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 fully fashioned
decrease
How to knit buttonholes, slip 1 stitch to the left or right, and knit the stitch again in the next row.
 Close
seams with Blind or invisible stitches
 How to smock stitches
in your knitting work
 slip
rib 2x2 stitches back on front bed
 cast off not so stretchy
 cast-on
comb onto both ends gate pegs
 here
is where you can clip your yarn end
how to slip stitches from machine to knitting needle (click on image for an animation)
The knitting machine, or knitting frame, or knitting loom, or hand knitting machine, is used to produce knit fabrics on
a fixed bed of 
hooked needles. Knitting machines can be hand powered or motor assisted.
Pattern stitches can be selected by hand manipulation of the needles, or with push-buttons and dials, or
mechanical punch cards,
or
electronic pattern reading devices and computers.
On a Push-button machines, the needles are selected by the Push button and the Set Lever
on the Punch card machine, the needles are selected by the Punch card
on the ribbing attachment there is no difference for both machines. ( they work for both the same way )
Tricot, a warp knit made with two sets of threads, is characterized by fine ribs running vertically
on the fabric face
and horizontally on its back. The tricot knitting machine makes light fabrics. Its development was stimulated by
the invention of the FNF compound needle.
Amount of yarn needed for a sweater;
if a sweater is knitted in plain stocking stitch and this is 100 % yarn
then knitted in Ribbing stitch 1 x 1 you will need 20 % more yarn
and knitted in Ribbing stitch 2 x 2 you will need 30 % more yarn
and knitted in a Tuck stitch or full needle rib; you will need 70 % more yarn
A domestic knitting machine
can be used to
make a wide variety of clothes or to make lengths
of fabric, which can be made into garments. A knitting machine will fit on a narrow table about four feet long.
When you are not using the machine, it can be put away in its own carrying case.
Alternatively, some knitting machines come with their own cabinets that hide the machine.
There is no button 'sweater' on the machine,
 you have to
learn to knit on your machine.
There is a reason why such an odd assortment of patterns is included with your machine.
Each one teaches a lesson upon which to proceed to the next pattern/level and if you fail to learn the basics
you will certainly spend too much money on waste yarn in the future.
If you are a hand knitter, you understand that in knitting, the yarn is pulled through the stitch from back to front.
When purling, the needle is inserted from behind and the yarn is pulled through from front to back.
Knitting machines, only have the capability of pulling the yarn through from one direction -- so the fabrics they
produce with the greatest of ease -- is stockinette.
Though we can also produce tuck, slip, fairisle or lace, they all depend on the same direction of "pull through."
To accomplish purl stitches on knitting machines, we must do "hand manipulation" (versus automatic) of the stitches,
or we must investigate the following accessories:
Ribbers are separate needle beds that sit facing, and opposite, the main needlebed at a 90 degree angle.
The needles of the main bed and those of the ribber are set up to knit alternately -- first one bed, then the other.
This in turn, pulls each stitch through the knitting in opposite directions, thus the "knit/purl" combination on the
finished knit.
We can do variations of the "rib" - 1x1, 2x2, etc., and we can "rack" the rib from side to side giving a zig-zag effect.
Can we rib without the optional piece of equipment? Yes, but only by hand knitting (or manipulating the stitches
manually) or with the use of a Garter Carriage.
The ribber also permits us to make double-sided jersey fabric, and completely floatless -- doublebed (mulitcolor)
jacquard. It will not do the varied, automatic, knit/purl combinations that the garter carriage (described below) will do.
The position of the Slide Levers of the Ribber; on I or II makes a difference in tightness.
I = for looser setting and will produce a soft, stretchable fabric
II = for tighter settings and will produce a firm, denser fabric
There is a difference in the tension dials on the KH and KR, the KR ( ribber ) always makes smaller size stitches.
This is not a problem for normal ribs, however for circular knitting or U-type knitting it is.
Or the KH dial tension can be set to a tighter tension ( reduce by 2-3 numbers ) smaller stitches
Or the KR dial tension can be set to a looser tension ( increase by 2-3 numbers ) larger stitches
A Garter Carriage is an optional, electrically propelled carriage that drives itself across the needlebed, knitting,
purling, or doing a combination of those stitches, entirely by itself.
Only available for the modern knitting machines ( 830 and above ) and not for the bulky machines.
If you like the look of seed stitch, moss stitch, garter stitch, etc.- then this gadget may be for you.
It is only available for the Knitking/Brother line of knitting machines, and only available for the standard gauge.
The knit pattern is determined by the electronic knitting machine or punchcard facility of the main knitter.
The garter carriage will do all these things plus the standard rib. It has been nicknamed "The Turtle" because though
it chugs with determination, but knits at a snails - or rather - turtles, pace. The garter carriage will not do double-bed
jacquard (two-color floatless fairisle) that the ribber (described above) will do.
A knitting machine consists of a needle bed ,
a carriage and yarn guides.
It may have extra attachments. The needle bed is made up of latchet hooks which hold the stitches
and are similar
to hooks used for rug-making, but much smaller. There is a hook facing upwards attached to a stem.
Where the hook begins to curve away from the stem,  a little
latch (a latchet) is attached by a hinge.
The latchet can move between two positions. It can lie flat along the stem, in which case the hook is open, or it can
move up and over so that its tip rests on the end of the hook closing it. In this position the end of the hook makes
a wedge shape and can be pulled through the stitch
 taking the yarn
with it.
The needles can move backwards and forwards independently.
Knitting is done by passing the carriage across the needle bed. The carriage is in two parts.
One part with the handle sits on top of the needle bed and determines how far out to push the needles.
The front of the carriage is screwed onto the part with the handle and sticks out in front of the machine.
This part carries the yarn. The carriage knits by doing several things at the same time.
It carries the yarn and it also pushes the needles forward and back again as each stitch is knitted or patterned.
It causes the latchet hooks to open and close.
The carriage picks up the patterning information from the machine's memory.
There are two types of memory for the stitch pattern. The older type is
punched
cards,
which are supplied with the type of machine which uses them. Blank packs of cards are available and a hand punch
so that knitters can design their own patterns or punch new cards for patterns in magazines.
For a knitting machine, the punched cards consist of a plastic sheet with twenty four positions per row which can
be punched or not. The card is clipped together at the ends to make a loop and moves forward every one or two
rows depending on the pattern required. The carriage picks up the patterning information in its memory banks and
treats the needles according to their position with a punched hole or no hole.
More recent machines use electronics to transfer the patterning information.
The row counter on the machine counts the number of times the carriage has passed it,
this is also the number of rows knitted. The yarn is threaded through the yarn guides from behind the machine
and then through the carriage.
The carriage is usually pushed by hand, but it is possible, but more expensive, to have a motor to do this.
1. You can use waste yarn for many things.
I use waste yarn to begin all my projects, even those that have closed edge cast-ons.
It makes the carriage knit across more easily on that first row.
Waste yarn in a bright contrast color makes stitches easier to find.
If I want to handknit the collar or ribbing, I add on waste yarn before I remove the garment.
I can see the stitches better and it is easier to put them on the needles than trying to move them directly
from the machine.
If the stitch drops on the same needle(s) all the time then the needle(s) is/are defective.
What's happening is the latch is not opening or closing properly.
Check to see if the needle is bent, and the latch is loose and
easy to open and close. If the latch is bent just a little you can repair if you do it gently.
If the needle is bent, I would replace a bent needle.
When a lone stitch drops off, I put the stitches on either side of it on safety pins when I am latching the
dropped stitch back up. Then simply move the stitches back onto their needles and pull all of the needles +
one more on the far side of the ones I had on the safety pins, out to FWP.
How to store our knitting machine goodies.
Buy one of those plastic see-thru shoebox containers that Rubbermaid and Stearlite make.
You can get these at Wal-mart or any discount store.
They usually have a brightly colored lid and see thru bottom. Just the right size for keyplates tools, cards etc.
For some of my KM gadgets, I use an magnetic strip, for kitchen knifes.
Just screw it on the wall, next to your knitting machine, works great.
Never start a row with no weight on the fabric.
Even most of the expensive machines requires a weighted fabric to properly form the stitch.
Don't jiggle the carriage across the machine.
It's telling you that the stitch is forming too tight. Either the keyplate number is too small, or the yarn is not
feeding freely in the carriage. If you have to jiggle, something is wrong.
If you force the carriage you can break a keyplate or bend a needle.
Remember if the carriage doesn't go smoothly and relatively easily across the needle bed....something is wrong.
Find out what and correct it before you continue.
You must decrease at the start of each row because you will have the yarn on that side of the row.
Bring the yarn over one stitch and manually knit that stitch. Transfer the loop of that stitch over to the next stitch.
Bring the yarn over and knit those two stitches together. Bring this new loop over to the next stitch and knit those
two together, and repeat and repeat.
IMPORTANT: keep this manual stitching very loose so you don't have any puckers.
The spongebar. The purpose of this bar is to put some tension on the needles so they don't flop up and down
during use. The retainer bar needs to be replaced if needles don't "bounce back" when lightly pressed down.
The best indication of a poor retainer bar is the occurrence of a lot of dropped stitches.
That means it is time to change the sponge bar. Always insert the sponge bar with the metal side up.
Replacing a needle.
Push either side of the spongebar, with the end of the latch tool, until it comes out of the other end.
Draw it by hand from the knitter, until the needle you want to change is free.
Neck edge. Sometimes it looks best if you pick up and knit the number of stitches that suit the neck edge,
then decrease on the next row (the first ribbed row). That stops gaps or wrinkles at the neck edge.
To stop the holes when you change colors with either intarsia or fairisle, you have to put the yarn
around the needle, prior to the first needle of the color change, push the yarn back behind the latch so that it
won't show through on the right side, and then knit your row.
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or special instructions for your knitting machine you need the
manual of your machine. 
knitting machine need not be used to create a whole sweater
or cardigan, it can be used for the 
eople are selling this book on the internet and the knitting
machine manuals too! 
