# Converting hand knitting to machine knitting



## ladyhoffer (Oct 5, 2012)

Can anyone help me, I want to learn how to convert hand knitting patterns to machine knit and I have no idea how to even start to do it.


----------



## ksojerio (Aug 2, 2011)

Susan Guagliumi has several books on hand manipulated stitches that make good reference books. Not all HS can be converted into MS.


----------



## Entity (Sep 13, 2011)

A good way to learn how to convert hand knitting to machine knitting is by learning how to read stitch chart/schematic. 

There are several software that can convert written instruction over to charting. With the chart, you can apply it for machine knitting. There are a few differences between hand knitting chart and machine knitting chart and they're minor. Overall, if you understand the chart, you can apply it to machine knitting. You can even use the stitch chart to create punchcard & program into the electronic stitch pattern unit.

Hand written instruction ===> Chart/Schematic ====> Machine knitting

So, in short term, buy books that explain how to read stitch chart for learning. After that, Susan Guagliumi's book "Hand-Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters" will help to bring altogether. But Ms. Susan's book alone may not do much.

Keep in mind that machine knitters look at the fabric from the purl side and hand knitters from the stockinette side. Stitch patterns need to be mirrored when reading for machine knitting. Although, most of the time, it won't make much of a difference because the stitch patterns repeat the same way both left & right.


----------



## ValT (Aug 15, 2012)

I prefer to write the instructions row by row. 
Then I number each row, so I know where I am in the pattern My row counter tells me what line I am on.

When you are asked to knit so many inches, I know my tension (number of rows per inch) so it's easy to do the math to find out how many rows to knit.

Val


----------



## KateWood (Apr 30, 2011)

I just use a knitleader


----------



## ladyhoffer (Oct 5, 2012)

I have one of those, how does it help covert the patterns?


----------



## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

KateWood said:


> I just use a knitleader


I'm with you Kate. :thumbup: It's saves all the maths and you are sure of a good fit.


----------



## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

mamatina said:


> I have one of those, how does it help covert the patterns?


Are you talking about stitch patterns or garment designs?


----------



## ladyhoffer (Oct 5, 2012)

I'm not sure what you mean? I just want to be able to convert a pattern like out of a magazine if I really like it and if it can be done with the pattern.


----------



## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

mamatina said:


> I'm not sure what you mean? I just want to be able to convert a pattern like out of a magazine if I really like it and if it can be done with the pattern.


You can convert a hand knit pattern to a machine knit without much difficulty. 
What I was asking is, did you want to use just the style of the garment (long sleeve, v neck, round neck etc) or did you want to use the stitch pattern ( Fairisle, tuck, slip, lace etc.) Or is it a case that you need to convert it fully.
I don't know what machine you have, or if you have a charting device. If you have the latter this will make knitting the style/shape of garment so much easier. With a charting device you can use any yarn and any stitch pattern that you want, and providing that you have done the swatch correctly, you are guaranteed a perfect fit.


----------



## ladyhoffer (Oct 5, 2012)

I am using my Brother KH 930 and I have a knitleader KL 116, but I just got that so I have never even used it before. Is that what you are talking about?


----------



## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

mamatina said:


> I am using my Brother KH 930 and I have a knitleader KL 116, but I just got that so I have never even used it before. Is that what you are talking about?


With the machine and knitleader that you have, I would say you never need to look for a printed pattern again. 
On most modern knitting patterns (hand or machine) you have the drawings of the pieces of the garment. You can copy these onto your Mylar knitleader sheet. 
With a water washable pen draw half a back one side the center line, half a front the other, and half a sleeve further up. Follow the instructions regarding doing a swatch and setting up the knitleader.
Your swatch can be in any yarn and any stitch pattern. 
As the sheet goes through the knitleader you follow the lines that you have drawn. In my opinion it's the best way of machine knitting.
Kate, Entity and Beth will back me up here, I'm sure.


----------



## Entity (Sep 13, 2011)

Mamatina, to explain what you're trying to do, please go to the link below. 
http://www.knittingparadise.com/t-101054-1.html

You will see a lace sleeveless top that I machine knitted using a hand knitting pattern. Then, look at the photo on the actual pattern at the link given. Notice that the style and lace stitch patterns are the same but the actual layout of the lace stitch are not exactly the same. So, here how I did it.

I used the knit leader to draw the outline of the garment to fit my size. As for the stitch patterns, I modified the charts given to apply for machine knitting (as explained earlier). Then, I did a swatch according to the knit leader manual with the laces included. I entered the information that the swatch gave (#rows & #stitches) and set up the knit leader accordingly. Now, I didn't entered the stitch chart information into my Brother electronic unit. I chose to hand manipulated the lace _stitch_ patterns for learning purpose. Of course, you don't need to do so if you have the 930.

In other words, it was a combination of things that Kate, Sue and I had posted here. Therefore, you should set up the knitleader and begin to use it. It isn't hard to use it and you'll like it once you created garments that fit you.


----------



## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

These are some of the things that I have done, none were done using a printed pattern.
These were knitted using the garment design feature in my KH970 but this works more or less the same as a knitleader.
The beaded top and the cream shrug I had done before, in different yarns and different stitch patterns, using my knitleader with my KH965. Each time that you do the same style garment it can look totally different because of the yarn that you choose and the stitch pattern. No one will ever have the exact same sweater/cardigan/jacket as you. You will be the designer and it will be a one off.

http://www.knittingparadise.com/t-57825-1.html
http://www.knittingparadise.com/t-86675-1.html


----------



## ladyhoffer (Oct 5, 2012)

Ok I will set up my knitleader and let you know how it goes. Thank you so much for all your help everyone!


----------



## ladyhoffer (Oct 5, 2012)

Ok so do I need a special kind of pen or pencil for these sheets and if so what kind and where can I get one?


----------



## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

Any pen that is water washable should be OK.


----------



## Entity (Sep 13, 2011)

Mamatina, are you in the US? If you are, you can purchase a set of Expo Vis-a-Vis Wet Eraser at any office supply store/isle. The set comes in different colors which is nice when you need to draw several patterns on 1 Mylar sheet.


----------



## vh14 (Nov 17, 2016)

Hi, I know this is an old thread, but I thought it might be useful for people to know that my book 'Translating between Hand and Machine Knitting' has just been published by Crowood Press. This is a lavishly illustrated book (over 300 illustrations), with step-by-step photos taking the reader through techniques. Full colour images of exciting knitted textiles compliment each section's technical content, illustrating the potential for each technique. The book explains how stitches such as slip and tuck are formed by hand and machine, and how the fabrics made from these stitches can be worked by either method. It highlights the most efficient method of working certain fabric construction, for example that garter stitch is best done by hand, and how to work similar style shaping in each method. The final chapter concentrates on how to translate a hand knit garment pattern into a pattern that works for a knitting machine, and how to subsitute yarns. 
This book is not a pattern-book, it's aim is to enable knitters to be creative and work with freedom across both knitting methods. 
Please take a look at the book online at http://www.crowood.com/details.asp?isbn=9781785004315&t=Translating-Between-Hand-and-Machine-Knitting and visit vikkihaffenden.com to see some of my Creative Machine Knitting Wordpress and Blogger pages, read about my research involving textiles and knitting.


----------



## dialknit (Oct 17, 2012)

susieknitter said:


> With the machine and knitleader that you have, I would say you never need to look for a printed pattern again.
> On most modern knitting patterns (hand or machine) you have the drawings of the pieces of the garment. You can copy these onto your Mylar knitleader sheet.
> With a water washable pen draw half a back one side the center line, half a front the other, and half a sleeve further up. Follow the instructions regarding doing a swatch and setting up the knitleader.
> Your swatch can be in any yarn and any stitch pattern.
> ...


 :sm24: :sm24: :sm24:


----------



## vh14 (Nov 17, 2016)

I quite agree, knit leaders are under estimated and under used. Once you have the diagrammatically outline of the 2D garment pieces on a sheet, you can work the garment in any stitch pattern your machine will knit.
The really, really important thing is to always knit a tension swatch in the stitch pattern, in the yarn that you will be using. You may need to knit a couple of swatches before you find the perfect stitch size for the combined yarn and stitch pattern. Next, finish the sample in the way you will treat the garment - e.g. wash it if that is what will happen to the garment. This step means that your garment will fit and look as you intend when completed. 
Once the swatch is dry, depending on the fibre of the yarn, treat it once again as you intend to treat the garment. I would lightly steam any creases out of a 100% wool and let it dry again, but if its a synthetic, a dry, not to hot iron is safer - and use a pressing cloth to protect the knit. I either cases, don't press on the surface, just let the iron hover over the cloth so that it warms the fibres. 
After all this, its time to count the stitches and rows in 10cm (or 4"). How you do this is up to you. I describe all of the methods: green ruler, measuring, counting, in 'Translating between Hand and Machine Knitting'. 
Whichever method you use, you will end up knowing how many stitches measure 1cm (or 1") and the same for the rows. So now you set your knitleader dials for to match the row count, and insert the correct ruler for the stitch count, and the machine does the rest. Each time you pass the carriage, the knitleader sheet rotates by the exact height of a row, and if the garment outline is moved by this action, this will be visible against the ruler and when it moves a whole stitch width, then you work a shaping to narrow or widen the knitting accordingly. 
Knitleaders are also good for working large intarsia patterns, as these can be drawn on the sheet full-size.
Hope you have mastered your knitleader by now, but if not this may be of help?


----------



## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

vh14 said:


> I quite agree, knit leaders are under estimated and under used. Once you have the diagrammatically outline of the 2D garment pieces on a sheet, you can work the garment in any stitch pattern your machine will knit.
> The really, really important thing is to always knit a tension swatch in the stitch pattern, in the yarn that you will be using. You may need to knit a couple of swatches before you find the perfect stitch size for the combined yarn and stitch pattern. Next, finish the sample in the way you will treat the garment - e.g. wash it if that is what will happen to the garment. This step means that your garment will fit and look as you intend when completed.
> Once the swatch is dry, depending on the fibre of the yarn, treat it once again as you intend to treat the garment. I would lightly steam any creases out of a 100% wool and let it dry again, but if its a synthetic, a dry, not to hot iron is safer - and use a pressing cloth to protect the knit. I either cases, don't press on the surface, just let the iron hover over the cloth so that it warms the fibres.
> After all this, its time to count the stitches and rows in 10cm (or 4"). How you do this is up to you. I describe all of the methods: green ruler, measuring, counting, in 'Translating between Hand and Machine Knitting'.
> ...


I have noted that you have stated that once you have made the swatch, and treated it as you would the garment, you count how many stitches and rows that there are in 10cm/4" and that you can use the green ruler to do this. This is correct if you are using a Knitradar that goes with the Silver Reed, Singer, Studio or Knitmaster machine.
With the Knitradar the green ruler is used over 40st and 60 rows and does the conversion for you.

However if you are using a Brother Knitleader you wouldn't measure the swatch this way. You need to measure (for a standard gauge machine) 40 stitches x 60 rows with a CM ruler. The stitches and rows vary according to the gauge of machine but you still use a CM ruler to measure the swatch.


----------



## vh14 (Nov 17, 2016)

susieknitter said:


> I have noted that you have stated that once you have made the swatch, and treated it as you would the garment, you count how many stitches and rows that there are in 10cm/4" and that you can use the green ruler to do this. This is correct if you are using a Knitradar that goes with the Silver Reed, Singer, Studio or Knitmaster machine.
> With the Knitradar the green ruler is used over 40st and 60 rows and does the conversion for you.
> 
> However if you are using a Brother Knitleader you wouldn't measure the swatch this way. You need to measure (for a standard gauge machine) 40 stitches x 60 rows with a CM ruler. The stitches and rows vary according to the gauge of machine but you still use a CM ruler to measure the swatch.


Hi Susie,
Sorry, I may not have been clear in the last post, thank you for pointing this out.

I wrote, 
'After all this, its time to count the stitches and rows in 10cm (or 4"). How you do this is up to you. I describe all of the methods: green ruler, measuring, counting, in 'Translating between Hand and Machine Knitting'. 
Meaning that the knitter will choose which method to use to find out the stitch tension of their knitting, (green ruler, measuring, or counting individual sts and rows, and that I have described these elsewhere). Knitters tend to have their favourite method, but methods are interchangeable; the underlying information that they are establishing is the width of a stitch and the height of a row of the stitch pattern.

I was hasty in continuing to write that, 
'Whichever method you use, you will end up knowing how many stitches measure 1cm (or 1") and the same for the rows', 
because of course the Knitleader/Knitradar works with a 10cm, not a 1cm unit! Without this information (sts and rows in 10cm (4") square) - however it is established, the Knitleader/Knitradar/charting device of any sort, will not do its job correctly. I was a little tired at the time, and missed this out. Apologies!

The green ruler, as you say, is a great little Knitmaster/Silver Reed/Studio accessory that takes most of the maths out of the process of measuring your stitch tension. However, the ruler can be bought separately from the machine and can be used across all sorts of knitting to calculate the number of sts and rows in a 10cm (4") square of knitting. It can be used on all types of knitting not just standard gauge machine knits - providing you always use it over an area that is 40sts x 60r.

The method of measuring with a ruler over 40sts x 60r will give the same information as the green ruler, but in an inverse format - the length of 40sts and that of 60r. When working with the Brother Knitleader as described in the instruction manual, these lengths are used to set the machine. The rulers are colour coded, but the table in the manual show which one to insert, based on your measured length. So if your 40 sts measure 11.5cm (115mm) then you would use ruler no.9 (111-115mm). This is based on the rulers for the KL113. Length of rows is set in the same way using the dials or clutch levers at the side.

Tension swatches for using the green ruler, or measuring the length/width as you describe, are prepared over 40sts x 60r for either charting device. The green ruler figure when the 'S' side is used over stitches is the number of stitches in 10cm, (4") and the 'R' side is the number of rows in 10cm (4"), and this figure is then used to set the machine, (which I will not describe here, but involves using the stitch scale of the same number as that read off the green ruler for stitches, and adjusting the dials to match the number of rows read off the green ruler.

If, after using either of the methods discussed above, you want to find out how many stitches are in 1cm, divide the number of stitches per 10cm (4") square by the length. For example, if 40 stitches measure 8cm, divide 40/8= 5. So in this example there are 5 stitches in 1 cm of knitting.

This is useful to know if you don't use a charting device and want to calculate your own garment shaping.


----------



## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

vh14 said:


> Hi Susie,
> Sorry, I may not have been clear in the last post, thank you for pointing this out.
> 
> I wrote,
> ...


Knowing how to use a Knitradar, a Knitleader, Garment design in the Brother KH970, and DAK I can see what you are saying is correct.

What I thought was misleading for others was the fact that you hadn't stated that with a Brother Knitleader there isn't the need to know how many stitches and rows there is in 10cm so therefore you wouldn't use a green ruler. 
With the Brother Knitleader all the info it requires is what 40st measures in CM and what 60rs measures in CM......if using a standard machine.

In my opinion using any garment creation system is a far better way of getting a garment that fits correctly in your choice of yarn and in your choice of stitch pattern. When a machine knitter has mastered the use of whichever one they have they will find that it is actually better, and quicker, than trying to get a tension swatch to match a printed pattern.

It is a shame that a lot of machine knitters seem to shy away from using them, so with this in mind when teaching someone I have always felt it is best to keep it as simple as possible.


----------



## aprilla (Apr 4, 2017)

I used my knit leader once, it took some courage on my part as I couldn't find much information about it and the manual seemed a bit light on information... for my cowardly novice attitude. Anyway, it was Wow! It's like magic, and there isn't much info probably because it really isn't tricky or difficult, you just have to put your trust in it.


----------



## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

aprilla said:


> I used my knit leader once, it took some courage on my part as I couldn't find much information about it and the manual seemed a bit light on information... for my cowardly novice attitude. Anyway, it was Wow! It's like magic, and there isn't much info probably because it really isn't tricky or difficult, you just have to put your trust in it.


Good for you! 
As you have found out all you need to do is make the swatch as you would like it to look.....I wash mine, but you have at least got to let it rest. 
Make sure you measure the swatch correctly with the white ruler.......or any other CM rule.
Put the dial in the correct position for the rows and pick the correct stitch ruler from the chart on the tube.

Providing the drawing is drawn correctly, and the swatch is measured correctly, you can't go wrong. :sm24:


----------



## vh14 (Nov 17, 2016)

Great to hear that you found using a Knitleader easy Aprilla. As you so rightly say, they aren't tricky to use, just a bit mystifying at first.


----------

