The Sewing Place
The Emporia => A Good Yarn => Topic started by: Greybird on September 04, 2020, 17:57:28 PM
-
I have finally managed to get my Knitmaster 700 set up in my, newly free, small bedroom. It was in a Horn cabinet but closed away from 2005 (hiding from grandchildren) until 2015 when we moved here and since then it's been stored in it's cardboard box in a dry garage.
I have realised that, although I used to work for Knitmaster and demonstrate these things, it has been so long that I am little more than a beginner again. I do remember that the carriage on it moved very freely and easily but in spite of a good clean and thorough oiling, now it doesn't - it's very stiff. What I have noticed is that if I move the carriage to the extreme left, once the left hand memory drum passes the end of the bed, it is much freer. Looking at it, that drum is sticking out from the back of the carriage further than the right hand drum. I really can't remember if it is supposed to or whether it has somehow got misplaced.
I wondered if anyone has one that they could look at for me and see if theirs is the same?
-
I don't have a Knitmaster, but did go to help someone with one a year (or two) or so ago, and discovered that the drums can be freed off with a hair dryer as the oil on them solidifies over time. Also right at the ends I think you should have "side racks" that the drums connect with and they very often just disintegrate.
Also, I think it will have a sponge bar, or needle retaining bar. If it does have this, it's highly likely it will need replacing as the sponge will have disintegrated, or even become a bit of a goo-ey mess.
-
Thanks @Bodgeitandscarper . I did replace the sponge bar before packing it up to move, without realising it would be another 5 years before it came out of it's box again. I think that's still OK. One of the side racks has indeed disintegrated and I have ordered new ones. The memory drums do seem to be turning fairly freely but I'll try the hairdryer trick just in case. I just can't understand why one of the drums should stick out more than the other one - I've certainly never noticed it before. We don't seem to have any service/repair facilities anywhere near here and I can only think to compare it with a similar machine.
-
@Bodgeitandscarper - the hairdryer has improved things a lot! Thank you so much. It isn't quite what it was but hopefully it will improve further with use.
-
Glad it's helped. I think however that it may keep solidifying, and some people take them all apart and clean them out! :o
But on the other hand, if you keep using it and the hair dryer when/if necessary, it should keep it free.
If you use facebook, folks in machine knitting groups are really helpful, a lot are rediscovering the wonders of machine knitting these days, and of course a lot of old machines need rejuvenating.
If you used to demo them, I'm sure it will all come back to you. I found after a 25 or so year gap, i knew that I could do things, but not necessarily remember how - thank goodness for the internet as not all manuals are very helpful!
-
I forgot to mention, looking forward to seeing pics of what you knit 0_0
-
Might be a while - said drum has seized up again now it's cooled down. I don't fancy my chances at dismantling it so I have sent for a cleaning spray which is supposed to leave no residue and should remove the oil deposits. Needless to say I shall be testing it on various surface types before subjecting my machine to it. I can't think what else I can do! I am very grateful for your accurate diagnosis of the problem.
-
@Greybird I used to sell second hand knitting machines and him indoors used to Service and repair them it was a long time ago but I have just told him about yours and he asked what type of cleaning spray you are getting as there are some that make things worse.
I am trying to find a place to put one of my knitting machines up, I still have way too many and need to get rib of one or 2 but if I can find a place to use one then it will be easier to decide what to get rid of.
-
@Celia this is the one I have ordered
https://www.dortechdirect.co.uk/wurth-industry-cleaner.html
But I shan't use it if I'm in any doubt about the effect it might have. I did quite a bit of online searching before ordering it and counted out a lot of them because they were for use on computers and watches which I think don't use oil? Does your OH have other recommendation?
-
@Celia
"I am trying to find a place to put one of my knitting machines up, I still have way too many and need to get rib of one or 2 " A genuine Freudian slip?
(I posted this earlier and somehow it ended up in the thread from the newbie in Huddersfield. How did that happen? Wonder if I started from the Recent Posts and it just got stuck onto the last one. Ah well.)
-
@Greybird I have just shown your link to him but he said he has no experience of that type, it says grease so that may be good, I know a lot of people used to use WD40 and that makes things a whole lot worse.
He used to take the machines apart and clean them all out, we did mainly work with Brother machines but I do have a fine gauge silver punchcard which is similar to yours, I will get it out and get him to look at it to see if he can come up with more ideas.
I hope you do get it working again, I need some encouragement to try mine.
@toileandtrouble i did wonder how I got on that post??? A definite Freudian slip :loveit:
-
I did find a You Tube video which showed a carriage being taken apart to get to the drums, but it wasn't even the same make and, having watched it, there is no way I am even going to think about trying it!
-
There are two places you might get some help from, one is Anne Smith of Machine Knitting Monthly magazine - she is in Maidenhead, has run the magazine since it started, and is a machine knitter herself - she knows so much about the machines it may be worth a call to her - 01628 783080. The other place is Silver Viscount - the people who were/are Knitmaster - Knitmaster were marketed by Silver in the Far East, and then a few years back now became Silver Viscount here in the UK. They are based up in Northampton and there phone no. is 01933 311888. I had dealings with them a few years ago ( Anne Smith put me in touch with them) and they were extremely helpful.
Anne might know of someone who actually does maintenance or repairs knitting machines, but I bet they are few and far between.
Hope you can get this sorted soon as I bet you are really wanting to get back into this now. By the way the only machine knitting magazine left nowadays is Machine Knitting Monthly, but Anne Smith has her finger on the pulse regarding machine knitting, so I am sure she can help you - she is lovely to chat to as well.
-
Thank you @Elnnina .Those are very useful to know. I am waiting for the cleaning spray to be delivered and am hoping that will do the trick. If it doesn't however.....................!
-
The spray has done the trick! My machine is now purring. I had forgotten how much I love this machine. It's smooth (now!), easy, good tempered and gives very few problems. I shan't be putting it back in it's box in a hurry.
-
That's brilliant! Have fun, and don't forget the pics 0_0
-
Greybird so pleased that you have sorted this and got the machine running smoothly. Now all you have to do is re familiarize yourself with the machine and away you go - enjoy your time in the knitting department.
Oh a good few years ago now a lady in the USA produced some beautiful patterns that are a bit different, she is Ricki Mundstock, I wonder whether you can find any of these on the internet.
I really must get back on to my machines - most are in a cupboard together with their ribbers, and my cabinet housing my main machine is covered with loads of files, in order to get to it I would have to stop sewing altogether and move things around big time - but I cannot see that happening any time soon.
-
@Elnnina - I did find some Ricki Mundstock patterns - thank you. Do you remember if they include block diagrams? I always use a charting device so these are essential for me!
-
Really pleased to hear it, do let us see what you are making.
-
Greybird, well I have good news for you. Whilst I have many Ricki Mundstock patterns, I cannot get near to them without a major upheaval in my room, so rather than keep you waiting I spoke with Anne Smith of Machine Knitting Monthly as she really is a mine of information Bless her she could get at her copies easily and went off to have a look, and yes there are diagrams, she said some were better than others, but you should be able to draw out the shapes following what you see easily enough onto your Knitradar sheet. She also said the Aran type ones are just squares of knitting, and dropped shoulders. I must say I much prefer the clean smarter lines of the set in sleeve although I am guilty of knitting the drop shoulder style in the past - but not any more.
Whilst I was chatting to her (I have spoken to her many, many times, and is always happy to have a chat) I asked her about the needle retaining bar mainly as I think my one - I have a Knitmaster 560 Electronic - may need replacing and she said the Silver place in Northampton is the best place to go.
So I also asked about the needle retaining bar for Brother and also about needles for the Brother, and here is the interesting part for any machine knitters who have a Brother machine. There are no spares of genuine Brother parts anywhere in this country, any parts offered are a poor substitute and are made in China, their steel is not as good as the Japanese Steel. However if you are needing a needle retaining bar, you can apparently use a Silver (Knitmaster) one on some models, only the length of these means that the ends are likely to stick out a little each end, therefore you could not put its lid on. The Chinese type needles do work on the Brother machines, but it is best to keep an eye on them. Apparently many e-bay people are trying to sell spare parts for the Brother machines and there are a lot of dodgy parts - so it is best to try and find a dealer who knows what he is doing with regards to the imported Chinese parts. The last snippet I had about the Brother parts is the needle for the Garter Carriage, these are so difficult to find they are like hen's teeth, so it pays to try and be careful and make sure there are no damaged/bent needles on the main machine.
Another useful snippet of information is that the Bedford Sewing and Knitting place in Bedford have stopped doing knitting machines altogether, and Metropolitan Knitting from Nantwich in Cheshire has also gone.
Right let me get back to patterns, Anne Smith was very friendly with the late Carl Boyd, and before his untimely passing, he gave Anne all his patterns that he had produced for her to use in the magazine, which she has been doing. Carl designed some beautiful patterns, so if you know of him and his patterns, and suddenly think you would have liked that or that, then get in touch with Anne and I am sure she will be able to tell you if the magazine it was published in is still available. Carl was excellent on designing some beautiful but different necklines.
If I can help you any more with regards to patterns or refreshing your knitting skills, please feel free to ask. Back in the day I acquired many, many books on machine knitting, and I still have them. Back then Kathleen Kinder's books were so difficult to get hold of, I bet now there are many on e-bay and the likes, the same goes for Mary Weaver books. I was a member of Chiltern Machine Knitting Club for many years, sadly the club folded a long time ago, but we used to have people come to give us a talk or demonstration. One of these people was Pam Turbett and she was a dressmaker not a knitter, but she got someone else to knit her really long lengths of knitting and then treated this as dressmaking fabric - she used, plain, lace or patterned lengths and the results were excellent, and she published a few books on the techniques she used. You may remember from your days as a demonstrator the technique of Knit Weave, and Knitmaster brought out a special weaving arm or carriage (again I cannot get at mine that easily) - this was to make the process of knit weaving a lot easier. Then a lady in South Africa - Audrey Palmer - produced a few books on Knit Weaving - and they are quite something. As machine knitting seems to have gone out of favour, I bet there are hundreds and hundreds of books on this subject available on the internet and e-bay - I have only mentioned a few, but I have an enormous shelf full of all things machine knitting, so if you are looking for a something specific , I may well have it and can give you the correct title.
Now go and have fun, shall watch with interest as to what you are going to knit.
-
Thank you @Elnnina ! I don't know anyone who is as thorough as you! Nice to know about the diagrams on the patterns. I do have a weaving arm for my machine and it's brilliant. None of the other manufacturers managed to compete with this as they couldn't get round the Knitmaster patents. I am looking forward to using it again.
I am on the lookout for some of the books by Diane Bennett. I was lucky enough to be taught by her just before she branched out into the wide world (having previously been a maths and geography teacher). There are some for sale at the moment but not ones I want. One of them has an illustration on the front showing one of the girls who was in the same group as me.
Rather than a drop shoulder you can cast off 2 -3 centimetres each side and then knit straight up to the shoulder. When you stop shaping the sleeve, knit straight for 2 -3 centimetres. This will give you something just as easy as a drop shoulder but with a better fit. It sews up much more neatly too, especially with mattress stitch.
-
Greybird - thank you for your kind comments. I must admit I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to knitting, sewing and embroidery!!
Oh I remember Diane Bennett and yes she came to us at Chiltern Machine Knitting Club, and I have a few of her books as well. When Designaknit came out I had this system on two floppy disks - in fact I think this is the version I still have, only the rapid change in computers operating windows system means that I would need to change this over to a DVD or whatever they are doing at the moment. I ought to investigate this further because I am a real scaredy cat when it comes to computers and some of the terminology they use leaves me helpless.
When machine knitting was in its heyday, I had two specific friends that were also machine knitters, Twopence on TSP, and another friend who incidentally won the first Knitmaster Competition oh so many years ago now. Then in later years there was another lady from Chiltern Machine Knitting Club that won that competition and another who was a runner up.
Thank you for the tip about the alternative to a dropped shoulder, but having sort of perfected by trial and error a set in sleeve, which is drawn on my Knit Radar/Contour what ever they call it these days, I am going to stick with that. A long time ago now, I knitted a boucle sweater using two ends one a very fine industrial boucle yarn and a matching 2/30's yarn. When completely knitted I then joined the seams on the sewing machine as this gave such a neat finish and with wear it became almost invisible. I had also finished the neckband in such a way that it was almost impossible to undo. The sweater was laying on my bed and I was looking at and thinking there is something wrong - that part is a different colour, yet it had all come off one cone. The more I looked the more obvious it was and I was right it was a different shade. So I set to to unpick and unravel - only I had plated this which made it far trickier to undo. I only wanted to undo the front to where the line was that showed the beginning of a darker shade - oh I was so careful in not letting the stiches run, and I managed to pick up all the stitches successfully, and then undid that row whilst it was back on the machine, and then proceeded to knit back up to finish off the front again. If you have ever plated you will know that this is not the easiest thing to do knitting wise but does make for a nice sweater. Now you cannot see that anything other than a perfect front has been knitted. All the hem bands on the sweater and sleeves and the neckband I have knitted (still plated) but reversed the knitting so that these show the knit side as the outside whereas the body shows the purl side as the outside -this shows up the lovely boucle yarn.
Have you looked on abebooks.com for the books you are wanting? a brilliant second hand book place.
-
Do you know the name of the Diane Bennet book, I still have quite a bit of machine knitting stuff, Diane used to live quite near me many years ago and either myself or my friend Who still machine knits a lot, might have a copy.
I have put a silver reed sponge bar in my Brother 965i and it is fine, a bit long but I can get the lid on as long as you make sure you get it centred. If anyone is desperate for bits for a Brother machine do ask me as I might be able to help, all my stuff is original Brother and the spares parts etc are new, I have never got around to getting rid of the remains of our business, there is not a lot left but you never know I might be able to help.
I also have a couple of knitting machines looking for new homes, I have not advertised them due to the current situation but if anyone is interested let me know.
-
@Celia the ones I would like are the more basic ones, not specific to a device or machine (like the garter carriage or electronic machines). I don't have any of her books and I would like a couple for old times sake. I still exchange Christmas cards with Diane but haven't seen her for many years.
Did you live in Yately? The class I went to was held there - I lived in Fleet at the time.
-
@Greybird not in Yateley but not too far from there, I know Fleet well, my Uncle lived there when I was a child and my friend still lives there. I will see what I can find for you re books but I have a nasty feeling I may have parted with the ones you are looking for some time ago.
-
@Celia don't worry about the books - they'll turn up some time. I lived on the corner of Kings Road and Guildford Road. It seems a long time ago now - I left there the year of the Charles and Diana wedding and we sold the house to someone from 2 Para who had just come back from the Falkland Islands.