2015

Hi
Sorry to hear you are having problems. I have done a bit of research for you and found some information in Mary Weaver’s ‘Easy Fair Isle for the Brother Ribber’.

On page 66 she recommends a yarn between a 2 or 3 ply thickness for the finer yarn saying that Artistic is a good yarn to use. This is a crêpe type yarn but a bit thicker than fine crêpe. Also 2/30s singly can be used but this makes the eyelets bigger. Your fine crêpe might be a little too fine especially as you are having problems with it in the tension mast.

On page 99 of the same book there’s a pattern for a Chunky Thread Lace Top using two strands of 4 ply Acrylic as the main yarn and 1 strand of Artistic for the lace thread knitted at tension 4 on the Brother Chunky. If a finer lace yarn is used the tension needs tightening.

Hope this helps and that you soon master it!
Regards Sue

Thanks Sue
As you suggested I tried using a thicker yarn (2-ply) with 4-ply double knitting and Aran weight now and it is better. If I knit really very slowly this also helps as well. There are still a few random floats but not on every row so I’ll persevere with re-adjusting the tension to see if I can solve it.
I did knot the large holes with a very fine yarn and it didn’t look good at all.
Lyn

Hi Lyn

Glad to hear it has improved.

Just one other thought – what condition is your spongebar in? If the foam has gone flat it will cause problems with stitches not forming properly. Stocking stitch and other main bed stitches are not usually affected too badly but as the punch lace is formed slightly differently it might be worth checking.

Sue.

Hi Sue
Thanks for the thought but the sponge bar is almost new – I replaced it along with many of the needles after I acquired the machine. And as it is a Knitmaster genuine spares are still available luckily.

I will keep trying – it was the one technique that I didn’t have on my old Brother that I really wanted to be able to do.
Lyn

Hello Moogie1947′
I have just logged into this site in the hope that I might be able to help.
I have now got three Knitmaster machines a 326 a 360 and a 155. The 326 I’ve had from new way back in the 80’s which I brought out of storage the early part of last year. The 360 I bought from a seller on the eBay web site and the 155 I bought from a friend.
I discovered when I went to use the 326 that it was knitting just fine until I used a punch card then it gave some problems with floats and strange patterns. On further inspection I found that one of the memory drums was quite stiff and the spring loaded cancelling device wasn’t doing it’s job properly by cancelling the small fingers after a pass. After stripping the carriage down and cleaning and oiling both drums they spun nice and free which is how they should be.
I had the self same problem with the 360 and the 155 but having had the original experience with the 326 I was well prepared and solved the problem immediately .
Just thought that this might be of some help to you. Check to see if both memory drums spin freely.
Best regards… Mac

Hi
I know this is an old thread but I’m sure others like me have come across it when searching for details on the 155. I have just acquired one and my search brought me to this page. After reading the original question I did a ‘youtube’ search and found an interesting video by Roberta Kelley on using the 155 – including how to do punch lace. So if anyone else has difficulty with any of the knitting processes on the 155 the video is well worth watching. The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJf9_2t2Sjs

Terri in Scotland 🙂

Hi Terri
Thank you for your response I know the Roberta Kelly site – good videos and easy to follow patterns too. It’s not the process of creating punch lace that’s causing me headaches. I can do that on a number of my other machines with no problem. It’s this old chunky 155 I was given that seems to leave loops on the back randomly like Fair Isle rather than knit them in. I tried a range of different yarns made lots of adjustments to the tension cleaned and oiled it and so on – but it may just be worn out and they are no longer available new sadly.
Lyn

Hi Lyn
I’ve also recently received an old SK155 – a model I haven’t owned or knitted on since the late 80s. I haven’t tried punch lace on it yet but I’ll give it a go once I’ve finished my current project – within the next next day or two. I’ll see how it turns out and will get back to you with the results and anything else I discover along the way which may be of use.
Regards Terri 🙂

Hi
Sorry to hear you are having problems. I have done a bit of research for you and found some information in Mary Weaver’s ‘Easy Fair Isle for the Brother Ribber’.

On page 66 she recommends a yarn between a 2 or 3 ply thickness for the finer yarn saying that Artistic is a good yarn to use. This is a crêpe type yarn but a bit thicker than fine crêpe. Also 2/30s singly can be used but this makes the eyelets bigger. Your fine crêpe might be a little too fine especially as you are having problems with it in the tension mast.

On page 99 of the same book there’s a pattern for a Chunky Thread Lace Top using two strands of 4 ply Acrylic as the main yarn and 1 strand of Artistic for the lace thread knitted at tension 4 on the Brother Chunky. If a finer lace yarn is used the tension needs tightening.

Hope this helps and that you soon master it!
Regards Sue

Thanks Sue
As you suggested I tried using a thicker yarn (2-ply) with 4-ply double knitting and Aran weight now and it is better. If I knit really very slowly this also helps as well. There are still a few random floats but not on every row so I’ll persevere with re-adjusting the tension to see if I can solve it.
I did knot the large holes with a very fine yarn and it didn’t look good at all.
Lyn

Hi Lyn

Glad to hear it has improved.

Just one other thought – what condition is your spongebar in? If the foam has gone flat it will cause problems with stitches not forming properly. Stocking stitch and other main bed stitches are not usually affected too badly but as the punch lace is formed slightly differently it might be worth checking.

Sue.

Hi Sue
Thanks for the thought but the sponge bar is almost new – I replaced it along with many of the needles after I acquired the machine. And as it is a Knitmaster genuine spares are still available luckily.

I will keep trying – it was the one technique that I didn’t have on my old Brother that I really wanted to be able to do.
Lyn

Hello Moogie1947′
I have just logged into this site in the hope that I might be able to help.
I have now got three Knitmaster machines a 326 a 360 and a 155. The 326 I’ve had from new way back in the 80’s which I brought out of storage the early part of last year. The 360 I bought from a seller on the eBay web site and the 155 I bought from a friend.
I discovered when I went to use the 326 that it was knitting just fine until I used a punch card then it gave some problems with floats and strange patterns. On further inspection I found that one of the memory drums was quite stiff and the spring loaded cancelling device wasn’t doing it’s job properly by cancelling the small fingers after a pass. After stripping the carriage down and cleaning and oiling both drums they spun nice and free which is how they should be.
I had the self same problem with the 360 and the 155 but having had the original experience with the 326 I was well prepared and solved the problem immediately .
Just thought that this might be of some help to you. Check to see if both memory drums spin freely.
Best regards… Mac

Hi
I know this is an old thread but I’m sure others like me have come across it when searching for details on the 155. I have just acquired one and my search brought me to this page. After reading the original question I did a ‘youtube’ search and found an interesting video by Roberta Kelley on using the 155 – including how to do punch lace. So if anyone else has difficulty with any of the knitting processes on the 155 the video is well worth watching. The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJf9_2t2Sjs

Terri in Scotland 🙂

Hi Terri
Thank you for your response I know the Roberta Kelly site – good videos and easy to follow patterns too. It’s not the process of creating punch lace that’s causing me headaches. I can do that on a number of my other machines with no problem. It’s this old chunky 155 I was given that seems to leave loops on the back randomly like Fair Isle rather than knit them in. I tried a range of different yarns made lots of adjustments to the tension cleaned and oiled it and so on – but it may just be worn out and they are no longer available new sadly.
Lyn

Hi Lyn
I’ve also recently received an old SK155 – a model I haven’t owned or knitted on since the late 80s. I haven’t tried punch lace on it yet but I’ll give it a go once I’ve finished my current project – within the next next day or two. I’ll see how it turns out and will get back to you with the results and anything else I discover along the way which may be of use.
Regards Terri 🙂