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!

Ingenious Yarn Tension Mast Carriage Modification!

A fellow machine knitter Brian in Canada emails me from time to time about his progress and sends pictures of his projects.  I've posted a few here on the blog.

He has designed a yarn tension mast/carriage modification using wood as his prototype (attached to the MB carriage) and will be making one for his SK155 out of aluminum very soon.

Have a look at the video showing his ingenious modifications:

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You can also read about it and contact Brian by clicking here:

Brian On Ravelry

Nice Acrylic

I'm not a yarn snob, I'll knit with any fiber, man made or natural.  When I find a particular fiber I enjoy working with I keep at it (and buy more!).

Many of you love Tamm yarn, I do too.  Having knit with most of their varieties I recently tried "Tamm Spirit" 100% acrylic,  color,  grey.  This is great yarn to knit, it's a perfect marriage with a knitting machine.  Smooth and easy, great stitch definition and holds up well in the laundry! I really enjoy the flecks of color in the yarn.

Here is Tamm Spirit, color denim knit on the standard machine, swatch is T7 on MB and ribbing T5.

Tamm Spirit

I purchased a few cones at 20% off which makes it even better.  So, now the swatch is done and I'm happy with it, what to make?  I'm seeing a long sleeved v-neck sweater...winter is right around the corner!