# DIY punch cards



## althetrainer (Dec 16, 2013)

When I cleaned my basement today I found a stack of DIY 24 repeat punch cards (made by someone else). They are still in very good shape and I would like to use them on my Singer 360K. The problem is that I can't tell what type of stitch they're made for. I tried one with tuck stitch, got drop stitches left and right. Used it with slip stitch it worked but not perfectly. Is there a way to tell what stitch a DIY punch card was made for? I have a lot of them so trying different stitches on each one of them is going to take a very long time. LOL


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

althetrainer said:


> When I cleaned my basement today I found a stack of DIY 24 repeat punch cards (made by someone else). They are still in very good shape and I would like to use them on my Singer 360K. The problem is that I can't tell what type of stitch they're made for. I tried one with tuck stitch, got drop stitches left and right. Used it with slip stitch it worked but not perfectly. Is there a way to tell what stitch a DIY punch card was made for? I have a lot of them so trying different stitches on each one of them is going to take a very long time. LOL


Go on the needlesofsteel website. It has something called anatomy of a punchcard. With tuck, you can't have 2 needles tucking together


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## althetrainer (Dec 16, 2013)

Thanks for the suggestions. I have been to that site a couple of times but I couldn't find the information I wanted. They have pre-punched cards and some samples to make your own cards but I still couldn't figure out how to identify a homemade card for proper stitches. I must have missed something...


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

althetrainer said:


> Thanks for the suggestions. I have been to that site a couple of times but I couldn't find the information I wanted. They have pre-punched cards and some samples to make your own cards but I still couldn't figure out how to identify a homemade card for proper stitches. I must have missed something...


Go into techniques and keep scrolling down to miscellaneous and it is in there


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

althetrainer said:


> Thanks for the suggestions. I have been to that site a couple of times but I couldn't find the information I wanted. They have pre-punched cards and some samples to make your own cards but I still couldn't figure out how to identify a homemade card for proper stitches. I must have missed something...


Go into techniques and keep scrolling down to miscellaneous and it is in there


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## althetrainer (Dec 16, 2013)

Do you mean this page? http://needlesofsteel.blogspot.ca/2007/05/anatomy-of-punchcard.html

She has a few punch card examples. I got a bit out of it but I probably will have to keep searing online because I have a lot more punch cards than those few.

Thanks again. 

P.S. After reading it a second time I now understand any punch card with more than 2 blanks in a column can be ruled out as a tuck card. In that case I will just use them for slip stitch. This should help to eliminate some of my stash. That's a helpful hint.


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

althetrainer said:


> Do you mean this page? http://needlesofsteel.blogspot.ca/2007/05/anatomy-of-punchcard.html
> 
> She has a few punch card examples. I got a bit out of it but I probably will have to keep searing online because I have a lot more punch cards than those few.
> 
> ...


It helps a little, but you may have to just try them out. Note to self - write on self punched cards what they are!!!!


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## althetrainer (Dec 16, 2013)

Yea... I figure once I eliminate the tuck cards I will have to try the rest of them. I definitely will make proper markings once they are identified. I cannot imagine having to do this all over again. LOL 

I have one question about two-color tuck stitch. Can all tuck cards be used with two colors or just some of them?


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

althetrainer said:


> Yea... I figure once I eliminate the tuck cards I will have to try the rest of them. I definitely will make proper markings once they are identified. I cannot imagine having to do this all over again. LOL
> 
> I have one question about two-color tuck stitch. Can all tuck cards be used with two colors or just some of them?


I assume that all can be used with two colours, just have to decide where to change


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## althetrainer (Dec 16, 2013)

Thanks again. I will have to try them out once I am over the first hurdle of sorting.


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## crafty lady UK (Aug 18, 2011)

The lace ones have the punched holes separated by a spaced row, but the fair isle ones are closer together.

There may be some samples in your manual that you can compare to.


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## silversurfer (Nov 25, 2013)

Lace cards are recognisable because they have very few holes and seem random.
Tuck cards are easy to spot because they have so many punched holes.
You cannot tuck on 2 adjacent needles. The unpunched holes tuck. So any card that has 2 adjacent holes unpunched is not suitable for tuck.
Tuck cards and any others except lace may be used for slip or fairisle. Because you can does not mean that you will like them so have fun playing.


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## althetrainer (Dec 16, 2013)

crafty lady UK said:


> The lace ones have the punched holes separated by a spaced row, but the fair isle ones are closer together.
> 
> There may be some samples in your manual that you can compare to.


I am using the Singer 360K to play with these. I have the operation manual as well as the knitting & pattern manuals. One would think having all these manuals could be helpful but they only added another layer of confusion. LOL

Most true lace cards are easy to spot but according to this particular manual some of the original 20 pre-punched cards (that came with the machine) could also be used to do something called a "tuck lace", a "punch lace", also a "weaving lace". Most of the lace cards I have for my Singer 360K and 700 require a separate lace carriage to use them. These tuck/punch/weaving lace patterns, however, do not require a lace carriage but manipulations of needles to achieve such results.



silversurfer said:


> Lace cards are recognisable because they have very few holes and seem random.
> Tuck cards are easy to spot because they have so many punched holes.
> You cannot tuck on 2 adjacent needles. The unpunched holes tuck. So any card that has 2 adjacent holes unpunched is not suitable for tuck.
> Tuck cards and any others except lace may be used for slip or fairisle. Because you can does not mean that you will like them so have fun playing.


This is where the confusion continues... I have the original 20 pre-punch cards with me so I pick up card #2. According to the manual this punch card can be used for knit-in/fair isle, slip stitch, tuck stitch, tuck lace, punch lace, weaving, and weaving lace. These are created by inserting the punch card in different ways (some require needle manipulations). I suppose most DIY punch cards were not made to such capacity.

As I am looking at the #2 card, trying to apply the cannot-tuck-on-2-adjacent-needles theory, but this pattern repeats 2-punched next to 2 unpunched holes. The same design repeats itself two rows. The next two rows share the same design except the punched/unpunched holes are placed in the opposite manner, like this:

XXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOO
XXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOO
OOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXX
OOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXX
XXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOO
XXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOO
OOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXX
OOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXXOOXX

I have not tried this punch card but I probably should just to see how the piece will look.

I believe you're right about the slip/fair isle cards. They are mostly interchangeable but I don't always like the results. I actually love two-color slip stitch and fair isle despite the long yarn hanging in the back. I've tried one of the DIY cards to do 2-color fair isle but only managed to knit up to where the pattern switched. I am not sure if the designs came from personal creativity or a pattern book but during the transition of the two patterns it leaves one of the two yarns out of action for two rows but when the mentioned yarn is about to be knitted back in, it tends to get caught in the middle of the row. Maybe I need to set the carriage back to normal kitting for that particular two rows or take the second yarn out completely and return it when the next pattern begins. It's hard to tell the intention of the person when the card was made. I was hoping there's an easier way to tell them apart but so far I find no shortcut. :lol:

I will have to take a break from knitting today. Our son's computer is right next to my knitting machine and he's complaining about having to listen to the racket that I was making all weekend long.  Maybe I will try again tomorrow when he goes back to school. :lol:


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## AnnemariesKnitting (Oct 25, 2013)

althetrainer said:


> When I cleaned my basement today I found a stack of DIY 24 repeat punch cards (made by someone else). They are still in very good shape and I would like to use them on my Singer 360K. The problem is that I can't tell what type of stitch they're made for. I tried one with tuck stitch, got drop stitches left and right. Used it with slip stitch it worked but not perfectly. Is there a way to tell what stitch a DIY punch card was made for? I have a lot of them so trying different stitches on each one of them is going to take a very long time. LOL


I suggest try it and see what happens


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## ChunkyMonkey (Dec 25, 2013)

I have the same dilemma - not knowing how to use what cards for what. even though I have read the useful anatomy of a punchcard, and I bought the Harmony Guide machine knitting books thinking they would shed some light but alas, not as far as I can see. 

I think there are some cards that are specifically for the Ribber (I have a stack with R on them and assume that's what it stands for) that don't seem to work well in my main bed (chunky Brother machine). I'm groping in the dark here but maybe the punchcards that aren't working for you are for a ribber?


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## althetrainer (Dec 16, 2013)

ChunkyMonkey said:


> I have the same dilemma - not knowing how to use what cards for what. even though I have read the useful anatomy of a punchcard, and I bought the Harmony Guide machine knitting books thinking they would shed some light but alas, not as far as I can see.
> 
> I think there are some cards that are specifically for the Ribber (I have a stack with R on them and assume that's what it stands for) that don't seem to work well in my main bed (chunky Brother machine). I'm groping in the dark here but maybe the punchcards that aren't working for you are for a ribber?


I have the Harmony Guide too but that book is more for showing you how to make your own designs, there's no explanation whatsoever in it.

There are punch cards for the main bed, ribber, as well as the lace carriage. The pre-punched ones for ribber and lace are marked as "R" or "L" so they are easy to tell. The DIY ones are the challenging ones since we don't know who made them and what they were made for. Seems like the only way is to eliminate as many of then as possible then play with the rest.


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## jimyarm (Jan 22, 2011)

How about making a small swatch in 2-color fairisle to see if the pattern would look OK in slip, tuck, etc. also?

Jimyarm


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## susanjoy (Aug 13, 2013)

I have tried the above card with a tuck setting and it produces a large honeycomb pattern, the reverse side looks like a 2x1 rib. When you tuck over 2 adjacent needles you get one loop which covers those 2 needles. There can be problems getting this loop to knit off cleanly but with the weaving brushes down there was no problem.
As to the card with 2 patterns, perhaps they were punched that way to save using a new card for each one. In order to knit the 2 patterns you should not have to change the carriage settings but you may need to pull the yarn down below the yarn guide to re-tension it before knitting the second pattern.
If you can find one of the Brother punch card volumes, that would help you decide what stitches would be appropriate for different punch cards. They contain a vast collection of designs.


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## althetrainer (Dec 16, 2013)

Thanks Susan! When I try that card next time I will make sure to put the weaving brushes down. 

You could be right about the two patterns on one card. I did adjust the tension of the second yarn so there was no slack when it needed to be knitted back in. I still believe it was a flaw in design or the designs were not meant to be used on the same piece. The most difficult part is to figure out the intention of the person who made the card. I probably will not use that particular card since I have so many different ones. 

I have a couple of Brother punch card volumes so I definitely will check them out. So far I have checked the Singer books and none of them was very useful. 

Thanks again.


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## susanjoy (Aug 13, 2013)

Hi again, I also tried out the above card on full needle rib with the carriage set to tuck in both directions and it produces a very nice 'Arran look' stitch.
You will find that most punchcards can be used for Fair Isle; the ones with definite zig-zag or geometric patterns up to about three stitches wide are suitable for weaving; tuck and slip patterns have most of the punch card punched with the pattern being produced by the blank sections, and lace cards have relatively few holes punched.
Hope you find some patterns you like in your collection, Sue.


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## althetrainer (Dec 16, 2013)

Wow thanks, Susan! Does it look something like this?










I definitely will try it out. Which ribber do you have? I wonder if I can use it with a SPR-20 for this effect.

I have over a hundred of these DIY cards and it's going to take a long time to test them all.


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## susanjoy (Aug 13, 2013)

I have a Toyota 901 with a 506 ribber. The ribber just knits plain stitches which get 'moved' by the tucks on the main bed. So any ribber will knit these stitches.
The stitch you show would have to be hand tooled as it is cabled.


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## althetrainer (Dec 16, 2013)

Oh I was hoping something like that because I love cables but hate the work. LOL

I used to have a Toyota many years ago. It was a decent machine but I ended up selling it because I didn't have the ribber with it.


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