The upper right corner of the post card is slightly stained from fingerprints. This post card was probably passed around many times, from Emory to Joseph, and then on to Leonard, then John, and then to some of the factory workers with oil on their hands, and then back to Emory. Since the post card is likely from 1916, those stains would probably be about 96 years old now.

So why doesn’t anyone smile on old photographs. Have you noticed? In fact, the older the photo, the less, and less, and less a person smiles. I think those new-fangled camera machines must have been serious business to someone that had never had their photo taken before (except for that guy on the right; he’s obviously a happy dude).

Take this photo, for instance. The caption says “At Home, 1916 Xmas”. And then in the lower right corner something is written which I cannot make out. Is it the name of the man playing the piano? What is “home”, I wonder? Whose home is this? I’m positive its Emory’s handwriting, so the man at the piano surely must be someone very close.

Of Joseph’s three sons, Leonard (b. 1874, d. 1962) would have been 42, John (b. 1877, d. 1965) would have been 39, and Emory (b. 1888, d. 1969) would have been 28. The side profile doesn’t look like Emory. Plus, Emory did not play the piano.

I suspect you’d probably have to be a close descendant of one of the three sons to make an identification. If you think you can figure out the location and name of this person, I’d sure like to hear from you.

So, it been over a year since I last posted…. I bet you are wondering what happened, especially since I’m still logging on to approve and reply to comments.

The archive material is still here. I have, however, added one more family member, and since I’m in the computer industry, I’ve been working hard to stay afloat in this awful economy. Therefore, I haven’t a lot of extra time.

Sophie Gearhart is now a little over one year old, and she is the cutest little thing you’ve ever seen. Of course, I’m 55, so at my age everyone thinks that she’s my grand daughter. In reality though, … I’m doing some math here … so when I’m 77, she’ll be just be graduating from college? Does that mean I’ve got to keep working until I’m 77? Holy smokes.

As I have time, I’m going to try and re-gain some momentum on the history of the Gearhart Knitting Machine Company. There is a lot to say still. I may diverge into old family history, but that’s OK also.

I have recently been in touch with some family members, so hopefully we can share some information and provide some interesting history for your reading pleasure.

So, with his passing, the company’s history is now truely into the history books.

If, by any change, you know of someone still living, who remembers the Gearhart Knitting Machine Company when it was in operation, I would like to hear from you.

Its November 8th, so we’ve got one and a half months till Christmas. Feel like sending me a Christmas present for all my hard work on this blog? You do? Ahh, great! I’m on the lookout for nice socks knitted on the Gearhart Knitting Machine, that I could include with the archive. A subdued factory-color would be nice – a shade of grey would be nice.

Maybe even a non-sock… something like a scarf? That would be a really nice addition to the archive as well!

So if you are in the donating mood and the Christmas mood, then I might be a good candidate for your homemade knitted things.

In the last half of the booklet titled Do You Know that the Gearhart Hand-Knitting Machine Will Knit More Than One Hundred Different Articles?, there are illustrations of forty three items that can be knit using the machine.

I would be very interested to know if any of today’s knitters are knitting any of these forty three items. Better yet, if you have any photos, I’d love to post them!!

I’m tempted to build a display case for my 1925 machine, which has a stand. Right now, the stand is stored away and the machine itself is sitting in my curio. Its not really the best setting, I’ll admit, especially since I’m supposed to be the one most likely to exhibit the machine in its entirety.

So maybe I’ll build a display case… like the one here… if I can convince my wife that its not an eyesore to have in one’s living room. Speaking of where to put a knitting machine, here is an section from one of the brochures:

Quiet and Easy Running

The Gearhart Hand Knitter when in use is even quieter than most sewing machines. It can barely be heard in the next room. Its mechanical perfection and the skill put into its constructino, have made the machine a marvel of silent operation. Besides, it is light and easy to carry, weighing only thirty pounds, including the strong metal stand it rests on – almost ornamental in appearance. While it can be tucked away in an odd corner because of its compacdt size, it is not unsightly to have in your living room.

Realizing this, the Gearhart Knitting Machine Company settled on three basic outfits for sale, the Single, Double, and Triple Outfit. These options were related to the number of cylinders included with the machine, and quite naturally directed towards the beginning, intermediate, and advanced user. From a full-page spread published in 1925, we see the following information about this:

The Gearhart Hand Knitting Machine is offered with one, two, or three cylinders – a cylinder, so called, is that part of the machine which contains the knitting needles.

The Gearhart Single Outfit has one cylinder of 80 needles and is for those who want to make a limited kind of knitting – medium weight articles.

The Gearhart Double Outfit has two interchangeable cylinders of needles, one nearly the same as the Single Outfit cylinder, and the other having 100 needles for knitting lighter weight articles. [My Note: I believe the first cylinder would be either 60 or 72 needles, since this is a very common option on the machines in existence today].

The Gearhart Triple Outfit has three interchangable cylinders – one cylinder of 60 needles for heavy weight articles; one of 80 needles for medium weight articles; and one of 100 needles for light weight articles.

In order to be enabled to knit any type of knit goods, it would be necessary to have the Triple Outfit.

So, based on this, I would conclude that all other cylinders would be a special-order item. I have yet to see a 140-needle cylinder. But I would be very interested in hearing from anyone who has such a cylinder. Better yet, would you be interested in selling it? I would love to add this type of cylinder to the archives, alongside all the other cylinders in my collection.

Here are several of the Fancy Stitches promoted through the Gearhart Knitting Machine catalogs:

Hmmm. As I look at that nice knitted vest, I can’t help noticing that the model looks extremely similar to some pictures of my grandmother. I never met her, since she died in 1945. But, the resemblesce is very close… and she was Emory’s wife. As president of the company, he would certainly be in the position to have his wife model some of the goods manufactured with the Gearhart Knitting Machine.

Its nice to think that my grandmother was a catalog model, so I’ll go along with this idea until I discover the true identity of some of the models I see sprinkled throughout the various catalogs. Odds are, I’ll never know. So I’m happy thinking that this is my grandmother’s picture. Well, after all, this was a small company in a small town…

The list goes on and on, complete with illustrations. Below is just the sock list. This list comprizes the front section of the booklet. The back section has all the “other” things.

Publish under the label of the Clearfield Knitting Machine Company, this booket came along pretty late in the company’s life. It would have been interesting to see how things might have proceeded if the company had emphasized all the “other” things that could be made with the machine. If I were a prolific knitter back then, or a sponsor to a small army of knitters, I’d be inclined to open up a retail store in some city along the lines of the custom tailor shops we see today.

Here is the lead-in for the booklet:

New and Proved Plan for Big Home Earnings

This booklet illustrates more than one hundred different types of knitting and almost as many different kinds of articles easily made on the marvelous Gearhart Hand Knitting Machine.

Every sort of knitting which used to be done in the old fashioned way with straight knitting needles, is now being done a hundred times faster by the Gearhart Hand Knitter. Not only faster but far more accurately and with a finer finish. The machine is a mechanical marvel – one of the really important labor-saving inventions of the later part of the last century.

It is simple to operate – easy to learn by following the latest and improved Instruction Book. In fact, there is every reason why anyone should quickly learn to produce any type of knitting on it.