I just finished setting it up and am starting to go through the tutorials. Hopefully I'll have some pictures of the machine and swatches to show soon.

Yay!!!

Got help from my sockknittingmachines yahoo group (thanks Kim!) and from the circular sock machine forum on Ravelry (thanks Jessica!) and I have a very poor tube cast on and started.  Not bad for a sock machine with no crank, huh?  I had to add more weight and turn up the tension on the cam thingy...now to figure out how to pick up those stitches... and...

Oh, someone named Adele thinks I might have a Gearhart with co-operative needles.  Cool.  A name.  Now to find who has more of them!?

The bad news is

that the crank BROKE during shipping.  Waiting to deal with UPS (have call in) to see what they will do for me, trying to see if someone can WELD the cast iron back, or if I can find a replacement crank.

This machine is supposedly a Gearhart, but I have no idea if it is.  The needles don't really look like the other Gearhart needles on the Angora Valley website.  The base of the machine used to be green.  It really does LOOK like (to my amateur eye) the other drawings of Gearharts.

Next possibly weird thing.  It has 56 slots for needles in one cylinder and 72 slots in the other.  So far, I haven't found any references to 56-slot Gearharts.  What gives?

More later... Help please??

I AM buying Barbara's Gearhart csm and it should be here next week and I can get to work on cleaning and oiling it and seeing if I can coax it into making socks.  Barbara wants me to send her a pair, since I'm getting a REALLY good deal on this thing!  All the people who use them say there is a steep learning curve and we aren't entirely sure that this machine will work smoothly right away, as Barbara never was able to knit socks on it, but I hope I am up for the challenge.

This is what it looked like, a couple of days ago, at Barbara's house.  I will make more photos when I get it cleaned and then, hopefully, when it is working!

I found a Passap Duomatic 80 (Green) on Craigslist and finally decided that it was time to move up from the Bond USM. I was naturally a bit nervous since I knew nothing aout the machine and finding help on the Internet was not as easy as the Japenses models like Brother.  I got the machine from the original  owner who knitted a single sock and some swatches on it. It has the Deco attachment and card reader but no cards and, of course, no instructions for the machine. She did have "The Passap Handbook - Beginner Course" and that has been a bit helpful.

I tried making a sock from a video I found on Youtube but when it came time to transfer the stictches with the decker comb I realized I don't have one. Another call to the previous owner and she thinks she has found it along with the Passap Form Computer. Hopefully I'll pick that up and a few more goodies from her this weekend after she goes thru her closets.

On to the good stuff ..... I finally figured out how to set it up and thread the yarn and it knits GREAT. A 1000% better than the Bond plastic machine. So far I've made 1x1 ribbed swatches that unraveled because I didn't know how to cast off.

And finally, on just the first day I managed to complete a ribbed hat. I'll try and post some pictures later.

I would LOVE to knit the tube part with a machine and then do the toes and heels by hand, using lovely (one hopes) handspun, hand-dyed yarn.  Hand made socks without QUITE the labor involved!

I started looking on Ravelry and found some CSM knitters and someone was asking about afterthought heel measurements (how much space does the heel take up) so I posted this:

ooooh! I almost can help you with this!! I don't have a sock machine (although I am curious about them, in a big way, but also frugal and can't imagine getting an old one for $1000+), but I have been knitting peasant heel socks. I think my next pair I might try to not put in waste yarn (what I've been doing is starting at the top, ribbing the cuff, knitting straight for a few rows, knitting HALF the stitches on waste yarn and then purling back on those same stitches, getting the original yarn and keep going until it is time to decrease the toe, do the toe, kitchener the toe, go BACK and take out the waste yarn and do ANOTHER "toe" for the heel), but just snip and unravel like EZ and the Yarn Harlot for a true afterthought heel. Anyhow, I asked around about the measurements issue before I started these. This is what was suggested, combined with what I did: trace the foot that is to wear the sock. Measure the circumference, too, for gauge/number cast on, etc. For a "standard" wedge toe, you start the decreases at the top of the pinky toe, right? So mark on your foot-tracing how far it is from the tip of the pinky toe to the top of the big toe (something from 1.5 to 2.5 inches, depending on the foot size). Also mark on the foot-tracing where the ankle bone sticks out--that is where you will put in your heel. Measure from the ankle-bone-knob to the back of the heel--if it is about the same as the size of your "toe", you just do the same toe for the heel. If it is longer or shorter, you will have to adjust what you did for your toe by a few rows, maybe. The toe thing is one of those "magic" things that sortof adjusts based on the yarn and stitches and size, and I think the heel is usually close.

Først et sæt Marion Nelson mønsterkort, dette er vistnok grundsættet med tre modeller trøje/bluse, nemlig ærmeløs, med indsat ærme og med raglan ærme. Disse tre modeller er der opskrift til i 4 forskellige garntykkelser og 16 forskellige størrelser, fra overvidde 46 cm til 122 cm. Altså ialt 64 forskellige opskrifter af hver model...det ser sådan her ud:

pris: 100 kr + porto.

Og et par bøger:

Først denne, en grundbog i maskinstrik baseret på Knitmaster 323, med en del grundmønstre og nogle særdeles anderledes kunstneriske ideer. En god begynder bog til en knitmaster ejer:

Pris 150 kr + porto.  SOLGT!

Denne her er en god grundbog i håndstrik ( der er ikke noget om maskinstrik, trods beskrivelsen på forsiden), med en del vægt lagt på tilretning af opskrifter efter egne mål:

Pris 75 kr + porto.

Denne her kræver vist ingen præsentation:

Pris 50 kr + porto.

I have spent some time going through my stuff, found some things I have forgotten I had, and some things I don't need anymore - and these I am putting up for sale in the time to come, as I get them ready.

First thing on the list is a Brother PPD-120, new except I have tested it, in original box and Danish plug, including Danish manual and an English Diane Bennet book:

Price: 1200 D.kr. + posting

SOLGT!

Thanks to lots of encouragement and advice from folks who've posted here on my blog and over at Ravelry, I've had some success with the machine. Thanks, everyone!

Here's my first finished product, a scarf that I knit for a charity drive (organized by the Knitters for Obama group on Ravelry; to be donated to homeless veterans charities). I used four skeins of Lion Brand Magic Stripes in the Denim Stripes colorway, purchased for $1.50 per skein at Big Lots.

It's a simple fisherman's rib scarf (lock settings EX/EX), done over 40 needles and for about 1300 rows. I love this machine now! Still can't get the pushers to move, but I suspect that's because a deep cleaning is in order.

A day or two before that, I sat down with my clunky old Corona machine to whip up a shopping bag:

This was done with less than half a cone of kitchen cotton and Eileen Montgomery's Drop Stitch Mesh Bag pattern. Because the pattern is for a mid-gauge machine and my Corona is bulky (8mm, actually), I knit a few more rows. I think that was a mistake, because now it's enormous! Oh well. I'll likely use it as a laundry bag or a carry all for bigger items I might have to tote around.

Now I'm eager to play around more with my Passap, but I'm in the midst of moving and have to pack it up very soon. Figures! I look forward to learning more about it later on.

It was decided that at next months meeting in May, we will have a festive morning tea in honour of the biggest morning tea event. Please remember to 'bring a plate' if you can.

In addition, it was suggested that we all try to make a hat for charity and bring it along with us.

The patterns that were distributed include one for a bulky machine, a beanie type for a standard gauge. A 'straight' hat using a ribber and an 8-ply pattern for use on a standard gauge so lots to choose from and remember to let your imagination run wild.

If you didn't get the handouts and would like more information please e-mail us and we can organise to get you a copy of the patterns.

On thinking about who might be wearing the hats it was suggested that acrylic yarn might be more suitable for young heads rather than wool.

I thought that last month we had a bumper show and tell, well this month would easily have surpassed that. I'm not sure if it was because winter seems to have come early or everyone was feeling inspired at the same time! Whatever the reason it was great to see.

Once again the range of items presented was amazing, we really do have some very talented individuals within the club. Makes me wonder why we don't have more entries to the various knitting shows?

Here are some of the items presented, again listed in no particular order.

John brought in a number of items this month, including this colourful fair-isle cardigan, vest and scarf. 

in addition to the items above John also managed to make a selection of hats, from a Russian 'Cossack'  to a balaclava and a beret hat inspired from one recently seen on a catwalk show! well done John.

Still finding my way

I'm still finding my way around this program so sometimes images don't quite sit correctly. Also I'm still working out the best way to post images. Last month I made four or five different posts, however this month I am going to try to make one large post to see if it reads better.

More show and tell later, now on to the demonstration, 

This months demonstration was on ribs, and Lorraine very kindly took us through various types of ribs and how to get the best results. Armed with some samples the 'she made earlier' we all gathered round the trusty Brother machine and learned a few tricks and tips along the way.

Here are some samples that Lorraine brought in to show us.

I'm sure there were more than a few beginners that found the demonstration very useful, thanks again to Lorraine for your efforts.

As well as the more experienced machine knitters bringing in something for show and tell we also had a couple of recent beginners.

One new machine knitter who brought in a work in progress was surprised when i asked to photograph it, "but it's not finished" was the cry. However wip's are just as important to see as the finished articles. Quite often we can gain the experience of another member to help us with finishing tips.

I look forward to snapping this one again when it's finished.

Another new member brought in this bag to show us, I think we can all appreciate the time and effort that has gone into this.

 The detail truly is amazing

Once again Margaret has been busy, this time with a woven top that was knitted sideway as well as a lovely blue jumper made with 5 ply from Bendigo's classic range, a 1ply mohair shawl. She even had time to hand knit a scarf!

In addition to the pictures above, Margaret even found time to make this sleeveless top with pin and then rope a few tennis friends into helping with this hand knit blanket.

Bev brought in a couple of blankets that she made on her Brother 940 with 2 ends of cashmillion one in pink and one in grey.

Bev and Susan-May also had their thinking caps on for a local show that had a lot of children. They came up with interesting ideas to encourage the kids to have a go on the machine.

Here are a couple of those ideas, one is a 'bracelet' and the other are some small flowers

And Finally

As well as chairing this months meeting Barbara also found time to make this twin set to bring along.

The twin set was made from a linen/cotton blend. The cardigan was made with partial knitting in an elongated octagon shape, then Barbara used the cut & sew technique to shape the neck and armholes. Complete with a sleeveless vest to match underneath.

Even though I already blocked all the pieces, they're curling like nobody's business. (Maybe because I left them untouched in a bag for nearly two months? Nah...)

• pattern: Crossover Top by Glenda Overmann
• size: 3 months
• yarn: Regia 4-ply Color, "Rainbow"
• machine: Brother KH-860

The only things left to do are to put on some kind of border and make some ties. Crab stitch crochet around all the edges? Garter stitch? Not decided yet, but I think the ties will just be i-cord. Gotta finish it soon, though, or the kid won't get it on time!

Jeg har en 18-åring som ikke kan få nok av disse luene. De er raske å strikke på maskin, men ikke så raske å sy sammen. De er doble hele veien. Denne er strikket i finull, for å matche jakken og T-skjorta lenger nede.

Det som er mest jobb med disse luene var duskene. VAR, for nå er det bare morsomt :)

Jeg har nemlig kjøpt meg pompom-maker!

Pompom maker fungerer slik: Du åpner den, sånn som jeg har gjort med den største.

Surrer garn rundt de 2 buene, og lukker den. Den gule er sett fra siden.

I midten der er det et spor. Du legger saksa i sporet, og klipper opp trådene. Så strammer du en tråd i sporet, og knyter igjen. Åpne den opp igjen, og dra de 2 delene fra hverandre.

Ferdig! Jeg kjøpte 4 forskjellige størrelser.

Machine knitted hat for my 18 year old som, with pop pom made with

pom pom maker.

Den første er heklet i dobbel pt2, og er av den litt lange typen.

Den neste er strikket på maskin, og er også av den litt lange typen.

Her er det babyull i babyfarger, spesialbestilling fra en 18 år gammel gutt :)

Den skal få dusk når duskedingsen kommer fra Amerika.

Her har jeg prøvd meg på patentstikk, dobbelt kampanjegarn og pinne 8.

Heklet i vamsegarn, denne er også "langlue".

Garnet heter Zen, fra yarn garden, og det var nesten 1000 yards på 100 gram. Tynt!

Skjerfet er 35 cm bredt, 140 cm langt, og veier 65 gram.

Det som vanligvis heter rettsiden ser slik ut:

Og det som vanligvis heter vrangen ser slik ut (jeg tror vrangen er rettsiden, nemlig):

I made this on my Brother KH-588, using open pattern stitches

and Zen from yarngarden.

The Soy Cardi is finished at long last! The hems, neckband, and button bands are in hurdle rib, which I dug up from Epstein's Knitting on the Edge book. I had a tough time finding buttons locally that were a) ugly, b) so cheap-looking that they'd fall apart in five minutes, or c) in some god-awful color. Eventually I found some light blue-green buttons that'll do the trick, though.

My camera's focus is getting increasingly fuzzy after I dropped it out in the field this summer, so this picture was the best I could do:

Two weeks ago, I spent a few hours working on a Dale baby sweater that I started in the summer of 2005 and never finished. Now the body and first sleeve finished, but I put it aside for a while to work on the Soy Cardi. I knit a few rows here and there on the second sleeve, so eventually I'll get it done. Then I just have to sew in the sleeves, knit on a neckline, and sew on some buttons.

The pattern is from Dale of Norway, baby book #110, pattern #11001. The yarn is Microspun and I'm using US 3 for the body (US 1 for cuffs).

I also crocheted another Tawashi, this time using scraps of pink and blue kitchen cotton:

One of the other things I've been doing is tinkering with my knitting machine, making lots of swatches and testing out techniques. The only useful item I've made lately is a preemie hat, using a pattern kindly given to me by a fellow knitter.

It was very quick to knit, but that's not too surprising since it's absolutely tiny. I used some leftover bits of Dale Baby Ull (probably less than 1/4 of a skein). I think I'll just knit these caps up with spare bits of yarn every now and then, and then just donate a bunch of them to the NICU.

Now I'm working on mitered squares knit from scraps of leftover sock yarn. I got the idea from Susy Ranner, who made a very helpful video showing how she's making striped mitered squares. I'm not going to do stripes, but I think it's a very nice way of using up sock yarn leftovers. Once I have enough squares, they'll be seamed into a blanket.

So, that's about it. I'll write more about my knitting machine experimentation later.

Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Catania
Pattern: Modische Maschen 06/1991 Vichy Top
Needles: Lower part knit with the Bond using No.1 plate.
3.25 and 3.5 Crochet Hook

This is a quick project thanks to the Bond! My mom knitted the front and I did the back on the Bond USM.

I have shortened the length and started with 70 stitches cast on instead of 100 like the pattern said. Did 80 stitches in the back so it would not end up too tight...
The bust panels are hand crochet and it took me about 8 hours to finish them, while we were driving to Busch Gardens, Tampa and back just before New Years.

Gosh I love those roller coasters!
Gwazi, Kumba and last but not least, Montu on which I have been 3 times in a row and would have gone again if they wouldn't have closed the park...Good thing I have a 2008 pass and can't wait to go back.

The lower crochet part is done after the front and back have been sewn together, using a 3.5 crochet hook.

These little Lories from Butterfly World loved the crochet top!

Yarn: Endless Summer Luna from Elann - 4 balls
Pattern: Honeymoon Cami
Key plate No. 1 on the Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine

I have made plenty of changes to the pattern:

Instead of doing the ribbed edge I replaced it with a scalloped border inspired by Heidi's machine knitting charts.

The V neck with this yarn and gauge is too deep, so it ended up in the back of my top. I redid the front the same way as the back, but I had started decreasing the front V and splitting the work only after I had decreased for the armholes.

For the straps I've used square mother of pearl beads that I had crochet together using a stitch similar to the hair pin lace crochet.

To finish it I've made a row of simple crochet stitches around the neckline and armholes.

I am still having issues with my gauge and the Bond. The top is a little larger and longer then I had wanted.

I enjoyed seeing the scallops take form immediately after I removed the work from the machine.

I love this yarn, it is very shiny, smooth and comfortable even for hot weather.

I wish you all a creative, productive, healthy and Happy New Year!
May all your wishes come true in 2008!

P.S. Thank you BurdaStyle for the amazing tassel!

I had no time to mention this but MY MOM is here for 3 more weeks, cooking, doing my dishes and laundry, and of course we are also sewing, knitting and crocheting together!

She already helped me out with a jacket and swim suit, from BurdaStyle patterns.
Just before my mom came I have finished a sleeveless top out of crushed velvet following the Danielle pattern.
There might just be an interview with me for BurdaStyle in BusinessWeek magazine, I'm not sure... although I did work for 3 hours with a famous photographer last weekend and am waiting to see where the story goes...

"I love the 90s!" NOOOT! just some of the patterns in these almost antique magazines my mom brought from Romania.

At the time I've first received this magazine, I remember looking for those cute sweaters with motifs like blond sirens, fish and lion puppies that would suite an 11 years old.

I think the Vichy pattern fits perfectly into today's trends of the empire waist style.

My mom is learning how to knit with the Bond machine and started work on the lower body. In the meanwhile I'm waiting impatiently to begin the crochet section.

It is going to be made in a bright lime green Catania cotton yarn.

Pattern: Ballerina Blouse from Fitted Knits
Yarn: Lily Sugar'n Cream Stripes
Gauge: Plate 3 on the Bond machine

I've finished this Ballerina Top from Fitted Knits on the Bond.

The gauge is different from the pattern. I could not knit in the round so I improvising again and made some changes to the pattern.

I wish they gave more accurate measurements in the book, not just the horizontal and vertical....How wide should the sleeve be?

It is very though to estimate the gauge with the bond since all the worked in stretched.
That's what I have to put up with for gaining the speed :)

This eat up a full big big size of Sugar and Cream yarn and I almost didn't have what to sew it with.

I had to redo the sleeves because they turned out too narrow. Since I finished the front in one evening and did both sleeves twice on Saturday then again on Sunday, it was a quick knit and next time it would probably be ready in just one day :)

Responses to misconceptions about machines:

• for the billionth time, YES, knitting machines can do more than stockinette stitch
  • if you had a Bond Incredible Sweater Machine or whatnot and you could only do stockinette, that doesn't mean that all machines are limited in that way. Also, even the simplest type of knitting machine can do more than just stockinette by manipulating stitches in various ways.
• it's completely false that you can't fix mistakes in your knitting when you use a machine. Why would you even think that? There are numerous ways to do it, too, just like with hand-knitting. You can rip back row-by-row (with or without a lifeline), you can fix stitches as they sit on the needles, or you can drop stitches and work them back up. That's right, just like hand-knitting. Why? Because whether you use two needles or 400, it's still knitted fabric.
• The fabric produced by knitting machines is NOT inherently different from the fabric produced by hand-knitting? Really. You might have used more needles to make it, but it's just knitted fabric like any other (a series of interlocking loops, etc.).

It's no skin off my back if people don't like using knitting machines, but if they treat machine knitters with contempt because of incorrect information, that's just silly. Get the facts, please.

Here it is pinned to within an inch of its life (if hats had lives, that is):

Since coming home, I also returned to a cape that I was knitting for a wheelchair-bound friend who gets cold easily.

I was using Knitting Fiend's cape generator to make it on my Brother KH-860 with some sparkly blue yarn. When I got about halfway through it, I decided that I didn't like how it was turning out. It's a great pattern, but I guess I just don't like stockinette that runs sideways. So I've frogged that and I'll make something else for my friend.

Other than work, what have I been doing? Well, I've been knitting on my Soy Cardi when I get a chance (which isn't that often). I'm about where I can bind off the bottom hem and finish up the sleeves, but first I have to make up my mind on how long I want it to be. The good news is that after changing needle size, there's no noticeable line. I can't even tell where I changed needle size, and it's my own knitting.

Let's see... over Thanksgiving weekend, I dug my neglected Isabeau tote out of storage and finished it. Blocked it, - which didn't do much, seeing as it's cotton - crocheted the seams, knit the handle, wove in all the ends. Never meant to leave it unfinished for so long, but it just sort of happened. So glad it's finished now.

What else? Hm... oh, I've also gotten back to work on my TKGA hand knitting level 1 materials, too. I knit up the hat that's now required (my older version of the instructions didn't call for it), and I'm working on the written portions. Having a bit of trouble there just because tracking down appropriate written knitting sources is evading me.

(Note to self: Flickr's style of posting in blogs is really visually unappealing. Use something else next time!)

Even though I'd love to be tinkering with my knitting machines, I really haven't had time lately. I hope I can get some machine knitting in over Christmas vacation. I did put some recent new patterns (not mine) up on Machine Knitter's Treasure Chest today, though. If you haven't seen Bente's lovely North Sea cardigan, for example, go check it out - it's beautiful!

The hat that I was making for my dad is currently sitting on hold, because I ran out of yarn. Soon I'll be going home for Christmas, though, so I'll get the rest of that yarn out of stash and finish it up. Might be just in time for a Christmas present, actually!

Norwegian pattern

Pattern in english

Denne jakken får meg til å tenke på en ettermiddag i Nordsjøen, når alt du ser er himmel og hav. Strikket på maskin, i Kauni. Strikkefastheten er omtrent den samme som håndstrikk på pinne 3. Den er lett tovet, og varmer godt :)

I wonder what comes out!