Manual - Knitking Automatic Knitting Machine

I have scanned two manuals for the KnitKing Automatic knitting machine. This machine is part of the Knittax family of knitting machines, and includes a wheel mechanism for automatically selecting needles. The manual is dated 1965.

Instruction and Pattern Book

Ribbing Attachment Manual

Link to Knittax AM3 on KnittingMachinesEtc website

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

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 Backup Battery

Thanks to Lois Stevens, I've got some pictures of what the backup battery inside a PE-1 looks like.







It looks like this is a rechargable NiCad battery made by SANYO, of the type that was used as a backup battery on computer motherboards in the early PC years (1980's). Unfortunately, NiCads need to be recharged from time to time to keep their function. Most PE-1 units that have sat on a shelf for years at a time are likely to have dead batteries inside them.

What does this mean for the average user? First, the backup battery is not required to store patterns on a pattern card. Each pattern card has its own little battery inside it (CR2016 in mine), and so as long as that battery is still working, you can read mylars and keep them on the card.

The backup battery allows you to turn off your knitting machine electronics (which power the PE-1) and retain the working files you are using. Without a working backup battery, you will need to reconstruct those working files if you interrupt your work. That may or may not be enough of a hassle that you want to replace your battery.

If you do want to replace it, it looks like it is fairly readily available. The number you are looking for is N-50SB3, which is 3 N-50SB cells in series with some wire lead connectors. A German supplier who ships through Amazon-UK states that this is no longer being made, but offers a different technology (Nickel metal-hydride, NiMH) as an alternative. Lois found this US source. So it looks like this is a part that is available. Note that these links are from Feb 2011, so you may need to do a current search if you are reading this at a later date. It also looks like these batteries come with the wire tabs ready to put into the circuit board, so it should be a fairly straightforward job for someone with the right tools and skills¹ to remove the old one and put in the new one.

My PE-1 is still almost new, and from what I can tell I will need to break a sticker to get into the unit. So I am not planning to replace the battery before I sell it.

¹ According to DH who is an electronics hobbyist, you need to use a soldering iron and solder that are designed for work on electronics. Electronics solder uses rosin flux; the solder used for stained glass and plumbing uses an acid flux that will damage the board. Also, larger soldering irons are too hot and will also damage circuit boards. So even if you have a soldering iron around for other purposes, you need to take care.

More Sweater Design (Post2)

Here are some swatches for the sweater/jacket I am thinking of making. The yarn is a two strand yarn made up of a near-roving single with some kind of a tape. It's at the upper limit of my SK155 bulky machine's ability - I need to knit it at T9. I like the reverse side, and I'm trying to work out what to do for edging.

On the left I've got a folded band, with a 1x1 tuck pattern at the bottom. I like it, but it's not sturdy enough for the garment, and it's also hard on the machine. This is just too bulky a yarn to pull that off. I left 2 needles out of work (2 because it's a 1x1 tuck pattern on a punch card, so I couldn't just leave one out of work) at the fold line - that could either be latched up, or left as is.

I also thought of using a contrasting yarn - the black sample. But I think it's too contrasty for what I want.

What I think I will go with is the circular knit edge above. It's stretchy, and it's just a little tighter than the reverse-stocking stitch. I did it by setting up for a 1x1 rib, casting on, then doing circular knitting for a bunch of rows. At the end of that, I transfered the stitches from the ribber onto the knitting machine and started knitting. This particular swatch had some 1x1 rib in it before I switched to circular knitting - I won't do that in the garment itself.

I think I'll try making some bands with the ribber as well, probably knit-as-I-go, because the seaming on this yarn is going to be prohibitively bulky.

Next plan is to look at how to get some shaping into the garment. I've got some transfer tools that will work on the bulky - I might use some vertical darts in the interior of the garment, as well as some short rows for the bust. Shaping should be inobtrusive to not interfere with the texture of the reverse stocking stitch. I want that to predominate, and not introduce a lot of distracting lines with shaping.