Knitting Machines?

[Nostrum]

Hey guys. First time posting on the knitting subforums. Scary! Haha.

I just received ownership of my grandmother's old knitting machine. She bought it second hand some thirty (I guess?) years ago and it never came with instructions. I'm planning on Googling away to see what I can find on it, but does anyone have a knitting machine?

For your interest:
It's a Passap Duomatic. I can't see any model/make numbers on it, but I only got it yesterday and had to load it into my garage in a hurry. I'll upload photos of it when I get home from the movies tonight.


Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts, criticisms, comments, and so forth on knitting machines. Are they awesome? Are they a waste of time? Are they expensive and actually worth something?
And if anyone has them, how about patterns? What can you make on a knitting machine?


Cheers,
Sarah.

[sansgil]

Personally, I love knitting machines and have been using a domestic chunky machine for the last three years to make knitted toys and some garments like scarfs and gloves.

They're pretty versatile and can be used to make a lot of different things such as garments/jumpers etc. They're not for everyone and it can take a lot of perseverance to make the things you want to make but if you're prepared to stick it out, knitting garments CAN be quicker and more consistent/repeatable depending on what stitch you want to do.

As with hand knitting you are turning the fabric every other row this makes Garter stitch very easy. On a machine the fabric is always worked on one side so garter stitch can be a real pain without a garter carriage and even then this is a slow process. Equally creating ribs (without the help of a special ribber attachment) can take time as you have to manually knit every other stitch to achieve the desired result.

A quick search of google or YouTube for knitting machines should bring up videos to teach you how to do just about anything with a knitting machine.

Hope that helps.

[Nostrum]

Sweet. That does indeed. I really should take it out and have a good peruse, but all the days I'm not at work have been taken up with a thousand other things. None of my New Years resolutions have made it off the page yet!

I've just realised that this laptop doesn't have bluetooth connection, and the photos I have are on my phone. I'll bust out the proper camera some time in the next week and get a few photos with it all set up and everything it comes with.
I daresay I'll need help identifying some of the pieces. Mum gave me a cardboard box full of pieces and accessories that go with it, but I didn't even open it up to see. I was too busy with Dad giving me step-by-step instructions for setting up the stand!

As is, it may spend a while in the garage until I find a way to set it up properly (which would probably require my housemate moving out and giving me another room to set up. Ooh. Imagine that. A sewing room, AND a crafting room! Hehehe...).

.. Where was I?
Oh. Righto. Nowhere to put it, at the moment. I'm not the world's greatest knitter, because although I have the patience to do it my hand gets really sore (bad thumb, long story) and my stitches end up wonky as all buggery. So I've never learnt anything past your basic knit.

..
I'm totally not coherent enough to be posting. So I'ma go have a beer with the boys and try again tomorrow after work.


I was also lucky enough to score her porcelain kiln. Exciting things on the rise!

[SpecialKRJ]

Wow, this is actually pretty awesome. My aunt just gave me my grandma's knitting machine, too! Picked it up last night. Of course, I also can't set it up yet. I need to clean out my monstrosity of a room (maybe I should call FEMA for help with that one...) AND my grandma and grandpa used to make porcelain dolls and such. Rather eerie, these similarities be.

Anyway, I don't know if the manual is still with the machine, but my aunt did give me a whole stack of books about it that I have yet to look through. She told me last night how to do increases and decreases, but I sort of forgot already. The only thing I really remember (and this is probably no help at all) is that, once you've pulled forward the needles you want to work on, you hold the end of the yarn on the left side of the needles and wrap it around each one as if you were writing a cursive lower case e, then put the yarn in the carriage and close the little door. And move it back and forth. As you can tell, I am clearly a total expert on this subject! *cough, shifty eyes*

As for patterns and whatnot, my aunt gave me a few books on how to make cardigans and sweaters, one book on making all sorts of 'moneymakers' including dresses and such. She also made a tote bag on it, and she said that once you know how to do all the different things with the machine, you can make socks. (She knows I love making socks, but I just sort of wish I could clone the first one )

To be perfectly honest, it's very, very confusing. At least for me, at least right now. I taught myself to knit and spin and crochet in no time at all, but learning how to use this machine is pretty intimidating.

Anyway, I am about to embark on a 12 hour car ride back home, and during that time I will probably read a good chunk of the books my aunt gave me. So, hopefully tomorrow sometime I will be able to return to this thread, an expert on the subject. (Pfft!)

*reads her reply, realizes it's confusing and rambling, and hits 'post' anyway*

[Yarn or Fabric]

There are some really active knitting machine groups in yahoogroups - search for machine knitting and you'll find a few there - the people are really super helpful...
Also search in yahoo for some local knitting meet up groups - and ask if any of them machine knit - they'll come out of the woodwork to help!

I only knit on a Bond.  I like my Bond - I don't use it nearly as much as I should but I do plan to rectify that this year

[Nostrum]

Haha, SpecialKRJ, your post made more sense than my last one did.

Thanks for the comments and help guys!

[dancingbarefoot]

Passap Duomatics are really amazing machines. I'd check out the machine knitting group on Ravelry if I were you - thousands of machine knitters there. Passaps have a steep learning curve (like most knitting machines), but they're capable of some pretty awesome techniques.

[Nostrum]

Sweeet.

Good to hear! Even if the machine scares the crap out of me, at least I know it's worth it.