right away, even though it really isn't any excuse, but I'm taking all the angles that I can get. :)

Pat is a very good teacher. Take it from one who recognizes and appreciates a person with patience. She took what could have been a very stressful situation and made it a relaxed and comfortable time for learning. Thank you Pat for helping make my first crank in even more memorable!

A few more crank in photos tomorrow......