Knit

Technical Block

My notes on Knitting using the knit machine as well as hand knit. With a number of different technics.

Machine Knit (domestic knit machine)

Step by step

•           Threading the machine: First lace the yarn through the first eye lid, then wrap around the tension dial, then an eye lid at the front towards you and then up through the eye lid at the top, thread through to the carriage and through the feeder all the way back and make sure you close the feeder.
•           E: wrapping casting on: pull the amount of needle you want to cast on forward and then with the thread create an “e ” shape around the first needle an then apply this to the rest of the needles.
•               Then pull the carriage across the bed of needle and this will stitch your first line, it will also push the needle back, which you then need to bring forward, but remember to keep the knit against the bed. And repeat this for about 6 times so you can the hang your weights on and then continue to move the carriage back and forth to continue knitting to your required length.
•               To remove from the machine simply move the carriage along the needles with no yarn and it should ease off.

Once you have learnt the basics there are many different things that you can do with the knit machine, from striping 2 + colours, changing the tension to create larger stitches, there is laddering the knit, creating lace wholes, weaving in other fabrics or thicker yarns, even “e” wrapping in different yarns, creating triangles, and diamonds. Pretty much anything you can think of.

Here are some example of some of the things I experimented with, some I found harder than others:

Here is a simple knit, a knit where the tension is changed in stripes, and a ladder sample, to ladder you need to use the transfer tool, and move the stitch across and keep it across. 

Another example of changing the tension, and a sample where I have weaved in strips of colours, which was a basic weave technique, and also I began creating yarns where the yarns stitch in a tube shape to create a thick yarn.

Here are examples of ladder stitch, which you simple miss out needles and e wrap to the next available needle.

This sample contains weave, and e wrapping thicker yarns, as well as fringing which is simply placing yarns over a needle and knitting normally as well as lace technique near the bottom.

This sample I looked at different thicknesses of yarns, so I tried laddering as well as changing the tension. And then a sample combining 2 different yarn thicknesses, changing the tension as well as e wrapping in a different yarn thickness.

Hand Knit

 simple step by step

Casting on (think e)

•           Make a slipknot on one needle, this count as your first stitch.
•           Place his needle in your left hand, hold the other needle in your right to control the yarn, insert point needle, from front to back, into a slipknot and under the left needle.
•           Hold your left needle still in your left hand and move left fingers over right needle, then with your index finger pick up yarn from the ball.
•           Release right hand grip on the needle and bring the yarn under and over the right needle
•               Return to right needle and draw the yarn through stitch with the point of the right needle
•               Slide the point of the left needle into the back of the new stitch then remove the right needle
•           Now you need to repeat the 5 steps above. (Don’t do the first step again) until you have your required number of stitch’s

That was casting on now to knit:

•  Hold stitch in your left hand; insert point on the right in the first stitch from front to back.
•          With right finger bring yarn under and over point on right needle.
•      Draw yarn through stitch with right needlepoint.
•      This step now drifts from casting on: slip loop on left needle off so new stitch is on right needle.
•      Now repeat all step above for each stitch

Casting off:

•  Knit the first 2 stitches as before: insert left needle into stitch you knitted first, and pull it over the second stitch and completely off the stitch. One stitch is now cast off
•      Knit one more stitch, insert left needle into first stitch on the right needle, and pull it over the new stitch and completely off the needle, another stitch is now cast off.
•      Repeat the above step until you only have one stitch left. Now cut the yarn leaving 5ish cm at the end with the needle draw end up and through the last stitch to secure it. Thread the yarn needle and weave end into several stitches to secure it.

And there you have it a knit sample.

I have to admit I did find this hard but I recon with practice I could be able to do this.

 My first attempt