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Weaver’s Cabin volunteers crank out socks

Jodi Horgan, a member of the Butler Spinners and Weavers Guild, demonstrates how she operates a replica of the circular soft knitting machine on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Harmony, PA. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

HARMONY — Circular sock knitting machines aren’t just for knitting socks.

Members of the Butler Spinners and Weavers Guild who volunteer at Weaver’s Cabin of Harmony put on a demonstration of how the hand-cranked devices work Saturday outside of the cabin on Mercer Street.

Originally created in the late 16th century and patented in the United States in the 1860s, circular sock knitting machines were meant to replace the time and labor intensive process of hand knitting socks.

“The sock-knitting machines have been around for hundreds of years,” said Diane McCrae, a volunteer at the cabin, who was demonstrating on a 1906 Gearhart circular sock knitting machine that she restored.

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