Tag: machine knitting

Knitting

Machine Knitting and a Crochet Teaser.

Iris Rose

Wow, the week sure has flown by!  I have been busy with my knitting machine this week. 

These were made with self striping sock yarn with a little sacrificed cause I love matchy, matchy.

I have a bunch, okay a ton, no actually about a few hundred skeins of yarn from an ebay binge that I went on a couple of years ago.  You may have recognized the labels from my hat post two weeks ago.  I have to seriously purge my stash before it takes over the house and, as most of the yarn that I bought is sport or finer, the machine just called out to me!

The hat is lined for warmth!

I have had some problems in the past with static that these yarns hold.  I am not sure why but they are way more electric than any other yarn I have used.  It doesn’t seem to matter about the type of fibre.  I normally rewind the skeins into a cake for machine knitting to suss out any knots or imperfections before they hit the tension mast or the carriage and cause a major patterning fail.  Plus, it hurts like crazy when the weights hit your feet as the knitting drops off the needles!  I held a damp wash cloth in my hand and let the yarn run through it while tensioning and, voila, no static!  Why didn’t I think of this years ago??

I am working on a pattern for a toddler’s cardigan, machine knit, with a hand crocheted edge.  The sample turned out really cute, so I am experimenting with sizing now.  I always like to offer a pattern in multiple sizes and, although I know how to do the math from gauge for hand knits and crochet, machine knitting is a little different.  As the samples are quick to knit and can be added to my sales inventory, I am making one in each size to ensure that the pattern is correct.  It will be written out and on sale next week.

Samples ready for blocking and finishing.

I am also working on a hand knit version in worsted weight as I liked the machine knit one so much.  That pattern is going to take just a little bit longer.

I am also working on a crochet pattern for you.  I have a vision of a shawl that I have been cooking in my brain for the last ten months.  I made a sample over the summer but didn’t like it enough to finish it.  I have been mulling over the best stitch pattern to achieve the look that I want and have arrived at a winner I think.  I will let you know how it goes!  Here is a teaser.

Don’t forget about my half price offer on the Gradient Cable Poncho and Northern Rose Shawl patterns, coupon code 50OFF in my Ravelry store!

Knitting

Knitting Machine Rehab

Iris Rose

I have spent the last couple of weekends rehabbing two of my knitting machines.  I have been machine knitting along with hand knitting and crocheting since the late 1980’s (yes, I really am that old) and had put my machines away in 2004 when we moved and spent the next few years living in a fifth wheel trailer and travelling, which is a story for another post.

I have four Singer knitting machines, two acquired recently.  Three are standard gauge and one is bulky gauge.  When we eventually settled here in Calgary and I set up my craft space, I had room for only one machine and chose the standard gauge Singer 560 to leave out permanently.  It seemed the best choice as it knits a finer yarn than I would normally choose to hand knit and has a lace carriage and ribber as well.

As I said, I set it up with my craft space but, with the ordinary busyness of life, it languished under a sheet, unused and lonely.  I joined a facebook group for machine knitters and found my mojo again this spring.

My very pretty wrap made on a standard gauge machine, Singer SK560

Like any piece of machinery, being idle is not good for a knitting machine.  The needle retaining sponge was flat as a pancake and the needles, which I had reused from another machine after straightening them all out which is never a good idea, really needed to be replaced.  The cheapskate in me is the one who straightened them out; I had no part in them being bent in the first place.  I bit the bullet, after a frustrating and stitch dropping trial at making a wrap that I found posted in a YouTube video, and bought a new sponge strip and needles.  The wrap turned out lovely by the way.  The stitches were all picked up and spaced correctly, whew!

Machine knit earflap hats!

Anyway, back to the rehab, all of the needles came out and I thoroughly cleaned the bed and rail and installed new needles.  We scraped out the old sponge and replaced it with new and the machine now knits beautifully.  It is amazing how much lint was trapped in all of the nooks and crannies!

While I was on a roll, I thought about my bulky machine and how much I liked using it in the past for big areas of plain stocking stitch.  I pulled it out and cleaned it this last weekend.  The needles were all in excellent shape and only needed to be cleaned with a good alcohol soak and a wipe down.  My fingers are now grey with old grease.  I guess I should have hauled it out sooner!  I replaced the sponge on the needle retainer bar and the machine looks like new.

I have a matching ribber for this machine and thought about setting the two up together on another table to use.  I pulled out the ribber and, much to my dismay, found it had been broken during one of the moves that we made.  Both of the plastic end caps are snapped and the bracket for the pitch leaver is smashed.  I have looked on line and cannot find any parts available as these machines were manufactured in the 80’s and 90’s.  I really don’t know what I can do to replace the plastic pieces, maybe 3D printing?  The ribber is usable but I don’t know for how long.  If I took a picture of myself when I found the damage you would have seen me crying.

I am going to start up again with machine knitting and will show you some of my work and post some patterns here as they are developed. 

I am also working on a crocheted shawl pattern that I have been designing in my head for a while.  It is time to actually make it and develop the pattern for you.

Knitting

Machine Knitting a Wrap

Iris Rose

As much as I love to hand knit and crochet, there is always a place in my heart for machine knitting.

It seems as though the common feeling about machine knitting is that it is a form of cheating.  Most will imply that the process that produces beautiful knits must be hand done to be a skill that is worth having; it is too easy.  Tell that to the beginner that has dropped all of the work off of the machine for the eighth time and can’t figure out why!  It also happens to those of us with experience too.

Yes, machine knitting is fast but it also is a process, like hand knitting and crocheting, that can be enjoyed for the art as well as the finished product.  If you take your time and hand manipulate your stitches there is a real satisfaction that you have produced a unique and wearable piece.  Even using the pattern cards that are set for you, there is still the required knowledge of how a piece is constructed and shaped that you need to master.  You need to visualize how the pattern will fit the article that you are making; you need to understand your tools as well as how your machine works.

I always read any forum post that I can that concerns machine knitting.  I have used a machine for many years and am always happy to learn a new technique that will advance my skill level.  I read on the Knitting Paradise forum section on machine knitting (Knitting Paradise is a great resource and general fun to read webpage) about a wrap that was made by hand manipulating needles in and out of work to produce a “swiss cheese” fabric.  The forum post linked to a Youtube video that demonstrated a scarf pattern right down to the hand crocheted edging.  Here is the wrap before and after blocking.

                            

I was intrigued and, even though I hadn’t used my machine for a couple of years, I set it up, cleaned it up, and went to work.  I made the scarf into a wrap by increasing the number of sets of stitches worked and making it longer.  The technique is pretty easy to master as long as you don’t get distracted.  I ended up ripping back a few times but overall I am pretty happy with the way my wrap turned out.

Here is a link to the video; it is subtitled in another language and no voice on the audio but is easy to follow.  Ideally, have a tablet or laptop by your machine and review the video if you get stuck.  I ran back to my computer to check a couple of times so having the video close by would have helped.  Once I got past the first pattern repeat it was smooth sailing, until I dropped a couple of stitches, (insert salty language here)!

The finished wrap didn’t look like much when I took it off of the machine but with blocking it turned out to be a beautiful and very wearable work of art.

In my next post, I will be sharing a new free pattern!