Brother Transfer Carriage

Today I had lunch with two very nice machine knitters who I met as a result of MKM and this blog.

It was a quick 2 hours and didn't even touch on all the things we wanted to.  To have fellow machine knitters here in Las Vegas who actually got together was amazing!

They are planning on making high end sweaters out of the most gorgeous yarns.  The thought of transferring all those ribbed stitches manually made me immediately think "transfer carriage."

They have not used one in a long while and not with good luck when they did; I thought to offer my little bit of advice.  The easiest fixes for a transfer carriage to operate as it should are:

• Take all the weights off; leave ribber comb on
• Slide your pitch button to H
• Manually transfer at least two sts to MB on each end
• Double check all needles on MB are in B position
• Double check the diagram on the transfer carriage and follow it from top down (for the RB needle set up you are transferring)
• Don't press down on the carriage and slowly move from right to left

Brother Transfer Carriage

Have one of these?  Take it out and give it a try, you'll be so glad you did!

Transfer Carriage - Set Free!

I am currently knitting a button down cardigan for a 6 month old.  As I knit the ribbing I heard some yelling, "LET ME OUT!"  I looked around and the yelling was coming from the cabinets in my knitting studio...

Then, it hit me, it was my Transfer Carriage yelling at me!  I opened the drawer and saw this:

Brother Transfer Carriage

So I quickly opened the box took the poor thing out and put it to use!  The yelling stopped.

Brother Transfer Carriage

What was I "not" thinking the hundreds of times I had to transfer from rib to main bed knitting??? They are really very easy to use, here's how I did it for 1X1 ribbing:

1. Removed all weights just leaving the ribber comb attached.

2. Brought out all MB needles to B position (working position) including three extra needles on each end.

3. Transferred one-(1) end ribber stitch manually to the MB.

4. Placed the carriage on the right hand side, lever in left hand corner down (check the manual as different needle selections require this lever to be up), you can see the lever in the photo above; then slid it across the beds.  All stitches transferred to the MB.

5. Removed the Transfer Carriage and gave a gently tug on the cast on comb to seat all the stitches on the MB needles.  Slid back the empty MB needles before I started MB knitting.

Done!

Easy, I will never lock up the Transfer Carriage again, well, I'll put it away until I need to transfer again!  Give it a go, you'll be so glad you did!

Just wish they made these for the 9mm machines...