It’s tension time

Hello Anne

I’ve got a Silver Reed 860 mid-gauge knitting machine and the tension dial settings you put on your patterns for mid gauge machines aren’t the same as my 860. I’ve found one pattern for an 860 in December 2003, so is there any chance you could include a pattern now and again for the 860 in the magazine? I’ve not seen one for this machine for such a long time. Thanks also for the magazine and I look forward to it every month. Best wishes, Jill

Thanks for writing Jill and please don’t worry. Your Silver Reed SK860 is a splendid mid-gauge machine and we’ve included hundreds of patterns for mid gauge machines in the magazine. The LK-150 is very basic and your super-duper SK-860 electronic will knit almost anything. If you have the ribber, the joy for you is that you don’t have to knit ribs by hand. LK-150 knitters have no option, as a ribber is not available. Both machines, however, are still mid-gauge models. As you’ve read in Dear Anne, tensions on the LK-150 vary a huge amount and your SK860 has exactly the same potential for variation. I suggest you do what I did. My machine knits from a standard hand knitting tension of 5 stitches and 7 rows to an inch around Tension 3, to the classic chunky tension of 7 stitches and 10 rows to two inches at Tension 10. Once you know the Tension Dial setting on your machine for these two standard hand-knitting tensions, that will always be your starting point for knitting any mid-gauge pattern. Best wishes and happy knitting, Anne

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