Using my punch cards

I really had no idea how to use the punch card mechanism of my knitting machine. Usually using the manual I can make anything work, but had trouble with the very simple manuals that come with these pretty complicated knitting machines. I knew my friend Julia could get me up and running if I brought it to the knitting meeting. What I didn't know was our new member that had only been to one previous meeting had my exact machine and loved it. She knew exactly how to make it work. I was knitting this swatch within minutes. AND there was an instruction that wasn't in the book. Carolyn the fellow Studio 700 owner said you had to run the carriage over the needles and back again before knittting to get the machine to read the card. She called it the "free pass." She asked herself several times "Why do I know that?" It wasn't written in the book. Once it was done everything worked great. I spent nearly 2 hours just using different cards and making a really long swatch. I had SO much fun. I felt SO creative.

Here is a picture of what I was doing. At the top if you notice the stitches are singles. Down below they are doubled. Same card just a flip of a switch that elongates the pattern you are already doing.

Marilynn showed us how to switch colors while using a punch card to make a picture in your knitting. She got this pattern from an old English Machine Knitting magazine. SO CUTE. She gave me the swatch to take home.

I am really looking foward to doing more experimenting with punch cards with my machine knitting!