Setting up Your Knitting Area
It is a good idea to create a wonderful knitting workspace for your new knitting machine to ensure successful knitting. You will need a table and chair, good lighting, space for tools, yarns, accessories and patterns.
Should I buy a Knitting Machine off eBay?
Buying a knitting machine off eBay could be risky. Bargains often turn out to be nightmares. However, if you bid wisely then you could find a suitable machine at a good price. This post describes how to do this.
Knitting Machine Maintenance (cleaning your machine)
useful information on cleaning and looking after your knitmaster knitting machine
Useful Resources for Machine Knitting
List of useful online resources for buying knitting machine, tools and accessories, yarns and patterns.
Machine Ready? Lets start knitting!
Hopefully you have read the previous posts and have now set up your machine and work area. You have a new sponge-bar and your needles and carriage are all ready to knit. . You have also ordered or found some suitable practice yarn. You also have opened your operations manual. We are ready to start knitting. First though, do not jump into trying to knit a garment. Now is the time to learn to create some swatches. You need to learn to cast on, knit and then cast off. There are different ways to cast on and cast off so this should be fun. . But first you need to…
Get some Practice Yarn
Yarn can be expensive to buy so it is important to find a source of inexpensive yarn that you can use for practice.
Setting Up Your Machine – Check the sponge bar
. Many of the domestic knitting machines contain a needle retaining bar also known as a sponge bar or sponge-bar. Passaps, Superbas, some plastic bed machines and some really old machines do not have a sponge bar. Check if your machine has one. . The sponge bar is a long metal metal bar that contains a strip of foam that holds down the needles. The needles will not knit properly without a sponge-bar in good condition. . The manuals do not seem to mention anything about the sponge-bar. The sponge-bar on a Japanese metal bed knitting machine is found in a channel near the front of the machine. You need…
Got my Knitting Machine…Now what do I do?
When you first get your machine, unless it is new or newly refurbished, you need to carry out a number of checks to make sure that your machine will work. Find out what to do in this post.
Where to Buy your Knitting Machine?
. If you have read the previous post, you should have a good idea of what type of machine you want to purchase. You need to look for the best one that you can buy within your budget. For example, if you want to buy a standard gauge punch-card machine, then you can buy a new SK280 for approx £700, a reconditioned and tested machine for about £400 and an second-hand bargain for £100-300. The cheaper machines tend to be older and may not have been used for a while. Cheaper bargains can be found if you are willing to clean and service them yourself (you can find info and…
Which Knitting Machine shall I get?
There are a vast range of knitting machine to choose from, most secondhand, some new. It can be difficult to decide which machine is best. First you need to decide what you want to knit.
