# cast on comb technique



## dogxtc (Nov 14, 2011)

Thhis may sound ridiculous but I just "cannot" get putting the cast on comb right when trying my ribber. I have watched diana,s videos non stop but she doesn't have captions and I am deaf and cant make out what she is describing and the pictures are not close up enough. It seems everytime I use it, the carriage jams even though i have added weights as per the manual, taken them off and held the bar down, adjusted tensions etc. i seem to have it pretty centred. now when i push the carriage to the right it jams, but is ok on the way back. What should take minutes is driving me demented. any ideas, shortcuts or tips greatly appreciated.
thanks
mags


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## KateWood (Apr 30, 2011)

Check to be sure you're hanging the teeth of your comb between the sts in the upside down v created by the main bed needles and that when you slide the wire through the holes of the teeth that all of the sts especially at the ends are under the wire including the end of your yarn. none of the stitches should be over the wire and the teeth should not split any of the sts. The wire is to be slid all the way in the comb so that the end tooth on the comb is inside the u at the end of the wire and it is pushed downward. 
If you are casting on for full needle rib on the std KM, swing your half pitch lever 1 to the R hang the comb then swing back to your H setting. Hang your weights evenly so the comb is straight.
Also if your working with heavy yarn you may just need to cast on using looser or higher tension settings. 
Are you doing a zig zag cast on to the L, then knitting the 3 circular rows with part selected L on the K carriage and part selected R on the Rib carriage? After knitting the 3 circular rows the carriages will be on the right, unselect the part or skip feature for plain knitting on both carriages, set your tensions for your main tensions and knit 1 row to the L to close the circular knitting.


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## flowerp (Sep 7, 2011)

I have a brother ribber and used it for the 1st time a few weeks ago with no problems. Here what I did:
In reading Diana's blog entry of best gifts for a machine knitter, 
http://diananatters.blogspot.com/2011/12/best-gifts-for-machine-knitter.html 
I purchased the book entitled Make Your Knitting Machine Sing for Brother Knitting Machine. (the link is included on her blog) it gave wonderful advise for setting up your main bed, ribber, stand etc. Many of the tips are not in the regular manual and I was amazed at how easy it was to use my ribber one I used the instructions from the book. Hope this helps.
Flowerp

http://store.dknits.com/pd-make-your-knitting-machine-sing.cfm


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## euvid (Apr 2, 2011)

saw this tip on You TUbe. When you have a circular knitting machine you mark the 1/4 section needles with nail polish so you know where the center and 1/4 part would be without having to count the needles each time.
DO the same thing on your cast on combs in the center with Red nail polish so you will know when you are putting on that it is centered correctly. YOur red mark would be lined up with the 0 on the machine beds


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## phylled1 (Jun 19, 2011)

i also mark my cast on comb with red nail varnish at the centre, before i put my wire through the cast on comb i fasten the comb to the main bed with buldog clips they are like Large paper clips then when i have the wire through i remove the clips and carry on hope you can understand what i have wrote


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## CaroleJS (Jun 2, 2011)

You may need to check your sponge bar.


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## CaroleJS (Jun 2, 2011)

dogxtc said:


> Thhis may sound ridiculous but I just "cannot" get putting the cast on comb right when trying my ribber. I have watched diana,s videos non stop but she doesn't have captions and I am deaf and cant make out what she is describing and the pictures are not close up enough. It seems everytime I use it, the carriage jams even though i have added weights as per the manual, taken them off and held the bar down, adjusted tensions etc. i seem to have it pretty centred. now when i push the carriage to the right it jams, but is ok on the way back. What should take minutes is driving me demented. any ideas, shortcuts or tips greatly appreciated.
> thanks
> mags


Here is a sponge bar replacement instructions that are text and pics.

http://knittsings.com/how-to-make-a-knitting-machine-needle-retainer-sponge-bar-part-1-remove-the-old-and-clean-for-new/

This shows where it is and what it is. You can do it yourself.

http://knittsings.com/knitting-machine-sponge-bar/


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## dogxtc (Nov 14, 2011)

i have bought new sponge bars and it is fine, i thought it was a tension thing but if anything, it seems to knit better with no weights on it to start off with, which goes against all instructions but that is what is happening. i will perservere as the last bit i did in ribbing was ok, the dropped stitches occur after i transfer to the main bed and possibly i am missing putting them on properly. onwards and upwards though, i will not be beaten by machine!


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## daniland52 (Jan 10, 2017)

KateWood said:


> Check to be sure you're hanging the teeth of your comb between the sts in the upside down v created by the main bed needles and that when you slide the wire through the holes of the teeth that all of the sts especially at the ends are under the wire including the end of your yarn. none of the stitches should be over the wire and the teeth should not split any of the sts. The wire is to be slid all the way in the comb so that the end tooth on the comb is inside the u at the end of the wire and it is pushed downward.
> If you are casting on for full needle rib on the std KM, swing your half pitch lever 1 to the R hang the comb then swing back to your H setting. Hang your weights evenly so the comb is straight.
> Also if your working with heavy yarn you may just need to cast on using looser or higher tension settings.
> Are you doing a zig zag cast on to the L, then knitting the 3 circular rows with part selected L on the K carriage and part selected R on the Rib carriage? After knitting the 3 circular rows the carriages will be on the right, unselect the part or skip feature for plain knitting on both carriages, set your tensions for your main tensions and knit 1 row to the L to close the circular knitting.


I have a Silver carriage and Singer ribber, somehow lol all in Asian foreign lettering... so I'm finding it difficult to figure out these translations, as the characters don't even exist on my keyboard! Man. I am a beginner tho, and I don't know for haha a fact how any of those letters corresponding relate to my machine lol You're really good at creating directions for people that are not even familiar. Despite the fact my machine is alien, I think your directives are not. If your interests lie (lye lay sp?) , maybe a blog would be an idea for your written tutorials! Really it's hard to describe.


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## daniland52 (Jan 10, 2017)

The aforementioned lettering...


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## MKEtc.com (Aug 14, 2013)

Do you have the manuals?
Both SK101 and SR101 can be downloaded if not
http://machineknittingetc.com/catalogsearch/result/?order=date&dir=desc&q=101
Then mark the settings so you don't get confused.


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## etrnlife (Jun 10, 2014)

dogxtc said:


> i have bought new sponge bars and it is fine, i thought it was a tension thing but if anything, it seems to knit better with no weights on it to start off with, which goes against all instructions but that is what is happening. i will perservere as the last bit i did in ribbing was ok, the dropped stitches occur after i transfer to the main bed and possibly i am missing putting them on properly. onwards and upwards though, i will not be beaten by machine!


I don't put the weights on until after the circular rows are knitted.


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