Miscellaneous

Please has anyone got a Peppa Pig pattern, or know where I could get one? I would love to knit my great-granddaughter a top for Christmas on my knitting machine, but can’t find a pattern. Many thanks for any help, Josie

I have previously knitted this shawl successfully when I started out learning to machine knit on a Brother 588, for my son who is now 42. I still have the original shawl and even after 3 children it’s so good I cannot give it away. The problem is I no longer have the pattern. I have knitted the centre square and I now need to knit the vertical edge with mitred corners and lace on the edge. It is knitted over approximately 26 stitches. The 8 stitches at the edge are 3 / 4 stitches out of work:-

X X X X X X X X X O X O X O X O X X

Four transfers go to the right and then 4 stitches are transferred to the left, which shows up as a slight shell edge with no cast offs or cast ons. I have punched cards and tried moving stitches in every way I can think of, but I have never tried designing a lace pattern. The.baby is due in mid November and I really need help. I have 4 edges of 330 rows each, plus the mitred corners but in all my books there is nothing vertical with plain stocking stitch and a lace edge. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Lynda

Please can you tell me why you are suggesting the use of a stitch holder on the neck of the Boy Blue pattern in Feb 2015, Page 25? My daughter-in-law is just starting out and was very frustrated at breaking needles trying to hold stitches in this way. Why not put them in hold or waste yarn which is the usual machine knitting way? Is this a new idea to use a stitch holder? I have only ever used one in hand knitting and have never seen it in machine knitting but have been machine knitting for a long time now! Would be interested to hear why now this is being used?
Kind regards, Maggie

Hi Maggie
Thanks for writing and I’m sorry your daughter-in-law is struggling.

There’s absolutely no reason why the stitches can’t be knitted onto waste yarn, held in holding position or taken back to non-working position on waste yarn. They could just as easily be tucked out of the way on a safety pin, or have a length of waste yarn threaded through to hold them before the needles are pushed back to non-working position. They could be cast off, but with children’s garments we usually try to cast off as few stitches as possible around the neck, especially on sweaters, so it doesn’t pull in tightly.

We try to make the instructions as ‘user friendly’ for as many knitters as possible and we hope that those who know another method will simply ‘do their own thing’. For example, giving instructions for shaping shoulders in holding position is far more wordy than simply saying ‘cast of x sts at beg of next x rows, then cast off rem x sts’.

In this and other patterns, we now often give hand knitting instructions for ribs, because many knitters don’t have a ribber. We give mock rib instructions on Page 62 of every issue – again, to try to be as accommodating for as many machines and abilities as possible. It’s not easy to please all of our readers all of the time, but we do try to help and inspire as many machine knitters as possible.

Best wishes and happy knitting.

Anne – Editor & Publisher

If you do create a space for this, can I please make a request? My name is Dorothy Patrick, but I was formerly Dorothy Marchant. I’m a very keen machine knitter and I have often wondered if I have any ancestors in common with Nancy Marchant, some time ago mentioned in the magazine? I’d be very pleased if anyone with the surname ‘Marchant’ would like to get in touch and thank you, Anne, for offering to pass on my details. Best wishes and here’s hoping! Dorothy Patrick

Hi
My Brother KH-965 machine wants to change the yarn colour when the carriage is on the right instead of on the left by the colour changer. It’s a very, very long time since I used this facility and I think I may be using Button 7 wrongly. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thank you, Chris.

Hi
Is it possible to get any information on the Knitmaster 100? I bought one of these while waiting for my belongings to arrive in New Zealand, Unfortunately it didn’t come with a manual. As my son actually collected it for me, I wasn’t able to ask the seller for it and I don’t really know if the machine is complete. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Patricia

Would you please be able to help me know where I can buy some patterns for this machine? I have a Brother KH-892 with ribber and a Singer SK260 both standard gauge machines, I have been buying and reading your magazines for almost 20 years now.

I have always found them so helpful and so does our club, I am in Australia, and if possible downloadable patterns would be great if I can buy them through the internet. Thank you very much, Ivy

Okay, there’s no ribber or lace carriage and I’m not sure if there are tuck buttons, but I love it anyway. My question (before I find the money to subscribe) is will I be able to work the patterns in your magazine? So far I’ve found no patterns anywhere at all that are basic enough for my wee machine. The second question is, do you know of any groups in my area? Being new to this craft and this area I kind of feel all alone. Anyway, I hope to hear from you, thank you in advance.
Sarahjane – Helensburgh, Argyll & Bute, Scotland

Hello

I would like to set up a knitting machine club in West Berkshire – Newbury/Thatcham/Theale area.

I am looking for an initial group of, say 5 people, to get it going.
Would you be interested and happen to be from the West Berkshire area?

Val

Does anyone have a copy of the Machine Knitter’s Design Board that they wish to sell or know where I can get one. Either the white solid board or the clear plastic one will do.