BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Knitting Machine Knitting and Updated links.

Hi Thanks for your help. I have looked at many sites for free patterns and am sometimes confused at the yarn descriptions as a lot of sites are American. I am used to 2ply,3ply,4ply,dk,Aran or chunky. Some of the patterns call the yarn worsted. I have tried to find a site that "translates" the terminology and so far all I can gather is that worsted is a chunky/aran. I may be wrong.
You are right the hk160 is th same as the mk-70 and believe they are easy to use. I have done a few swatches but not tried different tensions etc on the same swatch to see the difference as I am going along.

Brother standard gauge machines will take fine double knitting at tension 9, and slightly thicker on alternate needles - you need to play with your machine to find out its capabilities. For heavier DK you will need a mid-gauge or a chunky machine.
If you have a knitweave facility on the machine, DK makes a good weaving thread on 3ply or 4ply, makes a lovely lightweight but warm fabric.
If it is still in print, Mary Weaver wrote a helpful beginners book called "Knit easy, knit Brother" - it might be available through e-bay or Amazon.
Ednamay

Thanks for your help. I found a beginners basic tutorial dvd on ebay which came today, also there are some video tutorials on you- tube for the uliimate sweater machine which has much the same basic techniques. Its so much easier to watch than to read. I have used scrap wool to try out the machine and am having some fun, not so funny though when the knitting falls at your feet!! Still it gives practice in trying to put stitches back on machine

New one: I have a standard gauge Brother (my Chunky has not come down from the loft since we moved house!!!) and I have not been able to use it for some months because of arthritis in my shoulders. I don't want to buy an electronic (mine is a punchcard) but I am dithering between buying a motor or a garter stitch accessory. I do have a ribber accessory which I use mainly for cuffs etc., but also for knee shawls (it keeps the edges flat). Any advice??? Ednamay

I wish I could help, but I'm at a total loss when it comes to machine knitting. Although I'm loathe to send you away from BellaOnline, have you tried any of the links suggested here? Machine knitting links

You need to know that an electroni machine doesn't mean the machine will knit by itself. It is just the same as your punchcard machine, you have to push that carriage. The electronics are only for the built in patterns.

For example where you might have a punchcard that has a diamond pattern on it, that same pattern could be in the electronic machine under what ever number they gave it (there is a book with all the built in stitches).

So instead of putting in the punchcard to select the needles you would turn the machine on and select the pattern number to use and that built in pattern selects the needles, just like your punchcard machine does.

People hear electronic and automaticlly think the machine knits all by itself. That just isn't so. I have a punchcard and two electronic machines and I have to push that carriage the same on all three machines.

Now the other thing you are talking about, the garter stitch accessory, well I think you are talking about the garter carriage or g-carriage as it is called. These do knit by themselves. They come in several different models. For example I have a garter carriage 93 and an 89. These will work for some machines but not for others. These garter carriages are only made for the brother standard machines (and not all of those). At the end of this I will put a link to a compatibility chart for the g-carriages.

There is another thing that will run your carriage called a motor drive but those are very expensive and very hard to find. I think the last one I saw sell went for around $900 and that was a good buy.

Chart: Daisy Knits