Getting Started

I was pretty lucky on many accounts when I got into machine knitting. My first machine was given to me. It was donated to a machine knitting guild. It was also in very good shape. Since then I am finding that there are knitting machines in garages, tucked under beds and in attics. Some are sold on ebay or craigslist. If you're lucky you can just ask around and have someone give you one or buy it fairly cheaply.

If you have no experience with knitting machines I suggest you look for people who have experience. I had a friend who knew how to use knitting machines. My friend Julia also had already found groups of people, who also like to machine knit. I have learned so much by having more experienced people help me.

These experienced people can be found at machine knitting guilds or groups in your area. It's fun to knit with other people and their experience can be a great help. Some local knitting stores have lessons for knitting machines. Don't count them out. Call and ask. There are some Yahoo Groups you can subscribe too that have very experienced and nice people to talk to and ask questions of. Subscribe to a few you'll find ones that you like the best.

The internet has also been a great source of info and learning. If you'll check out my links I'm putting the ones I enjoy and find useful on this blog.

If you have a machine and it hasn't been used in a while you'll want to clean it and probably replace the sponge bar. I'll be posting about refurbishing sponge bars soon. I took pictures of the process with the last sponge bar I refurbished. I've done 2 and both work great. So, the method works well.

Search You Tube there is amazingly a wealth of machine knitting videos on there. Here's the first one I looked up when I was in a bind. I couldn't remember how to do a latch hook bind off. This video is for a back stitch bind off. Not exactly the same thing, but you do acheive the same result. I found the video to be very easy to follow. This was a life saver for me. I had done my first project at home... alone... and couldn't remember how the heck to get the piece off my knitting machine. I didn't want to wait until the next day to get help. This video saved the day.

It is real knitting!

Whenever I go into a yarn store I am usually greeted by the staff. They want to know what I'm working on. Then I pipe up with "I machine knit. My sister in law is the real knitter." I refer to my SIL as the real knitter, because she hand knits and makes really nice stuff like beautiful socks. BUT I do knit by hand... I just haven't taught myself to do anything other than scarves with very large knitting needles.... size 19. I tried making a scarf with size 10 needles and it's still in progress. I got so bored with it's slow progress. With size 19 needles I can usually have a really long scarf done in 4 hours.

Last summer though I was introduced to machine knitting. I knew that machine knitting existed, but I thought it was done only in factories. I had no idea that women had their own knitting machines at home. My crafty friend Julia took me to a Machine Knitting Guild meeting and I was intrigued. It looked complicated and the machines looked expensive. My 2nd thought was do I really need to start a new craft?! Then my crafty friend Julia said someone had donated a machine to the guild and she would give it to me. Well that solved one problem. Didn't have to spend money on a machine.

Julia taught me how to clean the machine and replace the sponge bar one afternoon and then the machine went home with me.

She had given me a lesson one afternoon on her machine. She taught me the e-wrap cast-on, how to do a picot edge, how to change yarn colors and how to latch hook cast-off. I did my first project.

I couldn't believe how fast this went. In 4 hours a novice knitted a baby sized blanket. That's when I started thinking it was cheating. But the more I use my machine and learn it's ins and outs the more I'm realizing that I am doing real knitting.