Years ago hubby got me a knitting machine for Christmas…I didn’t know how to knit yet, but (thought it was a sweet gift) I sent it back! There was something just WRONG about doing it on a machine, like I was cheating or something. 
Am I weird? :eyebrow: OK, I know I’m weird…
I love my machine. I don’t use it that often, but it is perfect for projects that require a lot of straight stockinette. I am currently working on writing a few patterns for machine knitting.
I suppose if one were knitting for profit or something I could see it. I knit to relax so a machine just wouldn’t make sense for me.
David Demchuk posted a review for his knitting machine here:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/FEATwin06KLM.html
I don’t own a machine, but my grandmother did. She also did crochet, hand knitting, embroidery, sewing and many other things.
I have a Silver Reed knitting machine and I love it! Hand knitting and machine knitting are really not very similar. I like that I can use the mechanical part of my brain to do the machine stuff. It’s fun. I definitely do more by hand than by machine though. Portability and all.
Kris
I agree with that. I really learned a lot about the mechanics of the stitches. My machine doesn’t have a ribber, so to do ribbing, you had to drop your knit stitches and then work them back up with a hook. The same for cabling. To have the stitches on the hooks, and be able to see them all nicely separated and defined made it easier to understand the construction of the stitches and how they worked together.
I do agree though, it is not the same thing at all. We started a thread in the blog section for machine knitters. Of course, I’ve been sick, so I haven’t set up my machine yet.
my mom has one and eveytime i tell her about a blanket i wanna do she says we could doit on the machine which is not up… i don’t say anything but in my head i don’t want to. 1. its at herhouse. 2 i just don’t feel right. like i didn’t do anything… i don’tknow. if i ever get my business going i might consider it.
Agree!
LOL! I love your signature. :roflhard:
I am a knitting machine!
:roflhard: :roflhard: :roflhard:
You said it sister!
Machine knitting IS work. Sometimes it can be more work than hand knitting, especially if you are trying to do something complicated, like cables or ribbing. Plus, casting on and binding off is harder. I’ve been using waste yarn and doing the cast-on/bind-off edges with a crochet hook; it seems easier that way.
However, once you get going, individual rows can be much quicker, but there is always the risk of dropping stitches and splitting yarn, and those are a little more difficult to fix on a machine. It is also harder to catch those things, so it may be too late by the time you notice it.
I have 3 knitting machines now, and I’m in the process of finding the time to set up the bulky machine I just got from my aunt. 
Rather than start a new topic :teehee: I though I’d just add on to this one… I bought the USM a few years ago, and had so much trouble with the yarn splitting and stitches dropping that I returned it. Now, the lazy side of me is thinking about getting another machine; a silver reed 150. Any thoughts on this?
HVK
I have an LK-150 and I like it a lot. I was a little frustrated with it at first, but once I learned what I could do with it, it’s handy to have around. The two things I’ve used it the most for are making stockinette baby blankets (where I would add a crochet edging or hand-knit cables), and … I-CORDS. My hand-knit I-cords are always lumpy and crooked, but I can make a nice, long, even, 2 or 3-stitch I-cord on the machine in just a couple of minutes.
I made a child’s vest on the machine two Christmases ago. I hand-knit the bottom bits, then did the stockinette body on the machine. I had to stop every other row and manually change the first and last 5 stitches because the edges were garter stitch, and that was pretty tedious to do.
I also made a hat with a fair-isle pattern, which wasn’t too complicated, but I really hated having a hat with a seam so I never tried that again on a machine.
I still hand knit way more than I machine knit.
Thank you brownishcoat for pointing out EXACTLY what I was going to say 
Machine and hand knitting are two COMPLEATLY different animals! People who think machine knitting is the ‘cheating’ version of hand knitting … you need to understand this, its hardly related to hand knitting at all!
I started out hand knitting and recently got my first machine (Brother830 with ribber and all its bits) and I have treated it as a different art form all together. Because it is
Machine knitting can easily be alot harder then hand knitting. Huge difference, large learning curve … and I bloody LOVE it xD
I wouldnt be without my machine now. I hardly hand knit anymore (like I gave up crochet, felting … etc). But I do move from art to art very quickly lol!
cloud9
I have 6 knitting machines - different gauges, different abilities and gadgets - and have been machine knitting for somewhere around 13 years. I’ve only been hand knitting for 2.5 years. (Unless you count that sweater I made 20 some years ago that was barely wearable.) As others have said, they are two totally different arts that just happen to produce the same fabric. Some things I prefer to hand knit and some I prefer to machine knit. Machine knitting isn’t as mindless as some would believe and requires constant attention to avoid mistakes. You’re basically doing all your increases, decreases, neckline splits, while remembering to cross your cables and transfer your eyelets and adjust your carriage settings all in a matter of minutes instead of the hours (or in my case, days) you have to do these maneuvers in hand knitting. Hand knitting is much more relaxing for me and they both have a place in my life depending on my mood, the garment and yarn. I’m just as proud of my machine knit garments as I am of my hand knit garments. And I frequently combine the two in the same project.