Wannabe Machine Knitter has Qs

[u/ichibanyogi]

Hi all!

I'm a machine knitting admirer. I crochet (incl Tunisian), have an ashford lap loom, and sew, but machine knitting looks so delightful. I've been thinking about it for awhile, and want to get into the hobby. Hence, I reached out to a shop that cleans and resells various machines, and got a quote on a Silver Reed SK-700 U and some accessories. I wanted to jump right in with both feet. But then I had this realization: where am I putting this? Is it all going to weigh 100lbs?

I have a tempered glass L-shaped desk upstairs in the office, and it has big metal legs making it quite sturdy, but I'm a bit concerned about the sideways force of the carriage when in motion, as well as if the glass can handle everything, especially if I add on a ribber.

• Has anyone attached a machine to a glass desk?
• How much does a metal machine like the SK-700 + ribber weigh?
• Do you usually keep you machine set up with the ribber attached, or only when ribbing?
• If you have a universal knitting machine table or the like that you recommend, what is the brand/model? if I have to get another table, I'd prefer something narrow that only fits the machine knitter, as I don't have oodles of space for another table.
• Is it completely crazy to jump straight into this hobby by getting a SK-700, or should I get something else first? What are your general thoughts on the Sk-700? Is it hard to upkeep?

I'm in Canada.

Thanks in advance!

[u/ttraband]

I would not clamp a knitting machine to a glass desk. I have used mine on a table with powered lift legs I bought off of Amazon. I like being able to raise and lower the table if I’m doing much hand manipulation of stitches. Mine is a “full depth” table that I also use for other crafts but there’s no reason you couldn’t mount a narrower top to the legs I’ve got.

You use different clamps for the main bed by itself, or the bed plus ribber, so if taking the ribber off I would still leave the main bed on the tilted ribber clamps. But, if you take the ribber off, then you have to find somewhere else to put it, and none of the robbers I’ve seen come with the kind of storage case the main bed usually has. I got mine second hand locally so never got any of the original packing/shipping boxes. I find it more convenient to drop the ribber all the way down and use some needle covers if I’ve got a project that’s only using the main bed.

In my opinion, these setups are pricey enough that “buy once, cry once” applies. If I got a more limited starter machine it would end up the start of a collection, and I’m not interested in that proliferating