So a little while back my Aunt was given a knitting machine and asked if I would like it. Of course I jumped on it and she was sweet enough to bring it all the way from Atlanta on a recent visit. It’s the “Ultimate Sweater Machine” by Bond complete with the Row Counter and the only thing it was missing was the instructional video. One look in the box was overwhelming enough to know I’d need to see if I could find a copy of the video online. Yeay for the interwebs as I just found the whole video up on YouTube.
After a little trial and error I got it working, woohoo! Lightening fast Stockinette stitch! And what did I immediately realize I could finally actually knit? A Harry Potter Scarf of course, and in time for the premier, cus I’m a giant dork like that.
I’ve always wanted one but miles and miles of monotonous Stockinette, eh no thanks. Let alone that it would take me an eternity to finish.
The machine does have it’s limits (rather a lot actually). The weighted “hem” at the end needs to stay off the floor so as it gets longer I roll it up and secure with big hair clips. I can’t knit in the round, so I will be seaming the scarf, although that’s not a bad trade-off at all for this. You can do ribbing, lace, cables, colorwork, etc. but they all require hand manipulation of the stitches. Some to such a degree I think I would just knit a ribbed band by hand for example.
However, to knock out large pieces of St st and then work shaping, details and finishing by hand would still be a big help for certain pieces when short on time. One of the reasons I’ve refrained from submitting more designs for publication is the insanely fast turnaround time for samples. I work full time so knitting a sweater in 2 weeks plus writing the pattern and grading all the sizes starts to become way more stressful than enjoyable. And I want to still like knitting.
Right now I’m loving my new scarf.
After just a couple hours total I had all the knitting done. Then by hand I wove in all the ends, seamed the long edge together and closed the ends with a three-needle bind-off. After that just added the fringe and done!
Pattern: Hogwarts Scarf by Lauren Kent
Yarn: 1 skein each of Red Heart Ltd. Super Saver Solids in 376 Burgundy
and Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn! Solids in 156 Sungold
Needles: Sweater Machine plate #3
Mods: Machine knit, and because I didn’t want to purchase extra skeins in each color for the 40 yards it was short, I decreased the total # of stitches by 10 and only worked nine dark and eight light stripes.
I also have a knitting machine ( I think mine is the Bond Simplicity which is the one before the sweater machine) and I agree with you about all of its limitations. Personally.. I’ve never actually gotten mine to work well enough or long enough to make a whole scarf- the best I ever managed was a shrug. I had a lot of trouble with it dropping the center stitches and never being able to get them back on the ‘hooks’.
Your scarf is really cute- I have a HP scarf with the ‘trapped bar’ design (the later movies) and I would probably rather scrub my kitchen floor with a tooth brush than knit another one in my lifetime.