Knitting Machines

• 
• 
• 
• 

aka knitting looms

 

Home knitting machines allow the knitter to produce beautiful knitted items .... fast! Instead of forming one stitch at a time, imagine knitting 200 stitches with the push of a carriage!

Think of all those "boring" sections of your last (or current) knitting project ... stockinette sleeves, large plain sections of a repetitive stitch pattern. With a knitting machine, you can quickly knit these sections and spend your precious knitting time working the fun parts of a pattern.

Knitting machines come in various gauges to accommodate the wide range of yarns available today.

• Bulky/Chunky - for handspun and bulkier weight yarns or heavy worsted weight
• Mid-Gauge - for sport weight to light worsted yarns
• Standard Gauge - for sock weight, fingering weight and baby weight yarns
• Fine Gauge - for lace weight to fingering weight yarns

You don't need special coned yarn to knit with a knitting machine. Many knitters use yarn on cones so they don't have to work in as many yarn ends as you do with balled/skeined yarn.

What kind of yarn to use?

Machine knitters can knit almost anything a hand knitter can knit ... only faster! Stripes, tuck (knit in the row below), slip, multi-color texture stitches, stranded multi color work, lace ... you name it!

View Knitting Machine Demo

Is this for you?

Deciding what machine to use depends on what you want to knit and what weight of knitting you want to produce. Compare knitting done on US size 8-9 needes and knitting worked on US size 1-2 needles .... big difference! The equivalent is the difference between a bulky and a standard gauge machine.
Machine Knitting is NOT cheating! When was the last time you pieced a quilt or sewed a seam by hand? You use a sewing machine to speed up the creative process in sewing, why not speed up your knitting? MANY machine knitters also hand knit. They enjoy the process of hand knitting and feeling the yarn run through their fingers, but they also have so many projects in mind that they will never complete them all! Some machine knitters don't hand knit. They enjoy having many finished products in the time it would take to hand knit one.

Knit a gauge swatch in LESS THAN 10 MINUTES!
Most knitting machines are portable. Plan a space about 4 feet wide by 2 feet deep. Used knitting machines can be quite inexpensive. As with other crafts, you can purchase all sorts of accessories and "bells and whistles", but all you NEED is a machine in good working order to get started. Many machine knitters start with an Incredible Sweater Machine and quickly realize that a move to a metal bed machine will allow them to expand their creativity.

The "Knitting Machine Tools, Toys and Tips"

Do your homework
There are very few machine knitting stores. Most new machine knitters inherit their machines or purchase them used. The majority of used machines are Japanese machines. Brands like Brother/Knit King, Singer/Silver Reed/Studio/ Toyota are common.
Here are some things to consider:
Knitting machines come in 2 "flavors"

• Plastic Bed machines
  - good starting point, lower price, fewer accessories.
  - generally use heavier yarns (worsted, hand spun)
• Metal Bed machines - used machines are reasonably priced, they offer more features including automatic patterning (punchcard or electronic), more accessories. -There are more choices on gauge (bulky, standard, mid-gauge and fine gauge),allowing you to use a wider range of yarns.

Used machine? Learn how to replace a knitting machine sponge bar

Learning a new craft takes time

Lots of buttons and levers

Many beginning machine knitters get overwhelmed with all the buttons and levers on their machines. It isn't difficult to learn, but it does take time and practice. There are 3 mistakes many "newbies" make

• They don't practice. If you learn technique in January, but don't do it again until July, you won't remember how to set your machine. Yes, you have a manual and there are tutorials on line, but you have to keep using your machine to increase your knowledge and grow your confidence
• They buy too many toys. Choose one gauge of machine and master it. Forget all the Bells and Whistles and work with what you have. Even if a good deal comes along, you won't be able to use a new machine with confidence until you have mastered the basics on ONE machine
• Select ONE method of creating or modifying patterns.
  • If you are comfortable with using computers, select a software package for machine knitters, learn it and stick with it!
  • If you know how to chart by hand ... do it! Why spend time learning software if you are capable of creating your own patterns?
  • Learn to use a charting device that was designed for your machine.

   Source: http://www.learnmachineknitting.com