The hills are alive, with the sound of knitting...

Sharing this picture because it's always cracked me up slightly. It's from an old Jones (later Brother) pattern book with the striped cover (I reviewed my copy here), which came out with the 8 stitch push-button machines. A lot of it could easily be converted for 24st punch-card or electronic machines. A lot of it is hand-manipulated anyway - so you could use your punch-card to preselect the needles, and do the hand-manipulation, well, by hand of course. There's also a section on what it calls "embroidery knitting", aka vertical knit-weave, except this method uses a piece of card to keep the weaving yarns in check, and I'd only ever thought of doing it with the garter bar.

Altogether a fascinating resource, and not one I've seen for sale online much. Why am I telling you this? Well, a scan has just appeared on the wonderful machineknittingetc site.

Mood is currently frustrated - now I'm getting pins and needles in my left hand just sewing up, which I was doing Weds and Thurs night. Which leaves me in a pickle - I can machine knit pieces, but who is going to sew them up nicely for me? I don't really rate the Hague linker I'm afraid (yes I do have one!), it's almost impossible to get a completely straight seam and I much prefer the neatness of mattress stitch. Managed to book an advanced doctor's appointment - and it's almost a month away. Feh. "A woman could die from hands like this!" (to misquote "Fiddler on the Roof"). Oh, ok, I'm being melodramatic - I had innocently thought advanced would only mean a week or two, though. Clearly not! It's also a morning appointment - I distinctly asked for an evening one, because we don't have enough parking at work so if you arrive late it's a bit of a lottery. Oh well - it's better than nowt I suppose.

Last night I finally sewed up the last charity jumper (ie it's from the last full cone of donated yarn I set aside for charity). It's brown with a fairisle pattern. Picture to follow (it's not very exciting). Now I'm down to cone ends, assuming my RSI/carpal tunnel or whatever it is clears up anytime soon. I can see me machine-knitting scads of things and just collecting the bits, pending being able to make them up. Not fun. Meanwhile, my alter-ego steelbreeze taunts me by buying a job lot of 80s Sandra magazines on Ebay. Rats... and ooh, pretty! :)

Current mood: frustrated

Bits n bobs; Garter stitch on a vintage Record knitting machine

Life is continuing to be busy here, so I'm not getting on-line much. I've taken up Nordic Walking which is really fun in an effort to sort out my back/knee issues. When I've come back from a session I'm good for nothing except tea and slobbing in front of the sofa, a bath, and bed. There has been some machine knitting - notably, a one day's workshop with Manor House last week on how to produce hairpin lace style strips on a knitting machine - but I've nothing finished to show yet. Almost, but not quite. I'm part way through sewing up another charity sweater, and discovered last night that the second cone of brown acrylic wasn't at all the same colour. Drat. I've finished hand knitting all the parts for the bamboozle cardigan, so need to join the shoulders before I can continue adding the bands. I'm on the last front of the Blusa Queen, but it's slow going as I've got to figure out neck decreases (in lacy crochet). All of this takes time, patience, good light, good sleep, none of which I have in abundance at the moment. The sore knee in particular is disrupting my sleep, because the only position I can sleep on is on my back, and I prefer the foetal position. So I keep turning over and waking myself up in pain :(

Anyway, I made a very simple shawl ages ago, and have been trying to get a decent photo of it ever since:



It's some sort of very fine silky acrylic, and I made it by casting on 3 sts and increasing every other row. Because I had planned to make this with a lace pattern, and because the yarn is pretty much too fine for the lace carriage to handle, I resorted to hand transferring every other needle every 20 rows. It's lovely, light and drapey, and the photo really does not do it justice.

This was inspired by Tony Bennett's introductory talk at Dream Week - wire knitting with beads!



Again, not a great picture - the perils of indoor photography in autumn - it's a fine strand of wire knitted over 4 needles EON and there's a seed bead in every gap, every other row. This is all hand-manipulated on the machine, as the beads were pre-threaded and I couldn't figure out how to handle that plus the carriage - and it's hardly worth threading the carriage for only one pass out of two anyway. The KH950i is one of my favourite machines and not one I want to sacrifice to el cheapo broken glass beads that came free with a magazine. It went surprisingly fast once I removed a very curious cat (who just ADORED the wire) from the equation. It's long enough to make a choker or something and can be moulded a little to suit the wearer. I need to have a dig about and see if I can find some findings to finish it off.

And news just in, the venerable Texere Yarns has gone into liquidation. I'm gutted - I had my eye on some of their Good Fortune cotton but was waiting 'til next month when I'm more solvent. I wasn't one of their biggest customers, by any means - I've only ordered a few cones of Jura (which was lovely!) - but the service was prompt and efficient and they had just about every kind of yarn you could think of on their website. My condolences to the team - not the best time of year to be made redundant :(

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I acquired a vintage 1950s Record knitting machine on Ebay some time ago - it's a very basic machine, the best description of it is a mechanised peg knitting loom - so no overhead mast and no needles. It can produce stocking stitch and garter stitch, and it was the latter I bought it for. Ironically, a few weeks later a local lady gave me two knitting machines to be donated to charity, and - yes, you've guessed it - one of the machines was another Record. The other was a Brother KH710 which needs a really good clean up and a new bar, but appears to be complete - if anyone's interested please email me! I've emailed TWAM about it and had absolutely no response so I'm rather annoyed about that.

Anyway, we've been having a serious sort out of the garage - himself is planning a man cave / gym / guitar studio - and he really wants the knitting machines out of his space (we shall see! some of them I'm keeping!). But I thought I'd get the Record out and have a play. The instructions are very sketchy - luckily for me, a fellow Raveller has made an excellent video of how to knit on a Meda, which is a mini version of the Record. Thanks Pirvonen!

Basically, you do an ewrap cast on onto a comb with pins, and mount it in front of the machine. You slide the first knob to one side, which makes yarn sinkers pop out between the pins. You lay yarn in the channel this creates, and then slide the second knob to close the sinkers again. Then you pull the knitting upwards and make the stitch (on the first row you have to do this with a small hook, I used a DPN). Then you pick up the comb (knitting attached, hopefully - pull it down!) - and turn it 180 degrees for the next pass. Simple.









I got quite a nice piece of garter stitch knitted - ignore the great big loop on the first row, the instructions said something about making sure you went a few pins past the first pin, but it looks like it wasn't necessary.

I'm not sure I'm going to keep the machine - it'd be great for someone who needs a LOT of 4ply garter stitch. The donated one is so gunked up it's only destination will be the tip, unless someone wants it for parts. But the other one is in excellent working order - although, I didn't try the stocking stitch comb - why would I, when I've a stable of more modern machines upstairs?! :)

Last night I foolishly cast on some more fairisle socks to be finished on the CSM. These are white with a red heart motif. I went for my first proper nordic walk last night and was so tired I didn't get started on the machine knitting until gone 9pm (which included designing the pattern on the PPD), so it's a moot point as to whether I'll have the socks finished for Thursday night. Yeah, I know, forgot there was an annual competition! On the positive side I've finally figured how to get switch 5 (reflection) to create upside down patterns - the KH950i has to be in 990 mode not 999 mode. Yes, it IS in the manual. But who reads those?! :)

Current mood: exhausted

How to cast on in ribbing on a CSM

This is a combination of my presentation and workshop notes from this weekend.

CSM Ribber workshop notes

Introduction

The ribber for the CSM usually has half the slots (trix) of the cylinder it goes with - eg a 72 cylinder has a 36 ribber - although occasionally it’s possible to use a different combination. The ribber mounts on top of the cylinder (this height can be adjusted - check your manual for how to do this). It has a lug on the underside, which engages against a lug inside the main cylinder when rotated in the direction of knitting (counterclockwise). The ribber does not have a retainer spring so the needles are loose in the slots. The alignment of the ribber slots can be adjusted with a lever attached to the lug; this enables the user to create different ribs. My Imperia is set to knit on the main cylinder at T6 and the ribber at T3 - you may have to play around to see what works best for your machine.

I made some sketches of my CSM setup (ie the heights and distances) here - it's worth recording yours when you get your CSM working well, so that if anything ever starts playing up, you can check and see if anything changed.

The cylinder: Ribber dial adjuster lug highlighted in red

The ribber

This chart lists all the ribbing combinations possible with various cylinders and ribbers.

Selvedge cast on 1x1 rib

1. Get some waste yarn knitting established on the machine using the cast on basket or a cast on bonnet, using every other needle in the main cylinder.
2. Put the ribber on, and check its alignment so that the ribber needle slot lines up with the empty slot on the cylinder.
3. Working around the cylinder in a counterclockwise direction, add a ribber needle (with latch open) into every ribber slot.
4. Knit a few rounds with waste yarn and check that all needles in both cylinder and ribber are knitting off correctly.
5. When you are ready to start knitting with main yarn, stop the yarn carrier so that it is at 3 o’clock and just before the hash mark.
6. Break the waste yarn between the mast and the ball, and tie the main yarn onto it.
7. Using your dental pick/hook tool, pull the yarn through the yarn carrier until the knot has passed through the hole, and pull a length of main yarn about 15cm (for weaving in later).
8. Hold this yarn in a SW direction, towards the centre of the CSM, in such a way as to ensure it knits on the first needle past the hash mark.
9. Carefully crank to 12 o’clock
10. Insert a hook or latch tool up between cylinder and ribber, and pull the loose yarn and main yarn end through the gap.
11. Slowly knit around to about 6 o’clock.
12. As you approach 3 o'clock, set the ribber to slip, so that the first ribber needle counterclockwise of the hash mark does not knit. On my imperia, this occurs when a corner of the ribber plate almost lines up with 3 o’clock. When you find the sweet spot on your ribber, it might be worth marking it on the ribber with nail varnish.
13. Slowly knit two rounds*, and slow down as you approach the 3 o’clock position again
14. Put the ribber back out of slip when it reaches the same “sweet spot” as before, and set your row counter to 0.
15. Crank as many rows of rib as you require.
16. When changing to stocking stitch, again I like to start at 3 o’clock.
17. Remove the needle retainer spring
18. Starting at 3 o’clock, just past the hash mark, transfer the ribber stitch to the cylinder needle by hooking the empty needle into the ribber one. Make sure the cylinder needle latches are open (the stitch will be below the latch, that doesn’t matter).
19. Continue working around the cylinder until the ribber is empty.
20. Remove the ribber - don’t forget to replace the needle retainer spring!
21. Continue knitting your sock or other item
22. When removing the waste yarn from the ribbing, I use a sharp pointed pair of scissors to carefully cut the waste yarn every 5-6 stitches. You can then just pull it out.

Note: If you find your cast on edge is a bit loose, add the heel spring for steps 7 to 13 - the cast on row and the slipped rows.

* Two rounds is sufficient for sock yarn. You might find 1 round is sufficient for slightly thicker yarn, and perhaps 3 for a laceweight yarn. Keep an eye on the knitting and pull down on it if necessary.

Tying on (steps 6-7)

Cranked one quarter (steps 8-10)

1x1 selvedge with no heel spring added

1x1 selvedge with heel spring added

Alternate methods for ribbing

1x1 hooked up: Set up as before, but crank one round of main yarn with every other needle out of work. Add the ribber and ribber needles and use the pick tool to place the bar of yarn between cylinder needles to fill the ribber needle. Be careful not to split the yarn! You do not need to work the slip rounds after this.

1x1 e-wrap: Ewrap around all main cylinder needles, working in a clockwise direction (you will have to put them all into “hold” - fully up - to complete this). Push them back to working position and carefully crank one round, then transfer every other stitch to the ribber. You do not need to work the slip rounds after this.


2x1 partial: The cast on edge is across the top

Found online:

2 x 1 ribbing: Set machine up for every needle in work on the cylinder, and get the knitting established on waste yarn. Transfer every 3rd needle to the ribber, crank a few rounds. Tie on main yarn as above, add heel spring, and crank one round. Put the first of every pair of cylinder needles out of work (fully up) and crank two rounds (the ribber is still working at this point). Put the raised needles back into work (with latches open), zero the row counter, remove the heel spring and off you go!

I found this produced a very loopy edge (see above), so you might try either using the heel spring or tightening the tension for the cast on rows.

Knitting Machines in 1955

A friend and machine-knitter forwarded me a fascinating PDF. It was part of a free supplement with Popular Handicrafts in February 1955, and it was chock full of adverts for vintage knitting machines, plus there was a very interesting article about how to choose a machine from the brands currently available. Most of the brands have disappeared into the mists of time, but some the modern machine knitter will recognise.

As I'm not entirely sure about copyright rules in this area, I'll aim to write a summary of the article and give the reader an interesting walk down memory lane. My comments in italics.

At this point in time, there were two types of knitting machines - direct knitting machines, and preformed weft machines. Direct knitting machines are what we use today ie they are a bed of latch or latchet needles that knit stocking stitch when reciprocated back and forth using a carriage or lock. 

Preformed weft machines use a fixed bank of latch needles or headed pins, and the knitting itself is done with a secondary movement which knits all the stitches simultaneously. Headed pin machines can produce stocking stitch and garter stitch with the aid of combs. The only machine I've personally seen of this type is the Record and it looks like a mechanised peg loom to the casual observer. It's a long green metal strip of a machine, with a black knob and a white knob. 

Only one or two of the highest price machines ribbed automatically - most modern machines now come with optional ribbing attachments or are of the fixed double-bed type. Hand tools are recommended to produce real rib, and mock rib is recommended as an alternative. 

Very high knitting speeds can be achieved with direct knitting machines and at this point in time, automatic wool feeding was optional. The article does recommend that the would-be buyer sees as many machines as possible before buying - an option that is sadly somewhat limited in these days when only one manufacturer is still in the business of producing new knitting machines. This is still good advice though!

Direct knitting machines:

Familia
161 stitches, automatic row counter, weights and combs not required. 12 tension settings. Automatic wool feeder supplied, can be removed for shaping and patterning. £29, W J Foster Ltd, Preston, Lancashire

Foster hand flat
Double-bed knitting machine available in 4.5, 7 and 10 gauge and several sizes. Automatic ribbing and strip. This machine looks like a semi-industrial machine as it has a metal frame and a large operating lever connected to the right foot of the stand. From £79, W J Foster Ltd, Preston, Lancashire

Ideal
161 stitches. Wool feeder provided. Uses a patented silent device that presses down each stitch and claims to produce a hand-knitted look. No weights or combs required. Thirty times faster than hand-knitting. £28 15s, Yorkshire Products Ltd, Bradford

Knitmaster
Two models currently available - the 3500 (135 needles) and 4500 (169 needles). No weights required as the machine uses a stitch-sinker mechanism which holds down each newly-formed stitch. No clamps required to fix it to the table. Ten tension settings available, equivalent to 6 to 14 gauge in hand needles. Five distributors in the UK at this point, in London, Bradford, Birmingham, Harrogate and Belfast. British-made. 
Model 3500 £18 17s 6d, Model 4500 £22 17s 6d, Knitmaster Ltd, London (where demonstrations are regularly given)

Passap M201 mk II
This machine uses the latch needle system. Single dial for control of tension. 201 needles allow a total width of 31" of knitting. £25 19s 6d
Passap Handknitters, London

Rapide
All-steel body and die cast aluminium end caps and needle bar. 157 needles. Wool is fed via a clear plastic holder. Built-in row counter included in price. The manufacturers claim it will knit elastic yarn into waistbands and string into shopping bags. Free instruction and free knitting advisory service via post or personal call. £29 10s. British made, Rapide Knitting Machines, Uxbridge, Middlesex.

Rapidex
The Rapidex 160 is a single bed machine, and the Rapidex 320 is a double bed machine. It is possible to buy two 160s to make a double machine, or to separate the needle beds of the 320 to make it into a full length single bed machine. This produces fabric up to 60" wide. With the addition of some extra parts it is possible to work the double machine as two separate single machines. The types of stitch produced on the 160 are more limited.
Rapidex 160 £27 10s, Rapidex 320 £53 10s to include 3 or 6 hours tuition. The Rapidex Knitting Centre, London

Trico-fix
An all-metal machine with an automatic wool feed, 161 needles. The Trico-fix 54 incorporates an automatic ribbing device.
Trico-fix standard £28, Trico-fix Model 54 £47 7s. Industrial and Home Knitting Machines Ltd, London.

Preformed weft machines:

Minitex de Luxe and Zip Major
The Zip Major is an open needle machine, using the same comb for stocking and garter stitch. 157 pins, producing a fabric approximately 8 stitches per inch that is suitable for garments up to a 40" bust. 
Minitex de Luxe incorporates the latch needle system with 159 needles, width suitable for outsize garments. 
Zip Major £12 12s, Minitex de Luxe £39 18s. Minitex, Bradford

Passap D
The Passap D uses the open needle system and is a wooden machine. Ribbing can be knitted row by row with the pattern comb. Two separate controls for the adjustment of stitch size and tension. £37 10s
Passap Handknitters, London

Record
The Record is an open needle machine. Separate combs provided for stocking and garter stitch. Stocking stitch can be knitted quickly without having to lift the knitting over the pins. The two stitch types can be knitted on one comb thus you do not have to transfer the knitting from one comb to another. No weights, clamps or brushes required. All-metal, totally enclosed mechanism. 140 pins. £24. Continuous daily demonstrations are given at the London and Glasgow showrooms. Record Hand Knitting Machines, London.

Regina II
This is an open needle machine. Both garter and stocking stitch are worked from the same comb. Maximum width produced is 28", giving a total of 142 stitches. Eight tension settings. £23. Automatic row counter 30s extra. Princeps (London) Ltd.

Tricomatic 132
This machine operates on the open needle principle, 132 needles. £25
Le Soie Ltd, London.

Circular knitting machines:

Sun and Sun Dulex
These are circular knitting machines (aka CSMs) available in 3.75", 4", 4.25" and 4.5" diameters. The Sun Dulex is supplied with two interchangeable cylinders of 4.25" and 3.5" diameters. This means that it is possible to knit a sock suitable for a child aged 7 upwards on the smaller cylinder, or an adult garment on the larger cylinder. On the cheaper Sun machine all cylinders are of the same diameter. 7000 stitches per minute on the 84 needle cylinder. Price varies with the amount of needles.
48 x 24 model £24 7s 6d or £30 5s with ribbing attachment.
84 x 42 Sun Duplex £45 10s
The Harris Knitting and Textile Machinery Co Ltd, Manchester

Victoria automatic sock knitter
This is a circular machine with interchangeable cylinders. It will also knit full Argyll hosiery  including overcheck. Supplied with or without stand, it is 4.5" diameter and is available in gauges 60, 64, 72, 84, 96, 108, 120, 132 and 148 needles, and 3.75" diameter in 72 needles only. The latter machine is suitable for children's hosiery and up to small men's size. Fancy tops including hoop tops can be knitted on golf socks or socks with turnover tops. The price for one cylinder and dial up to and including 84 needle/4.5" diameter, or the 72 needle, 3.75" diameter is £42. Finer gauges are more expensive.
W J Foster, Preston, Lancashire

Some interesting photographs and adverts here