Christmas was a week ago and I'm still geeking totally out! My mother got me a knitting machine! I've been complaining lately that with all the crocheting and knitting I've been doing, I still haven't had time to make quickie afghans to decorate the new apartment with or make pillows or anything else I'd planned on doing. The crazy old woman got me a knitting machine and I'm just in heaven! I have opened it, fondled it, watched the video, thought and dreamt and daydreamed about it for the week, and as soon as school starts up tomorrow and I have a kid-free house for a couple of hours, I'm going to put that bad boy together and start practicing.
Also fun on the Christmas haul inventory: my sister got me some several skeins of Bavarian wool from a wool shop in Germany, and it's absolutely lovely. It's a charcoal grey, heathered with a bit of cream and black. I cannot wait to make something with it -- I'm thinking of a ruana or something with simple lines so the lovely wool can be shown off to its best advantage. There's something about this wool that seems to show nicely under light, and I'd like to keep the stiches simple so that characteristic can be seen.
I bought MYSELF a silly thing, but I've loved thumbing through it: a Crochet Pattern-a-Day calendar (subtitled "with Annie Modesitt & Friends"). It's published by Accord Publishing ( http://
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) and I bought it at Barnes & Noble booksellers. It's kind of fun for those of you who like oddball projects. The December 31/January 1 pattern is a mini roll-up checkerboard that you can use nickles and pennies on as game pieces. It's adorable! I'm already thinking of five or six people I can make them for as gifts.
I have the crochet calendar sitting on top of the tower and wait to see what the new pattern is every day. I had the knitting one last year and I love them.
Wow, what a nice mother to give you a knitting machine, can't wait to see what you make with it.
It sounds like you got a Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine, as those come with a video. If that's the case, can I ask you a question? I've had an Incredible Sweater Machine for a while but bought the upgrade carriage with the new reversible keyplates. Do the instructions say which side is the 1/2 size? I have a 3 on one side and nothing on the other, and I THINK the 3 has to be facing up for you to use the 3 side, and with the 3 down that means you are using the 3.5 side to knit, but I'm not positive, as I've lost my sheet that came with the upgrade.
If you do have a USM, a couple of pointers from me. I tried the new USM carriage, and I actually don't like it as much as I like the ISM carriage, probably because I've been using the ISM for many years now. One thing they say about the USM is that the new redesigned keyplates and bed do NOT need to be waxed. I found that to be untrue. I did need to wax them in order to get the carriage to move smoothly over the bed. Run the wax over the interior parts of the KP on the side that will be interacting with the needles. I also wax the front retainer rails, especially the seams where they join, and then I run it along the back ridge of the machine (top and back side), where there are more seams that the carriage must move over.
If you've got a USM, they no longer include a wax wheel in the kit, but a 100% paraffin candle will do just fine. I keep them around for light during the storms when the power tends to go out, and I just cut off a 1.5 inch chunk and use that to wax my machine. I don't wax it every time I start to knit, but when I make something really big like a sweater or afghan, I'll wax the next time I use the machine to keep things from binding up, or if in the middle of a more complex project, if I notice the carriage isn't running as smoothly, I'll stop and wax up. I also used a chunk of the same candle to make a wheel for my Brother. Wax is used where the yarn feeds through the tension mast, and rather than pay a huge amount for a finely molded wax wheel, I just cut my candle chunk to fit, taking out the center where the wick is, and it smooths itself down while I knit.
Another problem newbies to the Bond family have is the "latchet" tool, which is used to do up ribbing or any stitch that will need to be a purl on the right side of the work. Someone's child suggested using a crochet hook, and I found that it works just great for me, cut my ribbing time down by a whopping 2/3, because the "latchet" was always trying to snag or close before I had the stitches properly secured. I use size E or F for baby weight, G for worsted, and I or J for ribbing with bulky yarns.
That's it for now. Have fun with it whichever machine you got!
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