“When Shirley brought the machine home I thought she was crazy. I said, nah, you're nuts, you're crazy, what are you going to do with it?” laughed Parry.
He's since changed his tune.
The “machine” was actually a rather unique item, with an interesting history to match its strange appearance.
What Shirley Anne Vokey had brought home that day, now several years ago, was a Legare circular sock knitting machine – an increasingly rare relic from the First World War.
The name pretty much sums it up: it is a hand-cranked machine that uses a circular cylinder filled with numerous knitting needles, in conjunction with various weights and hooks, to make socks.
The couple has since started a small retirement business called Shirley Anne's Sox and are regulars at the Summerside Farmer's Market. They also have a website at http://shirleyannesox.homestead.com.
They got the idea to start the business after Vokey took an interest in learning how the machine worked.
“I think the business idea came along when I made too many socks at home,” she said.
Vokey and Parry have become something of an oddity at the market, where they spend almost as much time talking about the machine as they do using it.
“It's different. There's a lot of interest in it. I guess it's the historical value and the fact that they had that technology 100 years ago,” she said
During the First World War, all of the involved nations needed a near constant supply of wool socks for their soldiers, who were not only battling the enemy but also trench foot.
Factories couldn't keep up with the demand and hand knitting took too long, so eventually a cross between the two was needed.
The circular sock machine was born.
In Canada, the largest brand was made by a Quebec company called Legare. Roughly 15,000 of the machines were distributed to women across the nation and the deal was that if they knitted 10 pounds of wool socks they could keep the machine.
Fast forward 100 years and Vokey got her hands on one of the machines through a friend of her sister's.
The machines are now incredibly rare, as they are very sensitive – even a small crack in the cast iron casing will render them useless.
However, machines in working order produce top quality knitted items using fine wool. Because of this, they are prized by collectors.
Vokey bought hers for $900 and taught herself how to use it through a combination of YouTube videos and trial and error.
She and Parry are originally farmers from an Ontario community called Courtland, near Tillsonburg.
They moved to P.E.I. earlier this year on advice from Parry's doctors. He's had life prolonging surgery and medical officials told him that humidity would be adverse to his health – so they sold everything and retired here, buying a home in Freetown.
Shirley Anne's Sox is their way of keeping busy in their retirement.
And Parry has since seen the light in terms of the machine. In fact, he now has one of his own and helps Vokey make her various knitted items.
“She couldn't keep up with making the socks at home and working, so somebody had to help her – and that somebody had to be me,” he said.
Anyone who would like to check out the Shirley Anne's Sox can do so every Saturday at the Summerside Farmers market, except this weekend as they will be at the TOSH Cristmas Craft Fair (Room 108).
Colin.MacLean@JournalPioneer.com
@JournalPMacLean
“When Shirley brought the machine home I thought she was crazy. I said, nah, you're nuts, you're crazy, what are you going to do with it?” laughed Parry.
He's since changed his tune.
The “machine” was actually a rather unique item, with an interesting history to match its strange appearance.
What Shirley Anne Vokey had brought home that day, now several years ago, was a Legare circular sock knitting machine – an increasingly rare relic from the First World War.
The name pretty much sums it up: it is a hand-cranked machine that uses a circular cylinder filled with numerous knitting needles, in conjunction with various weights and hooks, to make socks.
The couple has since started a small retirement business called Shirley Anne's Sox and are regulars at the Summerside Farmer's Market. They also have a website at http://shirleyannesox.homestead.com.
They got the idea to start the business after Vokey took an interest in learning how the machine worked.
“I think the business idea came along when I made too many socks at home,” she said.
Vokey and Parry have become something of an oddity at the market, where they spend almost as much time talking about the machine as they do using it.
“It's different. There's a lot of interest in it. I guess it's the historical value and the fact that they had that technology 100 years ago,” she said
During the First World War, all of the involved nations needed a near constant supply of wool socks for their soldiers, who were not only battling the enemy but also trench foot.
Factories couldn't keep up with the demand and hand knitting took too long, so eventually a cross between the two was needed.
The circular sock machine was born.
In Canada, the largest brand was made by a Quebec company called Legare. Roughly 15,000 of the machines were distributed to women across the nation and the deal was that if they knitted 10 pounds of wool socks they could keep the machine.
Fast forward 100 years and Vokey got her hands on one of the machines through a friend of her sister's.
The machines are now incredibly rare, as they are very sensitive – even a small crack in the cast iron casing will render them useless.
However, machines in working order produce top quality knitted items using fine wool. Because of this, they are prized by collectors.
Vokey bought hers for $900 and taught herself how to use it through a combination of YouTube videos and trial and error.
She and Parry are originally farmers from an Ontario community called Courtland, near Tillsonburg.
They moved to P.E.I. earlier this year on advice from Parry's doctors. He's had life prolonging surgery and medical officials told him that humidity would be adverse to his health – so they sold everything and retired here, buying a home in Freetown.
Shirley Anne's Sox is their way of keeping busy in their retirement.
And Parry has since seen the light in terms of the machine. In fact, he now has one of his own and helps Vokey make her various knitted items.
“She couldn't keep up with making the socks at home and working, so somebody had to help her – and that somebody had to be me,” he said.
Anyone who would like to check out the Shirley Anne's Sox can do so every Saturday at the Summerside Farmers market, except this weekend as they will be at the TOSH Cristmas Craft Fair (Room 108).
Colin.MacLean@JournalPioneer.com
@JournalPMacLean
