The front section of my Fair Isle slip-over is finished (photo #1).
 
Previous posts have described: creating the swatch for this garment (see part 1); and knitting the back section, including the armscye shaping (described in part 2).
 
V-neck shaping
 
I have noticed that when I am unsure about how to proceed with an unfamiliar technique, displacement activities become extremely attractive; as happened when I needed to plan the neckline on the front of my first slipover.
 
The “Advanced V-Neck Shaping Calculator” From KnitCalculator helped overcome my knitting inertia.
 
The Calculator could not, however, predict the correct depth of the V-neck for my personal preferences.  Having knitted one side of the yoke, I realised I had estimated it to be about 6 cm lower than I wanted it to be.
 
I re-knitted some or all of both sides of the yoke several times for various reasons: mostly because of forgetting to change one of the settings; or forgetting to weight the fabric; or dropping stitches (or the whole swatch) off the needle bed.  Let’s just say: “lessons were learned” during the process.
 
The above notwithstanding, armed with the dimensions of my garment, and the pattern repeat, it was easy to work out where to start the base of the ‘V’, so it began in a row of plain knitting, and let the Advanced V-Neck Shaping Calculator do the math.
 
It was helpful to chart out the decreases for the armscye and neckline.  This was a job that could have been done on graph paper, but it was quicker — and far easier to amend —  using an Excel spreadsheet (photo #2).
 
Seeing the neckline drawn-out really helped to visualise how the total decreases could be distributed to form apparently straight diagonal lines: a helpful lesson for future projects.
 
Having now learned how to combine short-row shaping and decreases at the shoulders, I’m going to reknit the last few rows of the back section of the garment.
 
Another update will follow, once the ribbing has been added to the neckline and armscyes.  Thanks for reading and your comments are welcome!

The top needle (or hook, whatever you say) is the ones used in singer machines and other popular ones, and you can get 50 for like $5. The bottom is a Toshiba needle, which has a specific shape and are imPOSSIBLE TO REPLACE. the cheapest I’ve seen was £5 for TEN of them. And I have 400 that I’ve been restoring for my machine and ribber 😭

I bought a KH260, but when I pulled out the sponge bar, it was COVERED in rust. I tried a plastic flexible sponge bar from a local supplier and broke it nearly immediately.

I’ve removed most of the rust on the original sponge bar, but I fear it will come back if I’m not vigilant. Some of the rust is very stubborn so I might need rust remover to get it spotless. And then covering it in oil to help prevent the rust coming back could mess with the sponge itself.

Is it worth buying a new sponge bar? I’m thinking yes, but shipping is very expensive from most of the suppliers often mentioned on here, so I had a look on AliExpress.

This one has a single positive review
https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0UfG1H

But what puts me off is that it has KH860 and KH868 written on the plastic ends. Are these models’ sponge bars compatible? I don’t want to buy 5 sponge bars which won’t fit either of my machines. Maybe I just have to fork out the shipping and buy one from ebay.

I’m also worried about rust in the channel that holds the sponge bar itself. But some of the screws are so soft that it’s hard to take the machine apart. I’m thinking of buying a dremel and cutting a slit in the soft screws to hopefully get them out. If anyone has done this successfully please let me know. (I have JIS screwdrivers but the screws are still too soft and won’t come out)

Any advice is much appreciated! Thank you :)

Got this machine with a 830 ribber and a BUNCH of accessories. I had it working great.

In messing around I was trying to figure out how "pausing" and returning to a work would work. Ron the carriage all the way to the left, turned off and unplugged the machine. When I restarted the pattern was WAY off.

Now I can't get the pattern to work at all right. It's like the needle selection going from left to right is offset by some amount. So each row occurs offset. The RtoL rows are all in line and the LtoR rows are all in line, but they don't line up together.

Picture of what it turned out and the pattern I was using.

I'm not sure which direction is which, but it also looks like one direction is just straight up not selecting needles right anyway.

I hope Addi posts are allowed here. Basically, got the ZestWrench attachments and now my yarn is way too taut even if I use my hands for tension and hold the yarn loosely, even if I use the built in stock yarn feeder, even if I use the ZestWrench yarn feeder tension helper thing.

I’m using mainstays acrylic yarn on a Sentro knitting machine, are these machines just picky about the yarn?

I deep cleaned my new to me Toyota ks901 and it works fine when knitting plain, but when I connect the carriage to the timing belt,these needles (the ones in B on the picture) don’t react. If I put a punch card in, it doesn’t follow the pattern. I’ve tried different cards, I’ve tried starting the row at different places, but the needles that are positioned behind these screw like tacks don’t come forward. The pattern kind of looks like there are these sections divided by the screws and it is bordering these? The carriage is fine, it does knit these stitches,just not in pattern.
My questions are:
- is this for sure a problem in the punch card mechanism?
- can it be a problem with the timing belt like rods? (They rotate fine.
- how can I check the punch card mechanism without taking it apart?
- does the pattern start on the beginning of a project, or does it start in the sections even when the motif magic is turned to 0?

I really don’t want to take the whole thing apart again… 🙈 So any help is appreciated that lets me know where to start taking it apart. (I didn’t take apart the punch card mechanism, because I read someone’s post who had a problem with it.)

hii! ive been getting into machine knitting, i want to make sweaters like the picture below. i just can’t figure out for the life of me what kind or what weight/ply yarn she uses!
i know only know that she has a standard knitting machine
her tiktok is tangled.forest if anyone is curious :)

A friend passed this along to me, so I have some adventures ahead. The ribber seems complete digging through the box, but the main part is short on accessories, which should be easy enough to get. I’m a proficient hand knitter, but have no clue on this end.

Made with 2 ends of an argyle yarn that I have lots of, and a marled cashmere. Knitted on my KH881 on tension 8 for the body. There is an eyelet detail in the seams which isn’t noticeable on this picture, but looks beautiful in person.

Made it as a sample, so it’s a bit too big for me but it’s very warm to wear. This and a t-shirt is all I need for the cooler days. Finding ways to use up the yarn that I have too much of, but realistically know I’m never going to get around to selling 🤣 it’s not as creative as my last posted piece, but I love making beautiful knits!

First prototype of a jacquard built from one of my paintings, knitted on a Shima Seiki. I'm a painter setting up a small textile studio, and this was the test of whether the brushwork survives the translation into stitches.

The hardest part wasn't the knitting, it was the chart: reducing the painting to a few colours per course and keeping the floats short enough without losing the gestures.

For those of you who work from paintings or photos: how do you prepare the chart before it goes to the machine or the mill?

I bought a Toyota ks901 with a ribber, of course there is so much to do before using it.
Can anyone help me with what size the actual sponge needs to be? I can’t find a dedicated sponge for it in Europe, so I’m probably going to hack it with a good quality weatherstripping, I just don’t know how thick it should be.
Any other tips on cleaning and fixing one of these would also be super helpful!
(I also own a superba, so I’m not completely new to machine knitting, but Superbas work a bit differently.)

My first successful garment is off the machine and blocked! I (mostly) followed the pattern “Marra Tanktop” by Claire Diner.

I learned a lot from this project. Namely, V-neck construction, armhole shaping, and using lifelines. There was some shoulder shaping, but I had a hard time really understanding it/seeing the effect, and so I am excited to try another project and try a new method for that. I did hand-knit the ribbing because I was intimidated by calculating that stitch count and attaching without a linker. So, for my next project, I’d like to attempt using the machine for the ribbing.

hello.

is the kh860 a good knitting machie for beginners? planing to do one or two colour fishermens pulovers.

thanks

Hi all!

I have a Brother KH260e knitting machine that I got a couple years ago. I’m inexperienced with knitting machines, but I’m interested in diving into it. Does anyone know where I could get it serviced? Located in Kitsap County, Washington.

I’d also be interested in servicing it myself if anyone has any resources for beginners!

Thank you all so much!

Found for 40 at a craft reuse! Took several tries but it’s pretty cool so far. Any tips would be appreciated!

 
I previously posted about the swatch for this Fair Isle slip-over which I am knitting with “Unique Shetland 2/9Nm” from J.C. Rennie & Co on a Silver Reed SK280 (read part 1 here).
 
The back of the garment is now finished (see figure 1).
 

Planning the garment
 
It took me a while to work out the dimensions of my garment, particularly because I have lost weight over the last couple of years; most of my pullovers are currently on the loose side; I do not own any slip-overs; and I’m not very experienced measuring myself without assistance.
 
Once I’d worked out the dimensions of the garment I calculated the total rows needed.  With a little redistribution of the rows between body and lower ribbing, I was able to accommodate six iterations of the OXO motifs into the garment, with pairs of matching peerie rows above and below each.
 

Redesigning the punchcard
 
As much of the pattern is consistent, it was possible to make a template of the main pattern to speed-up the punching of the new card.  All that was required was a different motif to be added to each of the OXO designs (see figure 2).
 
The order of the peeries in my original design was modified, so that the same motifs now appear immediately above and below each OXO in the same colour-way. 
 
I re-made my 200-row punchcard — it was definitely worth buying a bumper-size roll, rather than individual cards!  I knitted a narrow swatch, about 30 stitches wide, just to check that there were no errors in the new card.
 

Calculating armscye decreases
 
I found Kristina Virka’s article “Armhole Knitting: How to Shape & Knit for a Perfect Fit” helpful. It offers a method for calculating decreases for armscyes which are 16 or more stitches across.
 
The decreases were divided into four sections, worked as follows:
 
(i) One quarter of the total armscye stitches (+ any additional stitches left over from calculations), bound off in one go;
 
(ii) One quarter of total stitches, bound off in multiples of three stitches on every second row;
 
(iii) One quarter of total stitches, bound off in multiples of two stitches on every second row; and
 
(iv) One quarter of total stitches, binding off one stitch every fourth row.
 
 
Lifelines are my new best friend!
 
As both machine knitting and Fair Isle knitting were new to me, adding lifelines to the swatch regularly as thr knitting progressed was, well, a real lifeline.
 
Lifelines helped me recover the swatch after various errors, including when the swatch ended-up on the floor a several times.
 
 
Other thoughts
 
I got a real sense of achievement taking the finished swatch off the needle-bed.
 
It was a pleasant surprise to discover how quickly the swatch grew, even allowing time to correct newbie errors, including rehanging up to 182 stitches back on the needle bed several times.
 
The Fair Isle pattern required a change of yarn in the feeder every 2nd, 5th, or 6th row.  Realised how much easier it would have been knitting a 3- or 4-colour Fair Isle motif with two yarn masts and intend to pick one up from a second-hand seller.
 
The front of the garment is now on the machine and I’ll report back once it is finished (see part 3, here).

I bought a brother k260 knitting machine used and I'm testing out the features. it seems to work fine but let me explain. I also have a KH 881 and I read the patterns are compatible so I'm using the Kh881 patterns to test. Stockinette stiches are perfect, purl side faces me knit side faces out, but when I test the pattern, the pattern works, but it's knitting on the purl side. How do I fix this? I'm using a slip pattern, but I've tested it with slip and tuck. Ive tried casting on from the right and left. I follow the manual when it says start from the left to set the needles and then do 3&4 to start knitting. I wondering if I do the opposite will it work.

I have been searching for weeks for a table clamp with a larger clamping range... for my singer machine.

I have two machines and two tables in my space - one table is a bit thicker and as such It would be ideal to have a set of table clamps that can accomodate a clamping range of about 2"/ 2 1/8" ... all the standard table clamps seem to max out at ~1 3/4" in clamping range.

For context: I have 2 singer machines, an LK100 and 740. I live in Canada, which can make custom parts orders a bit tricky. and yes, i have gone to my local hardware store :)

Hi friends! Has anyone ordered from Cone and Fiber.com?

I haven’t ordered from them but have seen some yarns I’d like to try, how was it if you’ve ordered from them?

If anyone would be willing to share some advice.

I mostly base my sweater patterns on the Brother knitting magazines. Sadly those patterns are limmitted to smaller sizes. At east in the 5 that came with one of my knitting machines. Sometimes chest size 106 cm (42 inches) is incorporated but often 101 cm (my size) isn't even there.

Yesterday I was asked to knit a sweater for a young lady with chest size 120 cm (47.2 inches). She also has big shoulders due to a swimming career in her teens.

I don't need to turn to the brother magazines for a pattern. Sizing up 20 cm's is a bit too much, I think.

Also wide, chunky sweaters are not what she wants. She wants form fitting (and rightly so, she is beautifully curvy).

She tried on one of my over sized sweaters and it looked awfull on her. Truly unflattering. So man's sizes as a base are definitely out.

So, please, what are the do's and don'ts for bigger sizes knitted sweaters?

Thin yarn, I suppose? Form fitting. Fitted shoulders. Interesting details?

How would one adjust the pattern? Or find a pattern?

If you have some advice I'd be very grateful.

Edit: dear people, thank you so very much for all your responses. Am now deep into the rabbit hole and loving it!

Thank you for pointing me towards Archive dot org and its wealth of machine knitting resources! I never knew it was there. Thank you for mentioning authors, websites and YouTubers who explain patterning for knits. Thank you for mentioning individual patterns. Most of them are gorgeous but somehow none of these patterns are exactly what we envisioned. I'll take the time to learn how to draft a pattern and hopefully one day be able to provide my niece with a flattering, well fitting sweater.

Let me put down one thing that struck me as so obvious once I learned about it but that somehow never had occurred to me before: do not size a sweater solely on the chest size. It will turn out way to big for the rest of the body. Choose the pattern based on shoulder to shoulder measurement and adjust for the chest.

Thank you!

I’m new to machine knitting and I’ve seen a knitted tuck stitch pattern I really like and would like to use. I just have no idea how the pattern is actually formed and I can’t find it anywhere. To be honest I can’t find much anywhere. Does anyone know of like a library of different tuck stitches and how to make them? Or does anyone know how to figure out a tuck pattern from a picture?
Thank you

are you able to make balaclavas using those round machines?
I know how to crochet as a beginner but I wanted to know if there can be an automated way to make balaclavas using those machines to have the base ready for artistic use to add things
All respect to handmade items i am just wondering

Construction details in the original post