Anne

Dear Anne

Most of the punchcards that come with the colour changer are ready for Fair Isle. I find it’s useful to remember that if you think you might want to use an ordinary Fair Isle card with the colour changer, it saves a lot of hassle if you punch another card in reverse. If you want to use a reversed card for normal Fair Isle, you need to swap the main and contrast yarns over in the ordinary sinker plate. I’m a punchcard knitter but yes, I do know that on electronic machines you just have to use the colour reverse lever to make a Fair Isle pattern suitable for using with the colour changer. Best wishes, Lisa

Dear Anne

I’ve just had fun and games using my colour changer for the first time in years. So, here’s a tip if you’re working with three colours rather than four. I left the fourth roller empty and accidentally pressed the button by mistake. With no yarn in it every single stitch dropped, so you can imagine the language! Now I’ll always thread it up with yarn. However, it needs to be a strong contrast or, as I did first time, you’ll knit away in the wrong colour! I now always thread it up with a colour such as black against pale shades, so I notice at once if I select the wrong feed accidentally. My theory is that it’s much better to unpick a wrong colour, instead of having all the dratted knitting falling off the machine. I’m now a little older and wiser! Kind regards, Margaret

Dear Anne

Here’s a tip I think Joan Lafferty passed on years ago and I always use it. When you get near the end of a cone of yarn and you’re not sure if the new one is an exact match, use the old and new yarns one row at a time alternately and you’ll not notice the changeover. Best wishes, Irene

Dear Anne

I’ve never liked sewing on neckbands and saw this method in MKM years ago, so it might help someone coming back to machine knitting who may not remember it. First do a cut and sew neck and leave the left shoulder open. Set the ribber up and using the same number of stitches needed for the neckband, knit something like ten rows at Tension 7 or some 1×1 rib in a bit of waste yarn. Transfer all stitches to the main bed and knit a few more rows. Knit a row with a nylon cord then one row at Tension 10 with main yarn and one row at Tension 6. Take it all off on waste yarn, still with the ribber comb in place.

Hang the neckline on the empty needles, push the knitting behind the latches and then put the neckband stitches in the hooks. Carefully push the needles back through the neckline and I usually knit another row at Tension 4 or 5. Change to rib, add weights to the ribber comb and knit the rows required. Leave the ribber set on P and with the stitches in place on the ribber, move it to H. Knit the rows needed at Tension 3/3. Transfer stitches to the main bed then remove the ribber comb and pick up the first row you knitted at Tension 10. Put the stitches into the hooks, but make sure you leave the other stitches behind the latches. Take all the needles back, then remove the cord and waste yarn and latch off. It seems a lot of messing about, but it’s easier than writing it down and a lot neater than backstitching through the open loops. Over the years I’ve learnt such a lot from the magazine and what goes around, comes around. Thanks for all you do, Anne. Best wishes, Chris