That colour combination goes really well with the punchcard pattern. On Silver Reed (Knitmaster, Singer and Empisal) the patterning begins on row 5, whereas with the Brother and Toyota the patterning is on row 7. When I began machine knitting quite a number of years ago, I wondered why my patterning was not what I wanted on my Singer KE2400 . Afterwards I found out that as I was using a Brother punchcard I should have started the punchcard 2 lines down.
Hi there. Love your channel. Im wondering if your empisal knitmaster 100 has a metal only sponge bar like the empisal 250 or does it have sponge in it that will need changed. Also do you know what guage it is. My 250 is 5mm I think. Im looking at buying one . Thank you
Hi there, thanks for the comment, the 100 is a 5mm, but more basic and needs a bit more work when working with two colours. Has the same sponge bar as the 250. I think there is an older 100 from the 1960s that has a different type of sponge bar. My 100 was made in the seventies so has the metal bar. As to gauge, it’s about the yarn size, that’s where it’s gets difficult, it’s supposed to knit a double knit. The seventies double knit is not the same yarn as the version today. What they do with the yarn is crimp or tease the fibres. The machines hates this yarn. Look at yarn on needle size 3.5mm, the hand needles. The yarn needs to be smooth and even, this applies to firm or soft yarn. It’s how the yarn is winded. The thinner double knits are the best.
@@aldosmachineknitting Thank you so much for your detailed reply. Ive been watching all your videos on the 100 and last night I tried an aran weight by skipping every second needle on my 250 and it knitted up beautifully. I love the basic design of this machine and hoping the 100 will be in good condition when it arrives. I have a brother 830 for fairisle if I want to do that but really just want to knit very basic things on the empisals. Now Im hoping to find a brother KH 230 (after watching your video) Im in New Zealand and theres lots of old knitting machines floating around. Im new to this but its such a great hobby and your videos are super helpful.
Hi there, thanks for the message, unfortunately I don’t give out details and numbers. Please write what is wrong with your machine and maybe I can make suggestions. It. Would be better on here as it it interacts with other machine knitters and gives some ideas of common issues. What I could say for dropped stitches, is to remove all the needles and get a very strong vacuum and try to clean the inside from the top surface, I use a drain cleaner brush, it’s a long wire, about a metre and has a narrow brush at the end, this is inserted on the side where the sponge bar is slotted in. Make sure you remove the sponge bar. It can take a bit of time, and this could show where a lot of Lint has been stuck for a time. The next thing is to give the needles an oil bath, basically I use a zip lock bag and dump the needles in to get the needles cleaned, this also helps to check damaged needles and to see if the latches are working. Damaged needles with latches that are bent can cause dropped stitches. I try to save needles where I can. These machines need a lot of oil, underneath the carriage, clean the moveable bits with oil, this will also help with dropped stitches. I use oil and tissue paper, toilet paper just as good to clean the top section of the needle bed, use oil to do this, this helps the needles to slide better. I know you are thinking that it is messy, but you will see an improvement. These machines love the oil. PLEASE VERY IMPORTANT. DO NOT USE WD 40, this becomes hard over a period of time, sewing machine oil or bicycle oil is the best. After you have tried these, and it is still dropping stitches, just message and I will suggest something else. Just make sure you have a new sponge bar, this will also help with the dropped stitches. The tension unit could also be an issue, nobody thinks about that, sometimes lint is in the tension unit, check on the side a screw, undo this carefully and check for threads, this can cause jumped threads that can drop a stitch. I hope it was useful, just a case of trial and error.
Great video 😊
That colour combination goes really well with the punchcard pattern. On Silver Reed (Knitmaster, Singer and Empisal) the patterning begins on row 5, whereas with the Brother and Toyota the patterning is on row 7. When I began machine knitting quite a number of years ago, I wondered why my patterning was not what I wanted on my Singer KE2400 . Afterwards I found out that as I was using a Brother punchcard I should have started the punchcard 2 lines down.
Hi there. Love your channel. Im wondering if your empisal knitmaster 100 has a metal only sponge bar like the empisal 250 or does it have sponge in it that will need changed. Also do you know what guage it is. My 250 is 5mm I think. Im looking at buying one . Thank you
Hi there, thanks for the comment, the 100 is a 5mm, but more basic and needs a bit more work when working with two colours. Has the same sponge bar as the 250. I think there is an older 100 from the 1960s that has a different type of sponge bar. My 100 was made in the seventies so has the metal bar. As to gauge, it’s about the yarn size, that’s where it’s gets difficult, it’s supposed to knit a double knit. The seventies double knit is not the same yarn as the version today. What they do with the yarn is crimp or tease the fibres. The machines hates this yarn. Look at yarn on needle size 3.5mm, the hand needles. The yarn needs to be smooth and even, this applies to firm or soft yarn. It’s how the yarn is winded. The thinner double knits are the best.
@@aldosmachineknitting Thank you so much for your detailed reply. Ive been watching all your videos on the 100 and last night I tried an aran weight by skipping every second needle on my 250 and it knitted up beautifully. I love the basic design of this machine and hoping the 100 will be in good condition when it arrives. I have a brother 830 for fairisle if I want to do that but really just want to knit very basic things on the empisals. Now Im hoping to find a brother KH 230 (after watching your video) Im in New Zealand and theres lots of old knitting machines floating around. Im new to this but its such a great hobby and your videos are super helpful.
Is there a number I can contact you on. I got my 323 from my gran. I'm having trouble. It keeps loosing stitches.
Hi there, thanks for the message, unfortunately I don’t give out details and numbers. Please write what is wrong with your machine and maybe I can make suggestions. It. Would be better on here as it it interacts with other machine knitters and gives some ideas of common issues.
What I could say for dropped stitches, is to remove all the needles and get a very strong vacuum and try to clean the inside from the top surface, I use a drain cleaner brush, it’s a long wire, about a metre and has a narrow brush at the end, this is inserted on the side where the sponge bar is slotted in. Make sure you remove the sponge bar. It can take a bit of time, and this could show where a lot of Lint has been stuck for a time.
The next thing is to give the needles an oil bath, basically I use a zip lock bag and dump the needles in to get the needles cleaned, this also helps to check damaged needles and to see if the latches are working. Damaged needles with latches that are bent can cause dropped stitches. I try to save needles where I can.
These machines need a lot of oil, underneath the carriage, clean the moveable bits with oil, this will also help with dropped stitches.
I use oil and tissue paper, toilet paper just as good to clean the top section of the needle bed, use oil to do this, this helps the needles to slide better.
I know you are thinking that it is messy, but you will see an improvement. These machines love the oil.
PLEASE VERY IMPORTANT. DO NOT USE WD 40, this becomes hard over a period of time, sewing machine oil or bicycle oil is the best. After you have tried these, and it is still dropping stitches, just message and I will suggest something else.
Just make sure you have a new sponge bar, this will also help with the dropped stitches.
The tension unit could also be an issue, nobody thinks about that, sometimes lint is in the tension unit, check on the side a screw, undo this carefully and check for threads, this can cause jumped threads that can drop a stitch.
I hope it was useful, just a case of trial and error.