2017

Happy families

Hello Anne

I’ve been a subscriber to MKM for many, many years. I am so pleased to read that you were given a Chairman’s Award from The Guild of Machine Knitters. Congratulations, you certainly deserve it and if there was an award to be given from all your MKM readers, I’m sure you would have had one years ago. I’m sorry to hear that the Machine Knitting LIVE! shows will be coming to an end next year, so I must really try to attend one, perhaps in Nottingham, as it’s such a lot of years since I’ve been able to visit one due to ill health. I do, of course, understand the reasons why and I also admire your dedication in continuing to run MKM as well as organising the shows and events all these years. It plays a large part in keeping all the knitters together as ‘one big happy family’.

I was also very sorry and sad to hear of the loss of Beryl Jarvis. As was previously mentioned, she was a very kind and helpful lady. I’d not actually met her, but had emailed back and forth when I contacted her to buy a copy of her ‘Love Your Brother KH970’ book. Beryl also gave me some time and advice on a problem I’d come across. I am sure she will be sadly missed in the knitting world. Thank you for keeping MKM going Anne. I do look forward to receiving my copy every month and look out for all the different patterns, books and news items. Kind regards, Jean

Reset a Brother 881 for Fair Isle

We’ve had a really interesting query, which may help other Brother knitters. A reader asked: “I’ve come back to machine knitting after a long gap and can’t recall what setting to use on my Brother 881 to reset the pattern for Fair Isle, tuck and so on such as when starting the second side of a neckline. I recall that you need to note down the pattern row you are on when you reach the point where the knitting is divided, reset the pattern card to that row and lock it. What I can’t remember is how to run the carriage over the knitting so that the needles are selected, but the stitches don’t knit and don’t fall off the needles”.

The answer is in the instruction manual, around Pages 68 to 71. It explains, in full, what to do if you make mistakes in pattern knitting when using a punchcard and what to do to correct it. Having explained how to get the knitting back to where it needs to be, you rewind the punchcard and set the card lock lever. To select the needles you depress both PART buttons and set the CHANGE KNOB to KC. Take the carriage across with no yarn in the feeder and Position B needles are selected. Thread up, release the card and off you go again. Hope this helps!

Calling all knitters and stitchers

 

Help create a river of yellow and blue on Sunday April 30, to line the route of the Tour de Yorkshire when it comes to the Bradford district.

Stage three of the world-class cycle race starts in the city centre and goes through large parts of the Bradford district. Bradford Council is encouraging individuals, groups, organisations and companies to get involved in helping to dress the entire 60 km of the route that comes through Bradford, with colourful bunting and flags. They are looking for people to knit or stitch bunting and flags of any shape or size in yellow and or blue, the colours of the Tour de Yorkshire. They’re also looking for textile or yarn companies who would be get involved by donating materials.

They are calling on individuals and groups including schools, Women’s Institutes, community organisations and companies to pull out all the stops to help trim up the city centre and the  towns, villages and communities along the route with knitted, stitched, quilted, crocheted, felted and woven bunting.  When the Tour de France Grand Depart went through the district in 2014 and they put out a similar appeal they got a great response. They want to inspire anyone whatever their craft be it knitting, sewing, stitching or crocheting to take part. Bradford is built on the wool trade and famous for its textiles so would like to bring this element to the celebration of this fantastic sporting event. For information about how to get involved please contact saira.ali@bradford.gov.uk

Do I need to register?

Hi everyone
We’ve received a few enquiries about registering on the site, so I’ll post the answer here in the hope of making things clearer.

The short answer is you only need an account to buy something from the shop, and you can create an account when you’re checking out (at which time you would be entering all of your details anyway).

If you had an account on the old MKM site, then you can reset your password here or get full instructions here.

You can make comments on posts just by leaving an email address – no account is required.

I hope you enjoy using the new site, and we’ll keep making tweaks to make it more usable for you as time goes on. If you have any more questions about any aspect of the site, ask me here.

Bournemouth & Nottingham Shows 2017

MACHINE KNITTING LIVE!

Spring 2017

YOUR VOTE COUNTS!

As you’ve read and no doubt heard, it’s possible that the 2017 shows at Bournemouth and Nottingham will come to an end. Over the years, these two early shows have always been organised by machine knitters, for machine knitters. They’re not a hotchpotch of lots of crafts, they concentrate through and through on machine knitting. At both friendly events we always offer free help, advice, demonstrations and encouragement. New machines and accessories are on sale, including reconditioned models at bargain prices. There’s always a wide selection of yarn as well as designers, books, patterns and quality lectures. Our Bournemouth event also includes a full Fashion Show, presented by members of Carbery and Ringwood clubs. Refreshments and free parking are available and both shows are supported by leading names in machine knitting. If you want these shows to continue, you need to make every effort to attend this year. Your presence and vote will count towards the decision to carry on or close both shows. Tickets cost £5 in advance, £6 on the door so call Anne Smith on 01628-783080 to order your advance tickets now.

Andee Knits, Anne Baker and Karabee Designs, Anne Croucher, Arnold Bennett, B Hague & Co, Bill King, Brenda Gould with KMJ, Carbery Machine Knitting Club, Clair Crowston, Dave Hampson, Elaine Cater, Erica Thomson, Fiona Morris, Framework Knitters Museum, Guild of Machine Knitters, Iris Bishop, Knits ‘n’ Bits from Wendy Piper, Machine Knitting Monthly, Mapperley Machine Knitting Club, Metropolitan Machine Knitting, Nina Miklin, Ringwood Machine Knitting Club, Rob Fountain, Spinners, Weavers & Dyers, Sue Booth, Sue Castro, Uppingham Yarns

All of these exhibitors support MKM and please check beforehand to see if they will be exhibiting at the show of your choice.

2017 Dates

Bournemouth Saturday 4th March 2016 from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm at Bournemouth School for Girls, Castle Gate Close, Castle Lane West, Bournemouth BH8 9UJ

Nottingham Sunday 9th April 2017 from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm at West Park Leisure Centre, Wilsthorpe Road, Long Eaton, Derbyshire NG10 4AA

Happy New Year, and Happy New Website!

Dear readers
As we approach the 31st birthday issue of the magazine, I’m delighted to welcome you to our new website. All the old content is still here, so do please browse around to find all the things you’ve previously used and found interesting. One additional feature you’ll notice is that you can now comment on new articles, including this letter, so do let us know what you think!

Perhaps the biggest change is that we’ve made ordering subscriptions on the website much easier and more attractive for your purse. Instead of paying for all your copies at the start of the subscription, you now pay for each magazine monthly, with no hidden charges and no minimum term. First of all there’s a massive saving of 65% on the cover price, so you pay just £2.30 for each issue instead of £3.80. We then add to this postage at cost, which is calculated for each country. Shipping is worked out on packages rather than single items and this means that if you order several back issues, the cost of sending them will be considerably less than before. We’ve simplified and upgraded our payments system to a new method, which is so much easier to use with a credit or debit card, wherever in the world you live.

Some readers like to use iPads, tablets and phones, so we’ve made the website much easier to read on them. You might also like to know that Machine Knitting Monthly now has its own Twitter feed. We’ll be posting up details about each issue of the magazine, as well as following and re-tweeting anyone and any company involved in machine knitting in any way. So, if you’re on Twitter then please follow us at https://twitter.com/MachineKnitMag.

There are even more exciting times ahead, as we make new content available online and I’ve left perhaps our best news to the end. Should there be sufficient demand, you’ll be able to choose between having a printed magazine or an online version each month. It’s taken us a while but I’m pleased and proud to invite you to take a look at our new website and come and join us!