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maddie
New Pal
USA
1 Posts |
 Posted - 11/21/2007 : 10:14:49 PM
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I am looking for advice on getting a knitting machine. I am a fiber artist relying heavily on felting. recently I have begun selling my work and need to produce faster.. I want to work in the round on worsted weight yarn, mostly! Can I use every other needle on a standard gauge machine to achieve gauge and is it true that with a double bed ( or ribber) you can knit in the round? thanks to anyone who can enlighten me! I have been offered a Brother 910 with ribber so that is why the questions about everyother needle..........
Maddie |
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Bernie
Chatty Knitter
Canada
115 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2007 : 03:45:06 AM
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Hi: I personally would not use worsted weight yarn on a standard gauge machine, even using every other needle would be too hard on the machine. You can knit in the round on a machine with a ribber, but there is a learning curve to machine knitting. Standard gauge machines knit baby weight and up to a sport weight yarn. Mid-gauge machines knit sport weight and light worsted. Chunky or bulky machines knit worsted weight and chunky yarn. If you are only using worsted weight yarn you would be better checking out Brother 270, Brother 260, or Singer 155 machines.
Hope this helps.
Bernie
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lucylocket
Permanent Resident
4172 Posts |
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gemini53
New Pal
USA
16 Posts |
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Cindy Lee
New Pal
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2007 : 8:52:14 PM
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Have been machine knitting for over 25 years and my best advice is don't use every other needle on a fine gauge. You would be better off with a bulky machine which is made for worsted and thick yarns. It will save you a lot of headache. You will need a ribber attachment and you will be able to knit in the round. Hope this helps, let me know if you need any other help.
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maggie@cooperfam.co.uk
New Pal
9 Posts |
Posted - 12/13/2007 : 09:17:28 AM
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[quote]I am looking for advice on getting a knitting machine. I am a fiber artist relying heavily on felting. recently I have begun selling my work and need to produce faster..
Hi Maddie, first congratulations on selling your work, second, knitting in the round. I used my first knitting machine back in the 50s, there wasn't a carriage the knitter formed the stitches by pushing the needles themselves. I've been machine and hand knitting since then. The Old Brother/Jones machine, and the old Knitmaster and Swiss knitters, were able to knit yarns from 2ply through to the heavy weight oiled Arran wool,and the tension dials actually corresponded to hand knit guages..(I'm in England and our yarn weight terms are different) For the heavier Arran wools and bulky double knit yarn,it was standard practise to use every other needle, but you did have to wax the wool and knit slowly. The carriages were a little less complicated than the later auto patterning punch card machine models. I have done what I believe in America is called "fulling" deliberately putting machine knitted wool through a process of matting the fibre using a hot wash cycle, trainers and a length of the knitted fabric. A 3ply yarn knitted on a fairly loose tension along the entire needle bed, "fulled" fantasticly, had I used a heavier weight yarn, it would have been too dense and heavy after the fulling. I don't know what technique you use but thick knits make even heavier fulled fabric I've sat here trying to imagine how you would manage a sausage of knitted fabric, as without a barrier between the inside and outside surfaces they would mesh together making an even heavier fabric again.
Learning to use the single bed machine first shouldnt take too long. The hardest thing is stopping yourself whizzing the carriage to and fro faster than the speed of light. The instruction manuals are great teachers, if they get read. You need to feel really comfortable with the machine before you set up the ribber, as your ear and hand will soon alert you to wrong tensions or latches not operating as they should. Then when you start with the ribber your hands and ears are already educated to the sounds and feel of the machine. The ribber allow you to knit in the round, double the width of the single bed only, make interesting stitch combinations. You could end up getting more interested in the machines potential and forget your initial intent.
I'm a bit of a knit machine junky, I have 8 machines left which I use regularly, all but one of them (A Passap E6000),are purely mechanical, treated nicely I know those machines will outlast me and still continue producing wonderful knitted fabric. |
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