Machine Knitting 101

Double bed jacquard variations

2010-08-31T12:32:00.001Z

I created a DBJ cheat sheet based on a handout I used to have, not sure who did it originally. I've added two of my own versions - reversible and vertical lined backing. These were all done on the SK840/SRP60N, so I cannot produce the reversible version, as Silver machines do not pre-select for the next row. There are some pictures of a previous experiment with reversible backing here and here.

Two-row backing

Front

Back

Two-row backing tends to elongate the pattern somewhat, so you might have to adjust your pattern to compensate.

One-row backing

Front

Back

Plain backing

Front

Back

Bird's eye backing

Front

Back

Vertical striped backing

Front - went a bit wrong and dropped some stitches

Back

Mock rib: 3x1

2010-03-14T15:45:00.002Z

Cast on with waste yarn, putting every fourth needle out of work. Complete as for 1x1 mock rib.

Mock rib: 2x1

2010-03-14T15:44:00.002Z

Cast on in waste yarn, with every third needle out of work. Complete as for 1x1 mock rib.

Mock rib: 1x1

2010-03-14T15:41:00.002Z

Cast on EON (Every Other Needle) with waste yarn and knit a few rows, and then knit 1 row ravel cord. Knit required depth of rib at MT, and 1 row MT+2, followed by depth of rib again. Bring all needles into work.

Hang first row of knitting onto empty needles and knit 1 row.

Note: mock rib is not as stretchy as real rib.

Hems: decorative scalloped hem

2010-03-14T15:36:00.002Z

This hem is from the Brother knitting techniques book, page 128. It's an 8 row hem, and then groups of stitches are moved using the transfer tools, six stitches on the first row, five on the third, and so on.

Hems: scalloped hem

2010-03-14T15:32:00.002Z

Cast on with waste yarn and knit a few rows
Knit 1 row ravel cord
Knit 1 row main yarn
Select alternate (eg odd) needles to D position, set carriage to slip/part both ways, knit 1 row
Select alternate (eg even) needles to D position, knit 1 row
Repeat 4 and 5
Cancel slip/part, set carriage to hold.
Select the 5th and every following 8th needle to hold
Knit 6 rows
Cancel hold
Knit 5 rows
Pick up cast on row and hang it onto needles, knit 1 row

Hems: Double picot

2010-03-14T15:27:00.003Z

Work picot hem as for single picot hem.
Knit 12 rows.
Knit 1 row with a coloured cord along with the main yarn.
Knit a further 5 rows with main yarn only.
Transfer every 2nd needle, leaving empty needles in work.
Knit 6 rows
Pick up the row marked with the coloured cord and hang onto needles
Knit 1 row
Pull the coloured cord tight and remove from one end

Hems: single picot

2010-03-14T15:23:00.004Z

Cast on with WY, knit a few rows
Knit 1 row ravel cord
Knit 7 rows main yarn
Transfer every 2nd needle left, keeping empty needles in work.
Knit 6 rows main yarn
Pick up the first row knitted and hang onto needles, knit 1 row.

Hems: simple hem

2010-03-14T15:20:00.002Z

This is created by casting on the required number of stitches, and knitting a few rows in waste yarn, and one row with ravel cord. Knit 10 rows main yarn/main tension (MT), 1 row MT+2, 9 rows MT. Pick up the cast on row from above the ravel cord and hang it on the needles (you shouldhave one less stitch than needle, this is normal).

Apologies...

2010-01-05T21:59:00.001Z

...for the lack of posting on here, I didn't realise it had been so long. Alas, I work full-time, and don't get as much time on the knitting machines as I would like, so please bear with me!

Want to buy a knitting machine? Read on!

2010-01-05T21:53:00.002Z

I moderate a few knitting machine groups on Ravelry, and we often get questions from people wanting to buy a knitting machine. This is a copy of an explanation I posted, with a few minor tweaks.

Firstly, you need to decide what thickness of yarn you want to knit with the most. 99%* of machines are a single gauge:

3.6mm is called "fine gauge" and it knits laceweight up to fingering
4.5-5mm is called "standard gauge", and can knit from light fingering up fine/sport weight yarn
6-7mm is called "mid gauge", and can knit fine/sport weight up to medium/worsted yarn
8-9mm is called "bulky" or "chunky" gauge and knits light/DK yarn up to bulky weight yarn

The gauge is determined by measuring the pitch of the needles. As you can see, there is overlap with all gauges. Knitting in the middle range of the machine (tension 5-6) is the most successful. Knitting with the wrong yarn/wrong gauge can produce holey knitting or stiff knitting.

There are two main types of knitting machines - punchcard and electronic. This refers to how the machine selects needles to create patterns, and how the pattern can be manipulated. Casting on and off, shaping, and cables are still done by hand, and the carriage is still moved physically by hand.

Machines can have plastic or metal beds. Plastic bed machines (with the exception of Passap) are more basic – any patterning is done manually, and ribbers are not usually available for them**. Bond/USM machines fall into this category.

Punchcard machines use a plastic punched card to read the pattern in, so your pattern repeat is limited to the width of the punchcard (usually 24 stitches, but there are other variants). You can vary the pattern by reversing or turning the card around, but to make any other changes you’d need to punch a new card.

Electronic machines use a mylar sheet or a connection to a computer (or built- in patterns) to do their patterning, so you can have up to 200st wide patterns (depending on machine). Depending on the machine, the pattern can be scaled, flipped and rotated, or parts of it isolated to create a new pattern.

You can get motors for some machines, of course – they are usually mounted on a rail above the carriage (for Japanese machines) or at the right hand end (Passap). They are very expensive, and only the Silver ones are still in production, so the others are hard to find and harder to get repaired. Motors just speed up the straight bits of knitting – everything else is still done manually.

Standard gauge machines (4.5mm) are the most commonly available. They mostly come with lace carriages (sometimes sold separately). Lace carriages work by bending two needles together to transfer a stitch – you can still create lace by hand, of course. Brother machines work by using a lace carriage in conjunction with the main carriage. Silver/Knitmaster use a second carriage that replaces the main carriage.
Garter carriages are separate electrical devices that sit on the machine bed and can create purl and plain stitches in the same row. They are slow, and they only work on Brother standard gauge machines.

Bulky/chunky gauge machines do not have lace carriages. Any lace patterning has to be done by manual manipulation - the needles are just too sturdy to work with a lace carriage - and there is no garter carriage for these machines. You can get garter bars for both gauges - it’s a big long comb you transfer the knitting to, so that you can turn it around and rehang it. But it’s quite time consuming for more than a few rows.

Knitting machines can do slip, tuck (brioche), fair-isle and knitweave (a contrast yarn is woven into the knitting on the purl side), as well as lace. Newer machines can do punch-lace – knitted a bit like fairisle, with two yarns, but one is thick and one is thin, and the thin yarn is knitted alone in certain areas. Newer machines can also do plating and intarsia.

It’s also possible to buy a ribber for most Japanese machines – this is a separate bed that fits on the front of the main bed at a right angle to the main bed. A ribber can be used to create various ribs, racked ribs and double-bed jacquard patterns.

I wouldn’t pay much more than about £50 GBP for a Brother punchcard machine (model 836 upwards) and £100 GBP for a Brother electronic. These machines can go for ridiculous amounts on Ebay – some sellers will take no account of depreciation, nor the fact that spares are almost impossible to buy.

Brother stopped production in 1996, and Toyota even earlier, so bear this in mind with the electronics - once they die, you need an electrical engineer to diagnose and repair them, and electrical spares can be hard to come by. The punchcard machines seem to last forever, though - there’s not much to go wrong with them. Your main problem will be replacing bent needles and the spongebar (though it is possible to repair your spongebar if you have to).

Silver (also called Silver Reed/Singer/Knitmaster/Empisal) are still in production, so getting spares isn’t so bad. Some of the older Knitmaster machines couldn’t take a lace carriage (the needles were too strong) so check before you buy.

Passap machines (also no longer in production) use a different patterning system. Every needle has a corresponding pusher, and the position of the pusher in combination with a setting on the lock/carriage determines what is done to the stitch on that needle. Passap machines do fantastic double-bed work, but Japanese machines do better single-bed work.

Buying a knitting machine is a bit like buying a computer – decide how much you can afford, and buy the best machine you can get for that money. If you think you’re likely to want a ribber or other accessories in the future, try and get a machine that can be added to.

Other useful reading:
Angelika's Yarn Store including chart history of knitting machines

*Brother made a convertible plastic bed machine, which has both 4.5mm and 9mm beds.
** The original Bond also had a ribber, but it wasn't very successful.

Anatomy of a carriage - main bed and ribber

2009-02-22T17:56:00.005Z

A - tension dial. Higher numbers = looser stitches
B - Normal/Hold - to select partial knitting
D - cam buttons - tuck, slip, fair-isle etc
E - main yarn feeder
G - colour change lever. When raised, will activate colour changer
H - pile knitting lever
I - carriage disengage. Will unlock ribber carriage from main carriage
J - Normal/Hold - to select partial knitting
K - tension dial. Higher numbers = looser stitches
L - Slip levers. Carriage will slip stitches in that direction, if lever set to 0. Used for circular knitting.
Z - electronic cable connection (obscured by handle)

Carriage shown is an SK840 electronic machine, and SRP60N ribber

Anatomy of a carriage - main bed

2009-02-22T17:52:00.005Z

A - tension dial. Higher numbers = looser stitches
B - Normal/Hold - to select partial knitting
C - card select, normal knitting, carriage release
D - cam buttons - tuck, slip, fair-isle etc*
E - main yarn feeder
F - contrast yarn feeder

* carriage shown is a Brother chunky KH260. As this machine has no lace, the fair-isle button is split in two, and can also do punchlace

Short-rowing: photo tutorials

2008-10-25T10:43:00.006Z

Short rowing part 1 - one side only - useful for shoulder shapings, sideways-knit skirts, mitred corners.

Short rowing part 2 - diagonal

Short rowing part 3 - both sides - useful for sock toes.

Cast off: Figure of 8

2008-09-25T19:57:00.002Z

Figureof8a, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Figureof8b, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Knit last row as normal.
Needles in WP.
*Knit nd1 back by hand to make loose stitch. Bring needle out to Holding, Fig A, insert transfer tool from back to front towards yourself, turn transfer tool round, and leaving stitch on 1st needle, hang loop on transfer tool onto needle 2.* Two loops on needle 2. Rept. from*

You have total control over slackness of loop.

Useful for full needle rib cast offs, also useful to bind two edges together where stretch is needed.

Thanks to Alison Lee for sending this!

Increase: simple

2008-09-25T19:36:00.001Z

inc-simple, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Move an extra needle into work on the edge of the knitting. Produces a ragged edge.

Increase: Fully fashioned with 3 prong tool

2008-09-25T19:35:00.003Z

inc-fully3, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Using the three-pronged tool, increase three stitches and place the heel of the 4th stitch onto the empty needle. Kind of equivalent of kfb (knit forwards and back into same stitch).

Increase: decorative with small holes

2008-09-25T19:34:00.002Z

inc-decsmall, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Using the three-pronged tool, increase three stitches and hang the bar between the stitches onto the empty needle.

Increase: large lacey holes

2008-09-25T19:32:00.001Z

inc-declarge, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Done using the three-pronged tool, increase three stitches and leave the empty needle in work.

Decrease: 2 sts every 4 rows

2008-09-25T19:30:00.002Z

dec-quick2-4, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Done using the three-pronged tool, decrease two stitches every four rows.

Decrease: simple

2008-09-25T19:29:00.001Z

dec-simple, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Move one stitch in every two rows.

Decrease: fully fashioned with 3 prong tool

2008-09-25T19:28:00.001Z

dec-fully3, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Done using the three-pronged tool, decrease three stitches in by one stitch, every two rows.

Decrease: 3sts every 6 rows

2008-09-25T19:27:00.001Z

dec-quick3-6, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Done using the three-pronged tool, decrease three stitches every six rows. Quite a nice cable effect, and very quick.

Decrease: neater finish for V-necks

2008-09-25T19:25:00.001Z

dec-neat, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Transfer 2nd stitch to 1st stitch. Move both stitches to the now empty 2nd needle.

How to measure a swatch

2008-09-25T19:08:00.001Z

swatch, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

I photocopied both sides of my green ruler to illustrate measuring a swatch. You would knit 40 sts by 60 rows (I have left needle 21 out of work on both sides). You would then use the S side to measure stitches, and the R side to measure rows. You put the arrow base on one end, and read the number on the other side - this gives you sts or rows per 10cm

In this instance, the tension is 30 sts and 39 rows to 10cm. Normally you would take an average of 3 measurements each way, and your swatch would be pinned flat - this swatch is distorted because it has been taped down to a piece of paper.

Transfer tool cast off, in pictures.

2008-07-14T07:14:00.001Z

Transfer your stitch...

...in front of the gatepost

...behind the gatepost and...

...lay in new yarn and knit back by hand.

This is my favourite method of casting off, after latch tool - one in front, one behind, repeat. Not as stretched out as behind all gateposts, and not as tight as in front of all gateposts.

Cast off: around ribber needles

2008-07-01T07:41:00.004Z

If you do not have gateposts on your machine, but you have a ribber, this is an alternative to the "around the gateposts" cast off, and the result is the same.

Shown on a Passap E6000

ETA: Method

If you are right-handed, start on the right, or vice-versa. This also means your carriage should end on the right.

If you are casting off around ribber needles, set the ribber to half pitch and push all ribber needles the length of your knitting fully forward.
Transfer rightmost stitch to transfer tool, put needle out of work. Transfer stitch left onto next needle, in front of the gatepost/ribber needle. Pull this needle fully forward (it should have two stitches on it). Using main yarn from carriage, knit this stitch back by hand.
Transfer the newly-created stitch onto the next needle on the left, knit back by hand as before. Repeat until all stitches knitted back. Break yarn, pull through last stitch and tighten.

Cast off: in front of gateposts

2008-05-24T09:47:00.004Z

Done using the transfer tool. Makes a slightly tighter cast off.

Cast off: behind gateposts

2008-05-24T09:46:00.002Z

Cast off using the single transfer tool and putting all loops behind the gatepost. Makes a loose cast off

Cast off: tapestry 2

2008-05-24T09:45:00.001Z

bindoff-tapestry2, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

(1) Take the work off the machine by knitting several rows of waste yarn

(2) Thread tapestry needle with 3 times the width of the knitting.

(3) Sew up 1st, down 2nd, up 1st, down 3rd, up 2nd, down 4th etc

Cast off - tapestry needle 1

2008-05-24T09:43:00.001Z

bindoff-tapestry, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

This is cast off as follows:

(1) Thread up a needle with three times the width of the knitting (done here in a contrast colour).

(2) Sew up through 1st st, down through 2nd, up 1st, down 3rd, up 2nd etc.

Cast off: latch tool

2008-05-24T09:41:00.001Z

bindoff-latchtool, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Cast off by knitting last row at a looser tension and then binding off with a latch tool. My favourite cast off method.

Cast off: Brother linker

2008-05-24T09:40:00.001Z

bindoff-linker, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

I've never really got on well with this device, it only ever seems to want to work on samples and always goes wrong on important work. Of course, your mileage may vary - some people swear by these things! Mostly I just swear *at* mine! :)

Cast on: multiple rows of latching

2008-05-18T16:37:00.002Z

caston-multiplelatchtool, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Cast on with the latch tool method, knit 1 row, and then bring the knitting forward with the needles in hold. Cast on a further row, between the gate pegs and the knitting, k 1 row. Repeat 4 times. This makes a nice border.

First row cast on and knit

Latching second row between knitting and machine

Cast on: alternate slip

2008-05-15T18:00:00.001Z

caston-slip, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Included for completeness, this cast on is in the Brother Knitting Techniques book, and I have no idea why you would want this kind of edge! Maybe it works better on a standard machine?

Worked by slipping every other needle, then slipping the alternate needles, six times. It made a neat enough edge until I gave the knitting a stretch.

Cast on: e-wrap 4 rows

2008-05-15T17:58:00.001Z

caston-ewrapx4, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Shown from the wrong side, because the right side doesn't show anything. Produces a nice firm edge.

Created by e-wrapping, knit 1 row, repeated a further 3 times (you have to move your carriage to the opposite end with a free move)

Cast on: zigzag, knitback

2008-05-15T17:36:00.002Z

caston-zigzagknitback, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

A variation on the zig-zag cast on

Step one

Step two

Cast on: latch tool

2008-05-13T20:55:00.001Z

caston-latchtool, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Simple cast on with latch tool - technically, it is the bottom loops of a crochet chain mounted on the needles

Cast on: knitted back

2008-05-13T20:54:00.002Z

caston-crochet, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Created by wrapping the yarn around leftmost two needles, and knitting back the leftmost needle.

Step one

Step two

Cast on complete

Cast on: zigzag

2008-05-13T20:40:00.002Z

caston-zigzag, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

Created by wrapping the needles in a zig-zag fashion. A first for me, too! Quite like the edge of this one!

First row - last few wraps brought forward to show construction

Cast on: e-wrap

2008-05-12T19:57:00.005Z

caston-ewrap, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

This is a closed-edge cast on, which makes a nice neat edge.

This is the first row (click for a bigger picture)

Cast on: with comb

2008-05-12T19:57:00.001Z

caston-comb, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

This is a open cast on which will come undone. OK for swatching though.

Cast on: weaving

2008-05-12T19:56:00.001Z

caston-weaving, originally uploaded by steel breeze.

This is a loose cast on but it will not run. It can be later gathered up, eg for a hat.