knitmaster – WickedWoollies

getting started, knitmaster, Uncategorized

Get some Practice Yarn

11th Apr 201912th Apr 2019 WickedWoollies

Before you attempt to make any ‘proper’ garments, you need to practice. This is good for several reasons. Firstly, you need to check that the machine is in working order… are all the needles working etc. Second, you need to learn how to use the machine. Third you need to test different types of yarns in the machine. Fourthly, you need to try out different stitches and patterns to see how they look.

In order to do this on a budget, you need to find some cheaper yarn to practice with. You can also use left-over yarn for ‘waste’ yarn. Waste yarn is used to protect the main yarn of the garment. It is usually used for casting on and casting off (binding off).

The cheapest type of yarn is usually acrylic. This is a light-weight man-made yarn that can look and feel like wool. Cotton is the next cheapest, and this is natural and can be stiff, heavy. A cotton/acrylic mixture is a very nice yarn to work with. Wool is the natural fibre spun from the coats of various animals, the most common being lambs/sheep and alpaca. Some people, like me, are sensitive to wool and cannot wear or work with it. Wool is more expensive to buy but there are wool/acrylic mixtures that make it more affordable. Cashmere is a yarn made from a special type of goat and is very expensive, but very luxurious to wear.

The best yarns for practice are acrylic and acrylic mixtures. If you look on Ebay you can find a good range, but the postage costs soon mount up. You may be able to find a job-lot of yarn at a suitable price near enough to collect (Try gumtree, ebay etc). However, it may take time to find it.

For most knitting machines, you will be looking for yarn on a cone as this is the most suitable type of yarn for most knitting machines. This also means that you have a lot of yarn that will not run out in the middle of your knitting. These cones can be put on the knitting table behind the machine, but the best place is down on the floor behind the machine. This gives more time for the yarn to smooth out before it gets into the mast. I put my yarn on a small plank of wood, raised off the ground. This stops my feet from knocking over the cones.

Small ball of hand knitting yarns are only suitable for simple types of machines like the Bond knitting machine or the Silver Reed LK150. If you have a mid-gauge or chunky simple machine and balls of hand-knitting yarn that you want to use, you need to rewind the balls of yarn into’cakes’. You do this with the help of a wool winder. The standard type of wool winder will rewind balls up to 100g. The resulting cakes can be used with your machine by taking out the thread from the middle of the cake and threading this into mast/carriage.

waste yarn and main yarn using 2 strands of industrial yarn

If you have purchased a mixed pack of cones and you find them too thin for your type of machine, you can use a twisting stack to twist 2 or 3 yarns together. You will need to put the stack and cones on the floor. My next post will give more details about yarns and thickness to help you to decide what yarns to twist. I twisting stack will allow you to twist up to 3 yarns. I have two so that I can twist waste yarn with my main yarn, or I can do fairisle with two colours.

I have a large/jumbo wool winder that I got cheaply on the Internet and love it. I buy large cones of yarn from BSK and wind off some onto a spare plastic ‘hat’ (also known as bobbin) and twist them together using my Hague twisting stack. I would get at least one more spare ‘hats’ or ‘bobbins’. (Alternatively you could tape some card around the hat and then take this off and slip on another spare empty cone!).

Best Practice Yarn Option:

I highly recommend going to Yeoman Yarns and choosing one of their starter packs of yarn. They cost £30 for 4 kilos and £35 for 6 kilos. The yarn is good quality and this is a fantastic deal as postage is free to UK.

You should specify your type of knitting machine and thickness of yarn needed. You can try and get your favourite colours, but this is practice yarn so colour does not really matter. However, I would ask to not have black or dark blue if you do not have good eyesight. You will not get everything you want as it depends upon what they have in stock, but they will try to meet your needs.

FIne Gauge: Ask for mainly 3 ply with some 2 ply
Standard Gauge: Ask for mainly 4 ply with 3ply (those allergic to wool should specify this and ask for 2 ply)
Mid-Gauge: Ask for mainly DK wool with some aran
Chunky: Ask for aran and chunky

You will also notice that they have other 4 kilo and 6 kilo packs of specific type of yarn. For example, you can get a chunky/aran yarn pack for £45 and you can specify your favourite colours. These packs are a little more expensive but they are ideal for your next pack to try and make some garments.

Additionally fine gauge and standard gauge machine knitters can also buy thin industrial acrylic in cheap packs at BSK. BSK has clearance packs of coned yarn from 2 kilos to 10 kilos. The costs range from £11.00 to £42.00. You would have to pay postage, but if you were buying more yarn, spare needles, long brush etc you get free postage to the UK if your order is over £50. They have a good range of industrial acrylic and cotton/acrylic mixes as well as bramwell yarn, yeoman yarn, and some fancy yarns. I like to buy a stash of yarn from BSK each year. I particularly like their cotton/acrylic mix and hope that they get some more in.

So order some yarn and lets get ready to do some knitting.

brother, getting started, knitmaster, machine knitting, singer/studio

Which Knitting Machine shall I get?

6th Feb 201925th Mar 2019 WickedWoollies

If you do a search on the Internet for Knitting Machines, you will find a vast array of different types and prices that you can buy on the second-hand market. For a beginner, new to machine knitting, this can be very overwhelming and confusing. It It can be difficult to decide which knitting machine to buy as the answer is not simple. No one machine can do everything so it might be a better question to decide which one to buy first. And as a beginner, unless you know exactly what you want to knit, this should be one that is easy to use and has easily available spares, tools and accessories.

Several factors can help a person to decide which one to start with.

Make
Budget (condition, functionality)
Gauge (which yarn to knit with)

Make

In the UK the home knitter will have a choice of about 5 makes of knitting machine. There is the simple plastic Bond (Ultimate Sweater Machine). This is cheap but does not have a lot of functionality but might be a good starting point if you want are on a small budget and want to use cheap balls of DK wool from places like Aldi. Here is a page with links to information about all the techniques that you can do on a BOND. And here is site that has a lot of free patterns that you can download.

There are also the European machines known as Passap, Pfaff and Singer Superba. The Pfaff and the Singer Superba (Phildar, White) are not common and not suitable choices for the beginner. The Passap is a double-bed machine that works slightly differently so is not considered suitable for beginners but does produce lovely textured fabric if you have one that is working. Here is a link to a site that has a number of Passap manuals and patterns. And there are more patterns on Ravelry.com.

The website will focus upon the more common Japanese machines known as Brother (KnitKing in the US), Empisal Knitmaster/Silver Reed (also known as Silver Viscount, Studio, and Singer) and Toyota Elna. Toyotas are cheap to buy second-hand but more difficult to get spare parts so is not really suitable for beginners, however, if you have inherited one then I suggest that you join the Toyota Knitting Machine FaceBook group and get help there. Here is a link to the History of Toyota Machines with the different ones available. If you do have a Toyota machine, then you can still learn the basic techniques on this website.

Budget

Many Knitmaster/Silver Reed and Brother/Knitking machines were manufactured in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (some silver reed since then). They range in price from an old machine, condition unknown of £50 or less ranging to a new machine with software of around £2000. I am ignoring bundles which can include accessories like the ribber and colourchanger etc. The price you will pay for a single-bed machine usually depends upon the following factors:-

Age of machine
Condition of machine
Demand for the machine
Access to spare and accessories
Functionality

If you want a new machine then you only have the choice of 3 Silver Reed machines from Silver Viscount or one of their stockists. There are now some ‘brother’ type machines being made in China, but some think the quality is dubious. It will be interesting to see if they improve in the future.

If you want a different machine the you will be looking at getting a second-hand machine. You can buy a reconditioned machine with a warranty from a variety of sources, my next post will highlight the best ones that I know. If you can afford one, then this is a good choice for the beginner who wants the machine to work straightaway.

If you are on a small budget then you will need to look out for a second-hand bargain on the internet or in local charity shops etc. The main problem will be the condition of the machine. It may have been stored away and needs a good clean. It may be missing tools and you will need to buy some more. It may need repairs and this is extra cost. Are you willing to do this yourself, or do you need to find someone to do this? You will need to weigh up the condition of the machine (check any pictures, ask questions, try and see the machine before you buy) with the price being asked.

Most of the machines that still work were manufactured in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Over this period of time the machines new versions were developed that had more and more functionality, usually related to their ability to create different patterns. These machines can also be divided into Manual Patterning, Punchcard Patterning and Electronic Patterning. These terms were explained in the previous post.

Manual machines are cheap and good for the beginner, but quickly become tiresome to operate. Electronic machines are usually more expensive and will need electronics or software to operate. The electronics are now very old and could fail so I would get a reconditioned machine if you can afford this. DesignaKnit software and cables can be bought to work with many Brother or Silver Reed machines, but check first. The software choice might not be the best for a beginner, but can be something to think about for your second machine. A punchcard machine is the best choice for a beginner. They are more robust and reliable and offer a range of patterns and stitches to support your new knitting hobby.

The final part of the decision of which machine to buy depends upon the type of yarn that you wish to knit with or more specifically the thickness of the yarn. No machine can knit the full range of yarns, if you want to do this you will need to buy more than one machine.

Home Knitting Machines can be divided into 4 types depending upon the thickness of yarn that it can knit. This is known in the trade as the GAUGE. This relates to the spacing between the needles (and thickness of needles). The following table shows the type of machine, the type of wool it can knit and the names of the knitting machines that you should look for. (passap and pfaff machines are 5mm gauge).

Gauge

FINE 7 gauge	STANDARD 5.6 gauge	MID 3.9 gauge	CHUNKY 2.8 gauge
3.6 mm 250 needles	4.5 mm 200 needles	6.5 mm 105/140/150/160 needles	9 mm 110 needles
1ply, 2ply, 3ply lace, fingering, light fingering	2ply, 3ply, 4ply fingering, sock	4 ply, DK, aran, fingering, sock, sport, worsted,	(DK), aran, chunky, bulky, mohair
		Simple: LK140 LK150 (plastic)	Simple: Bond (8 mm) Knitmaster/SR LK100, Zippy 90 Brother:- KH230
Punchcard:	Punchcard:	Punchcard:	Punchcard:
Knitmaster:- F270 F370 Brother:- KH120	Knitmaster:- 321, 323, 260, 360, 700, 740, zippy deluxe, Zippy Plus, Silver Reed:- sk280 Brother:- KH860, KH881 KH836, KH890, KH891	Knitmaster:- MK70 (foldup) SK160 Brother:- KX395 (convertable 4.5 and 9 mm)	Knitmaster:- SK120, SK121, SK150 (steel), SK151, SK155, SK160 Brother:- KH260
Electronic:	Electronic:	Electronic:	Electronic:
Silver Reed:- SK830	Knitmaster:- 500, 550, 560, 580 Silver Reed:- SK840 Brother: KH900, KH910, KH940, KH950, KH950i, KH965, KH965i, KH970	Silver Reed: SK860	Silver Reed: SK890 Brother:- KH270

A great museum site for range of knitting machines can be found here.
A full range of knitting machines can be found h ere .
great historical list of Studio/Singer/Knitmaster machines and accessories here.
Info on Knitmaster range of machines and accessories can be found here.
Brother range can be found here and thoughts on range of Brother machines h ere.

If you want to buy new then you can choose from the simple plastic mid-gauge LK150, the SK280 standard gauge punchcard or the SK840 standard gauge electronic machine, all can be seen at www.silverviscount.co.uk along with available new accessories.

If you are buying reconditioned or secondhand, the fine gauge and mid-gauge machines are rare and command high prices. For a beginner on a budget wanting a machine that patterns, the best choice is a standard gauge punchcard machine or a chunky gauge, although the latter are not so common.

Personally, I have owned 5 or 6 machines in my lifetime and as a beginner I like my standard gauge punchcard machine as it is easy to use and punchcards are cheap. I do not knit thicker yarns often and am happy to hand knit them.

The choice between Brother and Knitmaster/Silver Reed is not easy as they both knit the same types of patterns, Knitmaster/Silver Reed uses levers on the carriage, Brother uses buttons. Knitmaster/Silver Reed parts are more easily available and old accessories work on newer machines. Brother have different types of accessories but were more popular in the UK so there are more second-hand machines available. Some Brother machines also have garter carriages that can create purl stitches. Some of the Brother machines can be used with img2track software. Knitmaster machines were liked for their lace carriages.

In conclusion I believe that Brother or Knitmaster/Silver Reed is the best choice for a beginner. Punchcard machines are the best choice overall. Standard gauge machines and 4 ply yarn patterns is the most common choice and the most supported. However, if you want to knit with DK yarn then you may need to wait until a suitable machine comes along or buy a simple LK150 new.

If you are still unsure find out if there is a knitting machine club in your area and go and see some machines. Do a search on YouTube for knitting machines to get a better idea of how they knit and how easy or difficult they are to use.

Remember that you do not have to find your ideal machine straight away, the machine that you begin on can be resold so that you can find your ideal machine once you have a better idea of what you want to knit.

Here is an interesting YouTube video about choosing machines.

My next post discusses the best places in the UK (some with international delivery) to get your first machine.

knitmaster, machine knitting, Uncategorized

2019: A good time to learn Machine Knitting

4th Jan 20199th Feb 2019 WickedWoollies

Hi, I am Carol and live with my cat Jenson. Finding myself with time on my hands and needing a challenge, I decided to learn the old art of Machine Knitting. I have been researching into machine knitting, learning what I can and looking for bargains. I am recording my progress, good and bad, in this blog for me and anyone else to learn from. I am also creating a contents list of useful posts to act as a beginners guide to machine knitting.

I used to knit and crochet when I was young, but stopped once I started work, probably because I had less time but more money to just buy my clothes. Now without unemployment, I have decided that 2019 is the year to get to grips with my long term ambition to add machine knitting to my list of crafty hobbies. My dreams are full of beautiful garments for me and my family (hoping this will come true). However, I now have to do this on a tight budget.

I bought and used 3 knitting machines in the 1980s. I had a Bond knitting machine, a Singer 90, and a Knitmaster 370. This fine gauge machine was bought second-hand. I had to go up to Scotland to get it. Unfortunately when I tried to use this machine in 2017 it got damaged and I found it difficult to find spare parts cheaply because of its rarity. I also found the lack of fine knit patterns and information a problem. So, in 2018, I started to look for a machine more suited to a beginner on a budget. It took some time but I did find some great bargains and now have a Knitmaster 700 punchcard and a Knitmaster 550 electronic and a range of interesting accessories and old cones of yarn. I found that the punchcard was simpler and easier to used and therefore more suitable for a beginner. After spending time learning the basics techniques, I created a simple jumper for my mum for Xmas. This got me hooked and now I am ready to fully embrace this hobby and expand my skills.

I want to make this site a place to hold all the useful knowledge and resources that I come across. This will help me to refer back to this knowledge in a quick and easy way. I hope to add information about knitting techniques and some basic patterns. I will also add blogs about my progress and the garments that I am making.

I am hoping that the knowledge and wisdom that I acquire may also prove useful to any other beginners that come across this information. I know that there is a HUGE learning curve to using a machine. Just getting the machine to work can be a problem, especially with old second-hand machines.

So let the adventure begin!