Running into ribber trouble

Hi there!
I studied textiles at art school many years ago and learned the very basics of domestic machine knitting. I have recently purchased a Brother KH-950i with the KR-850 ribber. I have never used the domestic ribber before so am running into some trouble. I wonder if you can help. I have managed to set up my machine fine and have been following the instructions in the manual exactly. I have completed samples for 1×1 rib and 2×2 rib but cannot seem to knit a full needle rib.

I have been using 2/17NM Hinchliffe lamb’s wool. I cast on my first row tension 0, then knit my 3 rows tension 1 for a perfect selvage which knits easily. I then knitted my first row of full needle rib at tension 2, as the book recommends, which knits some stitches but drops around 5 stitches top and bottom in the middle of the sample.

I tried again the same way but changed to tension 4 to knit full needle rib – this was extremely difficult to knit and again dropped stitches and I also noticed that the racking handle moved. I was also tried the fisherman’s rib which I really liked, knitting at tension 3 but again the racking handle kept moving while knitting ruining the sample. Is there any way to stop the racking handle / ribber from moving? I am sure the problem with the full needle rib must be a tension problem, I know tensions will be different depending on yarn. Could you recommend a tension I should try with my lambswool? Please help me as I’m getting so frustrated! Thankyou!

Kind regards, Julie

Hi Julie.

Do you have the ribber clamped to the table? There are brackets behind the height adjustment levers. If it is secured to the table it should not move.
Do you have a differnt yarn you could practice with? Lambswool is spun in oil and needs a looser tension than other 2 ply yarn as it fluffs up when washed.
Make sure you have hung the weights on the cast on comb.

Hope this helps
Sue.

Sue P
2014-10-08 14:19:40