If you are doing the same type of cable with the same crosses on the front of a sweater, say 6-8 cables on a background of stocking stitch or reverse stocking, it definitely goes substantially faster, even with all the hand transfers, because the rows between the crosses are usually plain stitches and only require you to move the carriage across the row, move weights up if needed to keep tension/gauge even, and to pull the yarn up for the beginning of the next row to prevent loops and presto you're ready to do the next row. Lace, if it's not too complicated, also is very fast, since doing most lace patterns on a manual machine you are simply moving stitches from one needle to another, no YO or PSSO to worry about to create the holes. Fair isle if not too complicated goes much faster too. Intarsia, I think that's hard by hand and by machine, whether you are using bobbins or just long lengths of colors. I think having a machine doing intarsia the advantage is that even though the back of the work is toward you, it's easier to see the pattern and not lose your place, since you have both hands free and can move back from the work to look and see if you crossed off the right row on your chart. However, if you invest in a row counter, every time the carriage passes, it counts rows for you, so that's also a helper.
You can get a knitting machine and use it to do all your stocking stitch pieces and save your time and effort for doing the more complex work by hand. If you want a single cable panel for an afghan or some other type of insert, you could make it in a single afternoon on a knitting machine, and do a really nicefair isle sweater in a week, so it does save weeks of time, but unless I was doing mock cables, I definitely would not use my machine to do an all over aran sweater.
To be a little more specific, if you're interested in a Bond knitting machine, to do fair isle, you don't need any special tools. They explain how to push the contrast color needles all the way forward into what's called holding position, knit the rest of the row like normal, which the carriage does not knit the needles in hold, and then you take contrast yarn across and manually knit the pattern by hand. If you're doing a complicated all over fair isle pattern, they may recommend (and I agree with) getting a fair isle speed selector, which is an clear heavy duty plastic bar with smaller pieces embedded in it, which is different from regular needle selectors, which are fixed and unchanging (2 x 2, 3 x 3, etc). On the speed selector, you match the smaller pieces to your pattern, as you're given special graph paper to lay out the pattern on. Then, you take your speed selector and put it on your knitting machine against the needles, and since it's spaced like your knitting machine (they come in different sizes), each tab can match up to a needle, but the tabs that are pushed out of the way where you aren't doing patterning don't push needles forward that will take it. I hope that makes sense. It's not needed, but for more complex patterns, it does save time on fair isle.
For aran, you get some tools that come with your machine. It's been so long, I forget which, but I think you only get the 3 x 3 transfer tools, which means you can make a 6, 9, or 12, etc stitch cable. They also make 2 x 2, and I think those are special order. There's also 1 x 1, which is used not only for very tiny crosses, but also twisted stitches. I got the special tools kit a long time back, and now I have 1 x 1, 2 x 2, and 3 x 3. In addition, it came with a "latchet" tool that I never use for doing stitch reforming to turn a knit stitch on the right side to a purl. Most of us finds it splits the yarn or snags it and use crochet hooks instead. In addition with special tools, I got a double ended "latchet" (aka tappet tool according to other knitting machine maker's terms), which they say makes things like seed stitch, but I also don't use it, because in the middle of a big piece, it's hard to reach around both sides of the work to reform stitches. I got a "bodkin", which is a double eyed needle, eyes on both ends, which is actually used on a double bed knitting machine to transfer stitches from one bed to the other, but they are vague about what you can use that for since the Bond is a single bed (they haven't made a ribber for it for ages). The most useful of the special tools I got, I think, was the stitch picker. If you drop a stitch, you know how they tend to shrink up and are very hard to rescue without running? Well, this tiny hook looks like a dental cleaning tool, and works like a charm to grab those stitches before they run if they drop.
For intarsia, you can get a special "keyplate", which is the plastic thing that forms the stitches as the carriage goes across the row. The other KP's only give you varying gauges for various yarns. They've improved the gauges, but I think made the carriage more difficult to deal with. They claim it's improved for faster color changes because the front is open, but you have to be more attentive to make sure the yarn doesn't pop out of the front and not knit. Some people have found modifying a paper clip and hot gluing it to the carriage to feed the yarn through keeps it from popping out. I haven't tried it on my USM carriage, because while I got the upgrade kit, I still use my ISM carriage. They also made the new carriage smaller, so while the Ultimate Sweater Machine (USM for short) KP's will fit into an old Incredible Sweater Machine (ISM) carriage, your ISM KP's will not fit into the USM. So if you go for auctions online to save $$$ in getting things for a Bond, if they are selling ISM KP, remember they won't fit into a USM carriage. You can do intarsia by hand, but the KP certainly does speed it up. What it does is knits the row after you lay the yarns, and it pushes all the needles all the way forward, open and ready for the next lay of yarn. Doing it by hand, you have to push all the needles foward yourself. A single intarsia KP gives all regular KP gauges and all half sizes, 1, 1.5, 2,
2.5, 3, 3.5, 4. Some people bought them before the 2.5 and 3.5 sides were added to the basic KP set to give the in between gauges, as it can be used for plain knitting as well.
Just a bit about KM gauge: The "bulky" Bond takes baby yarn, sport, worsted, bulky, and super bulky. Baby yarn doesn't work quite as well on it as a "midgauge" machine like Studio's LK-150, which is a lot more expensive than a Bond, but it's passable for most purposes using the #1 KP. Sport yarns work great with the 2 and 2.5 KP. Worsted weight works great with the 2.5, 3, and 3.5 KP depending on how tight you want the fabric. The #4 is for bulky and super bulky, and while I tried it out and like the bulky results, I don't use super bulky yarns and can't comment on how working with SB yarn works on the machine.
Machine gauge itself is different than stitch gauge and refers to how many mm there are between needles. A standard gauge, the fancier electronics like Brother and Studio's non-hobby machines, have 4.5 mm between each needle. Midgauges are funny. They have anywhere from 5 mm (Passap which was also called their standard gauge) to 6.5 mm (Studio) to 7 mm (Bond's long discontinued Elite) between the needles. I think the most common is 6.5 mm. The bulky ones (Bond, Brother which is discontinued a few years now and hard to find, and Studio) run 8 mm (Bond) to 9 mm (Brother, Studio). Plastic "hobby" machines don't have ribbers available, but I think someone wrote up online how to make a ribber out of a second Bond machine. Hobby machines vary greatly in cost. The Bond costs about $120-$180 depending on where you shop and whether you get the deluxe (30 extra needles, row counter, and sometimes the intarsia KP come included with the deluxe, and all are worth it IMO), while Studio's LK-150 costs $400 to start. Used Bonds can go from $50-$150 for a used ISM (because the carriage is more popular) on Ebay. You can also find an LK-100 (only 100 needles) or LK-150 (150 needles) on Ebay for varying prices (depending on if parts are missing). You can also look into Brother's KX-350, which I understand was their midgauge hobby machine, and I have no idea how much that would put you out I think that's a midgauge machine like the LK-150.
Studio went out of production in the US for a few years, but when Brother decided to stop making them, they came back. Passap went out of the KM business everywhere and no longer make parts to fix their machines. There are also various other older names you'll find out there, but most of those have lots of parts missing.
Thanks for all the info about KM. I have filed it, and am keeping it for reference.
Just now, I am thinking about the more general advantages of hand needle knitting over knitting machines.
As I research this, I conclude that one of the sweaters that I had used as a standard of excellence for "hand knitting" was actually done on some kind of a knitting machine. I realize I have been racing a machine.
For now, the versatility and portability of needle knitting out weigh the speed and uniformity of KM production.
Beside, my wife barely tolerates the basket of yarn and needles by my chair >
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