Buying a knitting machine

#1

I want to take the plunge! What advice do you have for me as regards buying a knitting machine? I found a Brother machine on ebay that looks good. Are they okay? Thanks for your help!!!

#2

I have a Brother standard gauge machine with a ribber, a Studio standard with punchcard and a Studio Bulky machine.

I love them, but they may be a little more work than you think. I HIGHLY recommend reading this Knitty article:

[B]Better Living Through Knitting Technology[/B]

Have fun!

#3

Lisa, thank you so much for the article referral. A lot of the facts were things that had occurred to me, but not all of them!

#4

The only thing I have to say is that you should understand that IMHO, machine knitting is a MUCH different craft than hand knitting. I know lots of people like it but I never liked machine knitting because it took everything I liked about hand knitting away.

If you think you’ll like it, then wonderful! But just consider that before you go plop big bucks down on a knitting machine. :slight_smile:

#5

I have to agree with Silver. I love to knit. So, many years ago, I got the brilliant idea of buying a knitting machine. I could do the thing I love and do it faster…wrong! After almost 500 for the machine, I learned very quickly that what I truly loved about knitting, was the relaxing, snuggle up on the couch with your favorite movie on, type of hand knitting. Don’t get me wrong, knitting machines are wonderful and can do all types of fancy things on them. My suggestion would be to talk to people who own one and research it throughly before investing. It might save you the expense I went through. It’s still up in the attic, I haven’t touched that machine in almost 15 years.

#6

Silver and Nan, thanks for the feedback. My real love is crochet, but my hands hurt from doing that too much. I’ll keep looking into this. :think:

#7

Time for an update! I bought a Silver Reed SK 280. I made three little bears with it, three hats, and a few snuggie blankets. Using it is a little like weaving, only no warp threads to set up. It’s also a little like using a serger because you have to keep the threads from misbehaving. So far I’m happy with it.

#8

Congratulations!!:woot: I am so glad for you that you are enjoying it. Maybe one day you will inspire me to give mine a try again.

#9

Thanks, Nan. It’s fortunate that I have a good teacher. My instruction manual is good, but without a real teacher I would be overwhelmed, intimidated, and generally :eyes:

#10

I have a the Ultimate Sweater Machine and it has served me well. If I am doing a project that is just straight SS (like I did a 6 foot Harry Potter scarf), then I will use the machine, because, i get really bored when there is no shaping, just straight stitching, and though I like the end result, when it is something like that I just really want to get to the end result. But for everything else, like lace knitting, sock knitting, sweaters, cables, etc., I wiill hand knit because I like the variation in stitches. Just my 2 cents! Have fun.

#11

A new update. My machine and I are now great friends. It likes Caron Simply Soft, but only the bright colors. It loves TLC Baby yarn. We enjoy making scarves and also children’s snuggie blankets.

I’ve come up with some simple patterns I’ll share for free, esp. for charity.