the Odd Sockery
& Maker Leanne Wills
We are surrounded by stories.
Growing up in the Mallee country of a dry Australia, by the banks of the Murray River. I grew up thinking, much of our country was the colour of the rich red dirt & saltbush my family would frequent on fishing & camping trips, with the grapevines and citrus groves for relief. I was fascinated by the stories of early pioneers to such places. Places that could seem so inhospitable, yet where indigenous populations had previously lived a life of relative plenty. I remember a childhood rummaging through abandoned shearing sheds and huts, imagining the lives lived out before. Climbing trees, marking out living spaces under its branches & imagining the early inhabitants enjoying its shade, along the banks of its river.
I relished the stories my parents told.
…Of their forebears, back in England, Scotland, Switzerland. Tales of my Fathers side the ‘Jessops’, Industrialists and Engineers of cast iron & steel. Manufacturing in the Brightside Steelworks, Sheffield. Their collaboration with the ‘Brunnel’ Engineering father son duo. The exhibited pieces in the Great Exhibition of London by Jessop’s. My more recent discovery of Brunnels part in having designed the first circular knitting machine, now makes it appear that I may have been destined to have found my way to these HandCranked Circular Sock Knitting Machines. The design of which goes back to the 1800’s..
There is a synchronicity to my merging with the sound of the crank being turned, of man & machine merging together.
Oh the stories these machines could tell. In the factories where they first appeared & later in private homes & businesses where they may have transformed lives and incomes, & my thoughts go to the men & women whose lives might have been changed by their industry and use of these machines. The early advertising of these machines for use in the domestic market, used terms like…Home Profit Master…Earn Extra Income..
They actually made these machines available on Hire Purchase agreements. This I believe, had the potential to be life changing for many. And more particularly for women, looking for that rare commodity…Independence. This machine came at the cusp of The Industrial Revolution….A life changer for so many.
“Brilliant socks- incredibly comfortable, look fantastic too!”
— CYNTHIA