Sometimes I do miss writing a good blog post. Since I bought my new-to-me Passap E6000, I’ve been perplexed at how to use it. That’s when visiting blogs really helps get my head around things. I particularly love these two: Herman Hills Farm and CCKittenKnits
That said, I would like to try keeping a blog again, though I haven’t done so since 2017. I believe it can help newcomers who aren’t familiar with a machine or technique, even if it seems unlikely. I admit I’ve learned a lot of tips and tricks from fellow knitters and weavers who have kept blogs.
Now, on to the content! Below are some of my recently finished machine knits.
Above is a T-shirt I made with two strands of unknown yarns. When I started, I didn’t have a ribber for my SK280 standard punch card machine. Once I finished the front and back, I bought a SRP60N ribber. I made the sleeves and neckband with some ribbing, which saved a lot of time. The two strands of yarn were so fine that they didn’t like being knit at a tighter tension below 3 which would be needed for a hung hem like I did on the welts of the front and back pieces. However, it was not a problem to knit 1:1 ribbing at T3.
I made my own punch card design for the Fair Isle bands you see at the bottom of the body. Actually, I put together some designs I found on the internet and then made a cut file. I then used my Silhouette Cameo 4 to cut the punch card out of a Mylar sheet. I’ll soon release the Silhouette cut file and SVG so anyone interested can make their own punch card! Keep watching this space.
Next is the cotton-silk poncho I made for my mother. I used Valley Yarns Hawley, available at WEBS, with the LK150 plastic manual machine. The poncho is seamed together with two identically-shaped rectangle panels. I designed mine to have two separate cable designs on each panel, but you could easily make two of the same panels and it might actually look better.
I don’t particularly recommend this yarn for the LK150 or machine knitting in general. It is very difficult to drop and latch up ribbing with a latch tool, therefore I cannot make anything that requires a ribbed welt or I will pull my hair out. It is also not very strong and you’ll need to use some other yarn with which to seam the garment. It pills after washing. I’m simply trying to use it all up because I bought way too many balls.
This was the first t-shirt I designed with DAK 9 and the fit is great. The yarn is Cestari Rainbow, the Joy colourway. It’s 50% wool 50% cotton. I used the SK280 and a garter bar to turn the pieces for the garter eyelets.
- Use garter bar to turn your piece around. RS (right side) is now facing you.
- Knit across, 1 row. This forms the garter ridge.
- Use garter bar. WS (wrong side) is now facing you.
- Transfer every other stitch to the adjacent needle. Make sure those empty needles are back in working position.
- You will need to make a free pass to position your carriage on the side with the working yarn. Then knit across, 1 row. This makes the eyelet row. There will be needles that have just yarn laid across it.
- Use garter bar again, being careful to make sure the looped stitches also transfer over. RS should be facing you.
- Knit across, 1 row.
- Use garter bar again. The WS should now be facing you, and you’ve made the second garter ridge.
- Continue knitting your piece as planned!
Sadly I can’t wear this t-shirt in summer, because I itch from the wool. It really isn’t easy to find cotton that knits up easily on knitting machines. They’re usually too thick or too stiff, making the carriage cry for help.