Been having a play with my new machine.

[Waterlily]

The carriage hubby found was for the ribbing machine not the ordinary machine think the other one is with the machine.

[Dax]

The carriage hubby found was for the ribbing machine not the ordinary machine think the other one is with the machine.

Waterlily the main carriage is normally clamped to the side on the main bed at either end so it does not move in the case. There should be a carriage which slides along the ribber bed and a metal joining piece which the yarn threads through. What make of machine is it?

I had and still have many knitting machines since the mid 70s. Mostly Knitmaster and one Brother. Trouble now is around here machine knitting is nearly none existent. It had it's hay days in the late 80s through until the start of the start of the 2000s.

[Waterlily]

Hi Dax and thank you, mine's a Toyota. I'm struggling to get the lid off at the moment but as far as I can see peeking through the gap you are right. The other carriage is for the ribber and is a lot bigger.

I need to make space on my worktop to put the machine on - trying to open it on a chair isn't working.

I think I got mine in the early to mid 70s, I know we got it from a Singer shop in Bromley where I worked until the early 70s. Funnily enough I had in my mind that it was a Knitmaster so wonder if I've had two and this is a newer one.

[Dax]

Hi Dax and thank you, mine's a Toyota. I'm struggling to get the lid off at the moment but as far as I can see peeking through the gap you are right. The other carriage is for the ribber and is a lot bigger.

I need to make space on my worktop to put the machine on - trying to open it on a chair isn't working.

I think I got mine in the early to mid 70s, I know we got it from a Singer shop in Bromley where I worked until the early 70s. Funnily enough I had in my mind that it was a Knitmaster so wonder if I've had two and this is a newer one.

Waterlily around here Toyota were not that popular. The metal clasps (like old suitcase ones) on the case may have seized up. You might have to get your husband to gently ease it up with a flat screwdriver. If your Toyota is a punch card machines with tumbles on carriage it would be bigger than the ribber one, unless the connecting metal piece the yarn goes through is still connected to the ribber carriage by the two screws. I only remember of one owner when I was a tutor in evening classes and running a machine knitting club. It looks and knits the same as the other popular makes of Knitmaster and Brother with the exception of permanent double bed Swiss machines and if I remember rightly Singer had a permanent double bed machine.

I had my first very basic Knitmaster machine late1975. The bed had 180 needles, shorter than the Knitmaster 326 punch card machine with 200 needles I bought soon after when I realised the limitations of the smaller machine compared to a punch card machine I saw in the magazines which I started buying for patterns. It had a smaller carriage and a round cup on the tension mast at the back of the carriage for holding a ball of wool with smaller tension wires than a standard machine.

I still have a couple of Knitmaster punch card machine, a Knitmaster electronic standard with ribber in a Keyto brand cabinet in our dinning room. The cabinet has a slide up and down shelf the machine sits on. Also a matching bench which slides underneath the cabinet. In our small box room upstairs a Knitmaster chunky electronic with ribber on one knitting machine table and a Brother electronic with ribber and garter carriage on another. None have been used for quiet a while as I have arthritis in my neck probably from about 18 years of using my machines. My bad back from taking two machine to evening classes and club. They lived permanently in the boot of my car as they are heavy.

[RozMinis]

My mother bought herself a knitting machine, but I had to learn to use it first so I could teach her. Well what a faff. Firstly if I'd had it in my possession much longer it would have been the divorce courts as it made far more noise than knitting needles.

Anywhoo I explained to her how to use it. Blow me she was whizzing the thing right to the end of the carriage each time, so the wool was getting caught up in the dormant needles and pulling the stitches off. Told her to take it to just beyond the stitches, next complaint was that the stitches were still coming off. Of course she hadn't taken it far enough.

I made Kate a jumper with a picot edge. Dear mother was most insistent that it couldn't be done by anything other than a machine. Showed her how I normally did it on two needles, well a circular needle actually, but no point in splitting hairs. Soooo aforementioned parent went off in a huff. She then bought herself a ribber and a lace thingie. All in all I reckon she must have spent over £400, including cones of yarn. I never saw any results of her knitting though, so I can only assume she sold the thing. Just glad she didn't try and persuade me to buy it off her, usually using some form of blackmail, which is what she usually did.

Roz

[Waterlily]

Thanks again Dax, the catches are actually open it's just the lid I can't get off. Haven't tried again since yesterday, I'm off to take the dog out for a walk in a minute - usually hubbies job but we are waiting for some coal to arrive and hubby wants to make sure they 'drop' it in the right place!

[Waterlily]

Still can't get the lid off. Tried looking on youtube to see if there is a special knack but can't find anything. It's a bit awkward for me because I don't have full movement in my shoulders and it's very hard to reach both sides - it's very heavy too.

[Dax]

Still can't get the lid off. Tried looking on youtube to see if there is a special knack but can't find anything. It's a bit awkward for me because I don't have full movement in my shoulders and it's very hard to reach both sides - it's very heavy too.

Waterlily your machine need to be on a flat service with the carry handle away from you. Undo the clasps both sides of the handle, grip two sides of the case lid and lift off. The knack is to bring the lid of the case towards you while lifting up. When putting the case lid on you hook the front edge of the lid under the metal progs between which the needles slide between. I hope this helps and you manage it.

[Waterlily]

Thanks very much Dax, I can see now how to open it but just can't do it.lol. One side won't move out of the slot much. It might be me being awkward I do struggle a bit with my arms and hands. I tried to lever the bits apart but thought I don't want to break anything. Will get hubby to have a look. It's trying to slide it out equally that's the problem to me.

[Dax]

My mother bought herself a knitting machine, but I had to learn to use it first so I could teach her. Well what a faff. Firstly if I'd had it in my possession much longer it would have been the divorce courts as it made far more noise than knitting needles.

Anywhoo I explained to her how to use it. Blow me she was whizzing the thing right to the end of the carriage each time, so the wool was getting caught up in the dormant needles and pulling the stitches off. Told her to take it to just beyond the stitches, next complaint was that the stitches were still coming off. Of course she hadn't taken it far enough.

I made Kate a jumper with a picot edge. Dear mother was most insistent that it couldn't be done by anything other than a machine. Showed her how I normally did it on two needles, well a circular needle actually, but no point in splitting hairs. Soooo aforementioned parent went off in a huff. She then bought herself a ribber and a lace thingie. All in all I reckon she must have spent over £400, including cones of yarn. I never saw any results of her knitting though, so I can only assume she sold the thing. Just glad she didn't try and persuade me to buy it off her, usually using some form of blackmail, which is what she usually did.

Roz

Roz I feel very sad that to hear that about your mother. Were there no classes or club in her area to help her? I was lucky I took straight away to machine knitting and was able to make money from my hobby after a few years.

My mother was a fantastic hand knitter who could watch telly while she knitted and she was quick, unlike me who had to watch what I was doing all the time and would get frustrated on how slow it was growing. Mum knitted baby clothes for both my two boys, but just after my eldest son was born at the age of 52 she was told she had Parkinson's disease. Four years later when my daughter was born she could knit no longer. Hence I bought my first machine.

I do appreciate hand knitted garments and the pleasure it gives people. Machine knitting has it's place and it does have limitations on certain techniques, working in a different way to hand knitting and for some a big learning curve.

I enjoyed using my machines for nearly 30 years and have made quite a few fine knitted suits (top & skirts) in 2 ply fancy industrial yarn in the 80s and 90s. In the late 80s I was a home worker knitting for a London based designer who sold her garments to Japan and the USA. 4ply pure wool rather abstract designs which had to be blocked and pressed with a damp cotton cloth before sewing up. Her parents lived in the same valley as my eldest daughter-in-law is from. She would combine visiting them with bringing a group of us wool and picking up the finished garments.