Helpline

Hi Alan
Yes it is possible. ‘A Machine Knitter’s Guide’ by Lewis and Weissman explains how.
You need to punch a card with the colours separated one colour per row starting with the backing colour as for double jacquard.
The card feed has to be set to the back position so that the card will only rotate every other row.
Set the main carriage to slip in both directions and the ribber carriage to slip to the right and knit to the left.
RC1 the foundation row is knitted from right to left; the ribber needles will knit and the patterning needles on the main bed will be set.
RC2 knit from left to right; only background needles on main bed will knit.
Now push all needles on main bed back to ‘B’ so that they will not knit on the next row.
Change yarn.
RC3 knit design colour on ribber bed and select needles for design colour on main bed.
RC4 knit design stitches on main bed.
Push all needles on main bed to ‘B’ so they will not knit on the next row.
Change yarn.
These four rows form one complete row of pattern.
To compensate for there being more rows knitted on the ribber you need a smaller stitch size and extra weights.
This will produce a very firm fabric of one row stripes on the ribber suitable for soles of socks or palms of gloves and mittens.
There are other combination of stitches shown in the book but I will not give details here as it will confuse matters.
I have not tried this out myself yet but it has possibilities!
Hope you succed regards Sue.

Hi

There are several points you could check:

Is the tension on the yarn mast correct? If it is too loose you will get loops at the edges which make the stitches larger.

Don’t take the carriages too far past the knitting as that can also cause loops.

Whilst knitting circular have the beds set at P so that the needles are opposite each other; this closes the gap between the end stitches on each bed.
However if you change to ribbing make sure you set the beds on H again so that the needles do not hit into each other.

One other thing you might find that you need the tension on the ribber dial set to 4.2 as ribbers usually knit a bit tighter than the main bed.

Hope this helps
Sue.

Hi
Thanks for the advice I hadn’t put the needles directly opposite each other the tubular knitting is working perfectly now. Is it possible to include punchcard patterns on these machines with tubular? I understand that the ribber has no pattern facility but thought maybe it is possible to do patterning on the main bed so that I get a tube with patterning on one side. Trouble is I seem to have tried every combination of the cam set levers on the main bed but always the knitting reverts to a single knitted piece. Am I missing something or is it not possible? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Very kind regards Alan

Hi Alan
Yes it is possible. ‘A Machine Knitter’s Guide’ by Lewis and Weissman explains how.
You need to punch a card with the colours separated one colour per row starting with the backing colour as for double jacquard.
The card feed has to be set to the back position so that the card will only rotate every other row.
Set the main carriage to slip in both directions and the ribber carriage to slip to the right and knit to the left.
RC1 the foundation row is knitted from right to left; the ribber needles will knit and the patterning needles on the main bed will be set.
RC2 knit from left to right; only background needles on main bed will knit.
Now push all needles on main bed back to ‘B’ so that they will not knit on the next row.
Change yarn.
RC3 knit design colour on ribber bed and select needles for design colour on main bed.
RC4 knit design stitches on main bed.
Push all needles on main bed to ‘B’ so they will not knit on the next row.
Change yarn.
These four rows form one complete row of pattern.
To compensate for there being more rows knitted on the ribber you need a smaller stitch size and extra weights.
This will produce a very firm fabric of one row stripes on the ribber suitable for soles of socks or palms of gloves and mittens.
There are other combination of stitches shown in the book but I will not give details here as it will confuse matters.
I have not tried this out myself yet but it has possibilities!
Hope you succed regards Sue.

Hi

There are several points you could check:

Is the tension on the yarn mast correct? If it is too loose you will get loops at the edges which make the stitches larger.

Don’t take the carriages too far past the knitting as that can also cause loops.

Whilst knitting circular have the beds set at P so that the needles are opposite each other; this closes the gap between the end stitches on each bed.
However if you change to ribbing make sure you set the beds on H again so that the needles do not hit into each other.

One other thing you might find that you need the tension on the ribber dial set to 4.2 as ribbers usually knit a bit tighter than the main bed.

Hope this helps
Sue.

Hi
Thanks for the advice I hadn’t put the needles directly opposite each other the tubular knitting is working perfectly now. Is it possible to include punchcard patterns on these machines with tubular? I understand that the ribber has no pattern facility but thought maybe it is possible to do patterning on the main bed so that I get a tube with patterning on one side. Trouble is I seem to have tried every combination of the cam set levers on the main bed but always the knitting reverts to a single knitted piece. Am I missing something or is it not possible? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Very kind regards Alan

I have had a problem with my PE1 for some time but it turned out to be a problem with my computer.
As the PE 1 is simply a memory you do not need it to knit a pattern from a card. However if you are saving the pattern onto the PE1 for future use then I think you follow the instructions and then remove card so you can knit from PE1. PLease let me know if I am barking up the wrong tree as there sre very few of us Knitmaster/SR knitters left I use the SR 840

My first reaction was: Change the cell batterie in the PE-1 Memory card.

Reading further down in your question I assume that something is wrong with the EC-1 pattern reader – or maybe not. Have you tried to set up the EC-1 without the PE-1? Is there still a problem? Or does the card feed through the reader? If no: Clean the reader with the blue cleaning sheet. And take a soft dry cottoncloth rinse the magnet on the pointcams and the magnet on the back of the carriage. Hope that can get you further on. By the way what kind of machine do you use?

I have had a problem with my PE1 for some time but it turned out to be a problem with my computer.
As the PE 1 is simply a memory you do not need it to knit a pattern from a card. However if you are saving the pattern onto the PE1 for future use then I think you follow the instructions and then remove card so you can knit from PE1. PLease let me know if I am barking up the wrong tree as there sre very few of us Knitmaster/SR knitters left I use the SR 840

My first reaction was: Change the cell batterie in the PE-1 Memory card.

Reading further down in your question I assume that something is wrong with the EC-1 pattern reader – or maybe not. Have you tried to set up the EC-1 without the PE-1? Is there still a problem? Or does the card feed through the reader? If no: Clean the reader with the blue cleaning sheet. And take a soft dry cottoncloth rinse the magnet on the pointcams and the magnet on the back of the carriage. Hope that can get you further on. By the way what kind of machine do you use?

Dear Sue

Thankyou very much for the explanation on ‘TURN’ in Bill Kings pattern all in one ‘Gold Star’.

I must have had a senior moment. When I read your reply everything was crystal clear. I am going to start on it right now.

Thankyou again.

Janice Hill (Maud)

Hi

At the bottom of page 54 where it says TO KNIT it explains what a ‘turn’ is. For this pattern after you cast on you knit 70 rows straight for the sleeve. Then comes the turn.

You need to set your carriage to HOLD. Then you bring a group of three needles to Holding Position at the opposite end to the carriage and knit four rows.

When you have the last group of three still in Working Position knit four rows. Then return the group of needles nearest the carriage from Holding Position to Upper Working Position and knit four rows until all needles are back in Working Position. Knit four rows across all needles.

This constitutes one turn and the picture in the middle at the bottom of page 55 shows what it looks like. The diagonal row of holes runs up the middle of the of the turn and you knit four more complete turns.

To finish the piece you knit 70 rows straight for the other half of the sleeve.

You will be knitting one complete sleeve and side of the garment. If you fold this piece in half along the third row of holes you will need to join the two long edges at the top and the two shorter edges for the underarm seam.

When you have knitted two of these shapes they are sewn together at the back seam to make the completed garment.

I hope this has removed some of the mystery and you are successful with your garment.

Kind regards
Sue.

Dear Sue

Thankyou very much for the explanation on ‘TURN’ in Bill Kings pattern all in one ‘Gold Star’.

I must have had a senior moment. When I read your reply everything was crystal clear. I am going to start on it right now.

Thankyou again.

Janice Hill (Maud)

Hi

At the bottom of page 54 where it says TO KNIT it explains what a ‘turn’ is. For this pattern after you cast on you knit 70 rows straight for the sleeve. Then comes the turn.

You need to set your carriage to HOLD. Then you bring a group of three needles to Holding Position at the opposite end to the carriage and knit four rows.

When you have the last group of three still in Working Position knit four rows. Then return the group of needles nearest the carriage from Holding Position to Upper Working Position and knit four rows until all needles are back in Working Position. Knit four rows across all needles.

This constitutes one turn and the picture in the middle at the bottom of page 55 shows what it looks like. The diagonal row of holes runs up the middle of the of the turn and you knit four more complete turns.

To finish the piece you knit 70 rows straight for the other half of the sleeve.

You will be knitting one complete sleeve and side of the garment. If you fold this piece in half along the third row of holes you will need to join the two long edges at the top and the two shorter edges for the underarm seam.

When you have knitted two of these shapes they are sewn together at the back seam to make the completed garment.

I hope this has removed some of the mystery and you are successful with your garment.

Kind regards
Sue.

Hello Annie

The following is a neckband I have used many times. It gives a neat appearance and is fairly easy.

Instead of casting off stitches at the back and front neck and at the top of the sleeves on a raglan garment take these pieces off the machine by knitting several rows of waste yarn.

Join your garment pieces together leaving one shoulder seam open.

Hold the neckline up to the machine to ascertain how many needles you need for the neckband. The number of needles will be the number of stitches held on waste yarn plus extra for the sides of the front neck.

Bring forward the appropriate number of needles and arrange them according to the rib you wish to knit.

Cast on with a slightly looser stitch size than you would normally use hang your comb and weights.

Knit double the number of rows you require for the depth of the neckband. You can gradually decrease the stitch size for half the rows the gradually increase it again for the second half.

Transfer all the ribber bed needles to the main bed and knit one row at main tension the stitch size you used for the garment pieces.

Drop the ribber and hook up the stitches held on waste yarn and pick up the whole stitches (not just the edge loop) evenly down the front of the neck shaping.

Knit one row at main tension then one row at tension 10.
Cast off by latching through the loops either while the knitting is still on the needles or knit several rows of waste yarn at main tension and remove from the machine then latch through the loops of the last row of main yarn.

Sew up the remaining shoulder seam fold the neckband in half to the inside and catch the cast on row to the loops of the cast off row with fairly loose stitches so that there is some ‘give’.

This gives a double thickness neckband the row knitted across all stitches before attaching the garment gives a neat finish.

I suggest you try this out on your tension swatch before trying it on your garment just to see how it works.

Kind regards
Sue.

Hello Annie

The following is a neckband I have used many times. It gives a neat appearance and is fairly easy.

Instead of casting off stitches at the back and front neck and at the top of the sleeves on a raglan garment take these pieces off the machine by knitting several rows of waste yarn.

Join your garment pieces together leaving one shoulder seam open.

Hold the neckline up to the machine to ascertain how many needles you need for the neckband. The number of needles will be the number of stitches held on waste yarn plus extra for the sides of the front neck.

Bring forward the appropriate number of needles and arrange them according to the rib you wish to knit.

Cast on with a slightly looser stitch size than you would normally use hang your comb and weights.

Knit double the number of rows you require for the depth of the neckband. You can gradually decrease the stitch size for half the rows the gradually increase it again for the second half.

Transfer all the ribber bed needles to the main bed and knit one row at main tension the stitch size you used for the garment pieces.

Drop the ribber and hook up the stitches held on waste yarn and pick up the whole stitches (not just the edge loop) evenly down the front of the neck shaping.

Knit one row at main tension then one row at tension 10.
Cast off by latching through the loops either while the knitting is still on the needles or knit several rows of waste yarn at main tension and remove from the machine then latch through the loops of the last row of main yarn.

Sew up the remaining shoulder seam fold the neckband in half to the inside and catch the cast on row to the loops of the cast off row with fairly loose stitches so that there is some ‘give’.

This gives a double thickness neckband the row knitted across all stitches before attaching the garment gives a neat finish.

I suggest you try this out on your tension swatch before trying it on your garment just to see how it works.

Kind regards
Sue.