ARS Amoretto Super 8 Excell Knitting Machine

The ARS Amoretto Super 8 Excell Knitting machine is a Japanese made machine with a fascinating needle selection system. I owned one for years, then bought 3 of them brand new in the original plastic still, with pristine manuals. 2 of the three are now in new homes, and I'm keeping the third out of interest. I've scanned the manuals as PDF's. I also have a stash of replacement needles if you need any - ask and you can have some for the price of shipping.

I have the following manuals as PDFs. They are large files, so give them time:

ARS Amoretto ARSKnitter Instruction Manual
ARS Amoretto Knitting Codes
ARS Amoretto Super8 Excell Supplementary Instructions


At the moment the PDFs are hosted on DropBox, but I may move them, so please link to the blog (I will update links here) rather than the file locations.

Passap Duo DM: Should I worry about these bent parts?

There are three adjacent plastic parts (gate channels?) on the back bed of my Duo that are bent. I hope you can see despite the dark picture. I've shown them with the needles pulled forward so you can see the functional effect.

We have a heat gun (way hotter than a hairdrier), and that would probably soften the plastic enough to try to bend them back. Is this much bending going to interfere with function? Is it worth the risk?



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It's raining knitting machines!

I'm hoping to pick up a new-to-me Passap E6000 knitting machine tonight. That means I need to find a new home for my Passap Duomatic. Those machines are too big to hoard!

Computers, knitting and knitting machines

Talking about computers and knitting machines gets complicated fairly quickly because we vary in our background and, to be honest, in our level of interest in both computer and knitting machine arcana.

The heyday of machine knitting was the 1980s, which preceded the invasion of computers into our daily lives. So much of the information about how to use computers with knitting machines assumes a fluency with machine knitting, but a very basic and somewhat anxious knowledge about computer technology.

Today there is a new generation of knitters who take computers completely for granted, but have never seen a knitting machine. The way to present information about computer-aided machine knitting to this group needs to be completely revamped.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Leggings

DD keeps growing up, but not out, so I thought I would make her some leg-warmers to cover the gap between socks and the bottoms of her pants. We'll see if they fit, and if she likes them.



This was a simple non-pattern on my SK155 + ribber bulky knitting machine, with a Bernat Jacquard self-patterning acrylic yarn.

Set up for 1 by 1 rib, 14..14 on back bed, 13..13 on front bed, Circular cast-on at T0/0, [RC000]. Increase from T3 for the first full row, up one dot each row until at T5/5. Knit 20 rows of ribbing [RC020]. Transfer all stitches to main bed, K40R @ T5 [RC060]. Transfer every other stitch back to ribber. K10R @ T5/5. [RC070] Knit 3 circular rows, then transfer back to main bed. K1R at T4 [COL, RC074]. Back stitch bind off with a tapestry needle, then stitch up the side and bury the ends.

PE-1 Pattern Extender (SOLD)

SOLD



This is a PE-1, designed to connect with a Silver-Reed electronic knitting machine.



It connects to a port on the knitting machine. This is my SK580, which has the equivalent of an EC-1 built into the machine. Newer machines with an EC-1 ought to have a similar port, likely on the EC-1.



Here is the port exposed, with the cap off. Note that there is a little finger that keys the connection between the cable and the plug. There's an arrow on the plug which, on my machine, needs to point up.



Here is the PE-1, with the cable connecting it to the knitting machine. Because it draws its power from the knitting machine, it will work internationally, as long as your electronic KM works. The pattern card inserts into the side of the PE-1. You can see it there now.



Here is the "mylar" sheet that feeds into the EC-1 slot and is read by the knitting machine. When the PE-1 is in use, you push the "READ" button, and it will drive the mylar reader. It will read the pattern into memory, and store it on the pattern card (shown to the right of the PE-1). The pattern card takes a simple button style battery, of the type that goes in a watch. It is easily replaced.

Once the pattern(s) are in the pattern card, you can use it to knit. You can also use the PE-1 to piece together patterns that are wider than the 60 stitches on a mylar sheet. I have instructions for this in the book called "Operations Manual" that came with my SK580. If you lack instructions, I can copy them.

I've seen one of these for sale for $300 USD. I'm asking $200 plus actual shipping costs, but I'm open to offers.