THE first pair of socks that Marlene Answer-Lewis ever made took her five months to knit.
“And they still had holes in the heel,” Marlene says ruefully.
She admits that learning to use the vintage Cymbal Sock Knitting Machine was less than enjoyable, with Marlene coming very close to throwing the machine out the window many times.
“It’s very lucky that I’m a bit stubborn,” she says of her incredible feat in perseverance.
Marlene spent a lot of time trawling the internet looking for assistance, and it was on YouTube that she finally discovered a lady, Jamie Mayfield, who made mistakes on purpose.
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“And that’s the only way I learnt, watching her fix all the problems in a series of tutorials,” says Marlene, who can sometimes be found spinning her magic at Made in Mansfield near the High Street roundabout.
“It gave me enough of an understanding to make some adjustments to my machine - tweak the tension - and then re-attempt the socks.”
In the early stages of Marlene’s sock making journey it was slow going.
“My husband would come home at the end of each day, and he’d enquire as to how many socks I’d made,” she laughs.
“And my answer would be three.
“I’ve made three socks.”
Now, however, Marlene likens the experience to learning to drive a car.
“At first, you’re on the road and all these things are going on and you’re trying to maintain concentration while attempting multiple tasks.
“And then it becomes second nature, which is what has happened with the sock machine.
“All the latches are opening and closing, and the heal spring is going, and you are constantly monitoring the process in case something goes wrong - it can be a bit chaotic at first.”
It now takes Marlene 45 minutes to make two socks - a pair.
Socks to fit a size seven foot demand 80 rows in the leg and 60 rows in the foot, with Marlene relying on an old counter to monitor the stitches.
She professes to not like maths. But decades of quilting and her recent commitment to negotiating her way around the sock machine might suggest otherwise.
“I’ve been a quilter for 40 years,” she says of the world of fat quarters and eighths.
And it was about 20 years ago that Marlene invested in a fully computerised, long-arm quilting machine.
Under her business name Redgate Quilting, she quilts-to-order people’s individual patchwork masterpieces.
Business is either very busy or very quiet,” she says.
“When COVID hit in that first year, busy then became an understatement.
“I was absolutely flat out quilting everybody’s lockdown projects, and then the silly masks came along and I made about 800 over a three week block.”
Marlene put everything else on hold, and concentrated on keeping the North East COVID-safe by "stopping the spread."
“I would get up at 4am in the morning and I’d still be sitting at my machine when my husband came home from work.
“He was then delegated packing duty,” she adds with a laugh.
“I had two shops selling the masks, and I’d hand over their quota and get back to work.
“It was this hectic crazy production line that I had never anticipated, and at the end of it all I bought a new thermomix and a washing machine.
“And I didn’t feel guilty!”
However the second year of COVID delivered the polar opposite - projects were shelved and lockdown fatigue had taken the charm out of craft.
There were no quilts and the demand for masks had long been assuaged.
Marlene found herself at a bit of a loose end.
The sock making began on the suggestion of a friend.
“My friend had visions of opening a handmade sock shop, and had asked another friend who was visiting the United Kingdom to find her a sock machine," Marlene says.
“She found two.”
And so, caught up in the enthusiasm of the find and driven by a strong desire to escape the daily housework grind Marlene leapt at the opportunity.
She then paid an exorbitant amount of money to have the cast iron machine and its cast iron table freighted half way across the world.
“I had just got to the point in my life where I had decided I didn’t need to learn another craft,” she says.
“And then suddenly, I was adamant I was going to make socks – caught in a moment of weakness when I was locked up.”
The Cymbal Sock Knitting Machine eventually arrived safe and sound in Marlene’s home town of Alexandra, and so began the long drawn-out process of battling a machine with a century’s worth of idiosyncrasies.
Made in Germany for the British market, the machine was made for the stay-at-home mum to make socks for her family, with the significant investment usually bought via hire purchase.
A hemisphere away and 100 years later, Marlene now makes socks for local markets like the Yea Railway Market and the Tallarook Farmers Market, whilst stocking retail venues like Made in Mansfield.
“I also go to the Pearcedale market as both my girls live down there, and more recently I have started selling at the annual Lost Trades Fair," Marlene adds.
Selling an impressive 120 pairs of socks over the two-day fair, Marlene takes her sock machine with her every time she works a market.
“Lots of people find it fascinating and will stop for a chat, and invariably there will be some old bloke who will accuse me of cheating.
“I then discuss the use of power tools in carpentry and we reach a place of mutual understanding,” she recounted with a chuckle.
Marlene is warm and engaging with an excellent laugh that underscores most of her anecdotes.
She tells a good story, and evidently knits a great sock.
When working at Made in Mansfield - a requirement for all who stock the shop - she brings in her sock machine and perches in the window.
The idea initially horrified her, but now she loves watching the world go by and having a banter with interested customers drawn into the shop to watch her ply her trade.
Using predominantly Australian wool sourced from mills in Wangaratta, Bendigo and Nundle in New South Wales, Marlene opts for cream wool which she then dyes at home.
It’s an art she has perfected, opting for two different techniques to deliver the desired results.
Whether it’s in the crockpot or hand painted and then microwaved and left to cure overnight in an esky, the colours Marlene achieves are vivid and striking.
“I also make to order if you’re looking for a particular colour in a specific size,” she says.
Marlene makes a range of self-striping socks using multi-coloured yarn from the Bendigo Woolen Mill, as well as a range using commercial yarn imported from Turkey and the Czech Republic.
“And I also try my hand at fingerless gloves and head bands,” she says.
And should she have a spare moment, Marlene is quite fond of making hand-crocheted hats, with wool that she hand spins.
For a lady who was not looking for another craft, she certainly has embraced the challenge.
“And one of the upsides, is that I always have a present,” she says with a laugh.
“People love a pair of socks.”
