# Machine Knitting



## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Hello to you all,
I am new to Knitting Paradise but have been machine knitting for many years.
I have enjoyed reading your questions and chat and it is great to see messages from so many different countries. It is a bit like a magazine popping in each day and there always seems to be something of interest so I am looking forward to being a part of it. So, greetings to you all.


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## blessedinMO (Mar 9, 2013)

Greetings and welcome from Missouri. You might also announce yourself in the Machine Knitting section for more coverage, but I'm glad to see you here.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Hi. I do not want to be "in hiding" so how do I show where I live on my details, please?


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## run4fittness (May 22, 2011)

Hello and welcome! Go to "My Profile" at the top of the page and you will see where to fill in!


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## boots (Jan 24, 2011)

Welcome from Oklahoma, USA.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Many thanks for the info. I have tried it and hope it works.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Oh, yes, it does.


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## kiwiannie (Jul 30, 2011)

Hi and welcome to kp,from Australia. :lol: :lol:


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## blessedinMO (Mar 9, 2013)

Forgive me for being blind today. Welcome again.


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## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

Welcome from Derbyshire, nice to have a new member. What make of machine/machines do you have?


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## Azzara (Jan 23, 2014)

Welcome from Ontario Canada.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Greetings. I bought a second hand Knitmaster fifty years ago - it had a globe attached where we put a ball of wool and it had no patterns except what could be done with the pusher. No lessons available either. When I bought a new one I stuck with Knitmaster and have the 700 punchcard and the Sk 480 Electronic as well. I have just given my 150 Chunky to charity as I find bulky knits too warm to wear. I love the Knitmaster


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## Alimac (Jun 6, 2013)

Hi. Welcome.


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## roamin in the gloamin (Mar 2, 2012)

Welcome from me too, glad you joined us


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## Linuxgirl (May 25, 2013)

Hello from Germany. Enjoy the forum, there are so many nice people here.


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## wurzel (Aug 6, 2012)

Welcome from Sussex. I feel I have lots of friends
on
Knitting Paradise. I am sure you will feel the same. Welcome to the gang!!


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## Teebird (Apr 21, 2013)

Welcome from Ontario,Canada.


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## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

Glenden9 said:


> Greetings. I bought a second hand Knitmaster fifty years ago - it had a globe attached where we put a ball of wool and it had no patterns except what could be done with the pusher. No lessons available either. When I bought a new one I stuck with Knitmaster and have the 700 punchcard and the Sk 480 Electronic as well. I have just given my 150 Chunky to charity as I find bulky knits too warm to wear. I love the Knitmaster


Whoops....posted twice!  :lol:


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## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

Glenden9 said:


> Greetings. I bought a second hand Knitmaster fifty years ago - it had a globe attached where we put a ball of wool and it had no patterns except what could be done with the pusher. No lessons available either. When I bought a new one I stuck with Knitmaster and have the 700 punchcard and the Sk 480 Electronic as well. I have just given my 150 Chunky to charity as I find bulky knits too warm to wear. I love the Knitmaster


It will be nice to have someone with good knowledge of how to use a Knitmaster (also known as Singer,Studio and Silver Reed) on here. Most of us use Brother machines so people with Knitmasters don't get quite so much help when they need it.

I started out using Knitmasters but moved over to Brother machines. Last week I went to help someone that was having trouble doing ribs on her knitmaster and I must admit I had to sit and read the manual before I could do anything.

I'm sure you will be a blessing to the owners of these machines on here.


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## Lise Paauw (Oct 17, 2013)

Welcome from Ontario Canada..&#128515;&#128515;


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## Weegie (Sep 1, 2012)

And another welcome from southwestern Ontario, Canada!


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## dagmargrubaugh (May 10, 2011)

Welcome from Texas,


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## pjtowne (Feb 7, 2014)

Welcome, always great to meet new friends!!! Also too warm here in Texas for bulky knits but I send all those garments and such to my family in New York who still live across from the border of Canada on lake Ontario.


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## henderpag (Dec 15, 2013)

Hi, Welcome from Scotland


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## cybernana (Sep 28, 2013)

Welcome from Scotland , aint this just the best wee place to be , I come in everyday its like being part of a club I love it


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## Deb-Babbles (Mar 4, 2011)

Welcome to the family. Not that I am new to machine knitting but that I have a machine that is new to me. Bet I will be asking a lot more questions from all you long time MK'rs. 
Enjoy the knit.


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## meknit (Dec 5, 2012)

Welcome aboard, may we have the answers to your question.


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## ACR1 (Oct 3, 2012)

Glenden9 said:


> Hello to you all,
> I am new to Knitting Paradise but have been machine knitting for many years.
> I have enjoyed reading your questions and chat and it is great to see messages from so many different countries. It is a bit like a magazine popping in each day and there always seems to be something of interest so I am looking forward to being a part of it. So, greetings to you all.


Welcome from the West Midlands too! Great to have another MK on board.  What machine(s) do you have?


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## knitwitch36 (Oct 1, 2011)

welcome from London.This is a great site.I have been knitting 60years by hand and 30 years on my Knitmaster.I have learnt such alot.Barbara


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## radar (Dec 6, 2011)

I don't want to be in hiding either, so followed the instructions.


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## Gurney (Feb 17, 2012)

Glenden9 said:


> Greetings. I bought a second hand Knitmaster fifty years ago - it had a globe attached where we put a ball of wool and it had no patterns except what could be done with the pusher. No lessons available either. When I bought a new one I stuck with Knitmaster and have the 700 punchcard and the Sk 480 Electronic as well. I have just given my 150 Chunky to charity as I find bulky knits too warm to wear. I love the Knitmaster


I have the Knitmaster 700 too, I bought it second-hand 4 years ago. It's a good machine and a few weeks ago I bought a second-hand ribber. However, I do find it difficult to get the right height chair to sit at for knitting as the ribber raises the machine from flatbed position. Now I'm getting a sore back when I knit, not so good.


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## mtnmama67 (Dec 16, 2011)

Linuxgirl said:


> Hello from Germany. Enjoy the forum, there are so many nice people here.


agree with above..and welcome from Colorado,US


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## Celt Knitter (Jul 13, 2011)

A very big warm welcome, and darn it! I was a lecturer at Oldham Tech for a several years and still have many friends there. I didn't know there were any machine knitters left in the area. I will be returning to Littleborough permanently eventually. I bought all my stuff from Ewe-Knit in Rochdale, sadly gone a long time ago, and am just getting back into MK myself.
I have a VPN so have been watching "Prey" on ITV.....the shots up Buckstone Road made me feel very nostalgic!


Glenden9 said:


> Hello to you all,
> I am new to Knitting Paradise but have been machine knitting for many years.
> I have enjoyed reading your questions and chat and it is great to see messages from so many different countries. It is a bit like a magazine popping in each day and there always seems to be something of interest so I am looking forward to being a part of it. So, greetings to you all.


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## braidy (Jun 6, 2012)

Hi, welcome from North Wales


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## Munchn (Mar 3, 2013)

Welcome!


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## 30Knitter (Apr 9, 2012)

Welcome from California, USA


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## aussieHC (Oct 21, 2013)

Glenden9 said:


> Greetings. I bought a second hand Knitmaster fifty years ago - it had a globe attached where we put a ball of wool and it had no patterns except what could be done with the pusher. No lessons available either. When I bought a new one I stuck with Knitmaster and have the 700 punchcard and the Sk 480 Electronic as well. I have just given my 150 Chunky to charity as I find bulky knits too warm to wear. I love the Knitmaster


Welcome from Sydney, Australia. I've been a Silver Reed (Knitmaster) 'fan' too, although I have a Brother 940 and a Passap E 6000, I prefer to use my Silver Reed 840 with DAK most of the time.


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## kwharrod (Jul 24, 2012)

Welcome from Indiana, USA! This is a great group. Always full of valuable help and suggestions.


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## lola123 (Nov 21, 2011)

Hi and welcome from Perth Australia


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## Granny Hils (Feb 9, 2014)

susieknitter said:


> It will be nice to have someone with good knowledge of how to use a Knitmaster (also known as Singer,Studio and Silver Reed) on here. Most of us use Brother machines so people with Knitmasters don't get quite so much help when they need it.
> 
> I started out using Knitmasters but moved over to Brother machines. Last week I went to help someone that was having trouble doing ribs on her knitmaster and I must admit I had to sit and read the manual before I could do anything.
> 
> I'm sure you will be a blessing to the owners of these machines on here.


You will definitely be very welcome on here especially with knowledge of Silver Reed machines but Sue is doing herself a big injustice as she is brilliant if you need help at all. Put some pictures on here of what you have knitted its great to see what people do on their machines and gives inspiration to us newbies (or oldies returning to knitting after years of not using one).

Helen


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## Briegeen (Dec 9, 2012)

Welcome & hope you continue to enjoy this amazing forum.


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## Aggie Marie (Jan 31, 2014)

Welcome to this great and knowledgeable group!


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## Cookiecat (Jan 20, 2014)

Gurney said:


> I have the Knitmaster 700 too, I bought it second-hand 4 years ago. It's a good machine and a few weeks ago I bought a second-hand ribber. However, I do find it difficult to get the right height chair to sit at for knitting as the ribber raises the machine from flatbed position. Now I'm getting a sore back when I knit, not so good.


Don't know if it will help, but I have the same problem with my weaving loom - just an odd height. I got a tall wooden stool and cut the legs down to the right height. (I'm waiting till I can afford a ribber for my Studio 323) Good to hear from more Studio/Knitmaster knitters!


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## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

Gurney said:


> I have the Knitmaster 700 too, I bought it second-hand 4 years ago. It's a good machine and a few weeks ago I bought a second-hand ribber. However, I do find it difficult to get the right height chair to sit at for knitting as the ribber raises the machine from flatbed position. Now I'm getting a sore back when I knit, not so good.


I have found that the best chair to have is an office one. These you can alter the height of to suit what ever you are doing, with them having castors you can move them easily, and you have the back rest.
I got mine second hand for about £10. Seeing that I have had it years the seat now needs some new fabric on it, but this isn't a big job. They are often given away on the site Freecycle which I believe is in the USA also.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

What a lovely welcome I have received from you all, thank you. I love the diverse places you all hail from but fancy meeting up with someone from my home town - hello Celt Knitter. Oldham was always a centre for machine knitters courtesy of Pat Fountain and students travelled many miles for classes but they dwindled and we were left with one class only, based at the Art Gallery. Sadly our teacher died, suddenly, and we were unable to get a replacement tutor. 
The council provided us with a meeting place and twelve became eighteen when we had an open day later in the year. We teach each other although we have a leader who takes responsibility for us and it is a great group. Rather like this knitting forum with garments, yarn patterns and even home baking brought in each week. Great fun.
Eweknit moved into Oswaldtwistle Mill and Keith is still there but the bottom fell out of the market and he specialises in Brother embroidery machines with great success. I have one of those as well.


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## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

Glenden9 
Can I ask when your club gained it's six new members and what their average age is?
I know this will seem a strange question to ask, but I am on the committee of a machine/hand knitting club and the leader is thinking of changing the meetings from a night time to a day time. Seeing that we are hoping to attract new younger members my thinking is we could be closing the door to some because they couldn't attend in the day due to work commitments and children.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Hello Susieknitter. Our membership has been together many years and we are now all retired. We meet Friday mornings 10-00 to 12-00. We have two machines with ribbers and they are both in use each time with a member showing a technique or a garment. Over the year we accumulated several saleable items and we supplemented these with garments made at home and we had a Christmas Fair in aid of Cancer charity. 

We had a chocolate making demo and flower arranging as well and the event attracted people who knit. Such a lot of machines must be under the bed etc. as classes have folded and the new members were delighted to have somewhere to come to talk machine knitting and learn new skills.

Not only did we get new members but they have stayed with us. Evenings would not have been good for us, I am sure it is morning meetings that have been the key. We did have two members who were young with children but one became very sick and the other left because of family commitments.

Most of us have been together since we were young members and came at night so I am afraid I cannot be of much help because both have worked for us. However, it was the fall off of interest that led to the closure of our evening classes which led to the morning ones. Our Club has risen out of our closed class! I hope this makes sense to you but I feel that it is swings and roundabouts. Good luck with it though. How many members do you have and do they all do both sorts of knitting?


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

I am going to try to send some pictures of machine knitted garments but I am feeling a real novice using the site. Not that it is too complicated but I suppose anything new takes a little while to get used to. However, try as I may I am unable to sort out how to attach a picture. Help please.


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## roamin in the gloamin (Mar 2, 2012)

Glenden9 - I did a click on the Help button at the top of the board and one of the topics is how to add pictures - I only know this because I added one the other day.... below is a link to the relevant section. We all start off from somewhere and we get there in the end. Never be afraid to ask for assistance.I am only one page in the manual in front of you- but I know there are others who have read and noted the whole book (IYKWIM)
http://www.knittingparadise.com/t-1-1.html#64

YEAH............ YOU DID IT!


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Many thanks. I found out how to attach one only because when I tried to do multiples only the jacket shown attached. I did not see it before I sent my call for help but I shall certainly try again. Oh, how exciting!


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## roamin in the gloamin (Mar 2, 2012)

It's a smashing jumper by the way, I also tend to get excited when I learn (crack) something new.....and there is tons on this site that I am determined to learn.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Well, here we go. I am sending photos of winter wear and spring. The jacket has already arrived by default so you can have some idea of what I have been up to. I have had several years with no actual knitting due to ill health but I am back in harness now and raring to go. God bless the National Health!


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## LindaM (May 7, 2011)

First of all I want to say Welcome from Leicester, Massachusetts USA. I love your knitting. I am still new at machine knitting myself but the tops you just posted here are just lovely. I wish I could do something like that. I have a SK700 and my goal is to Lace knit but the carriage I have doesn't do lace.. so I am trying to find it.


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## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

Glenden9 I love all your garments but especially like the cardigan and Winter Windows ones. Did you have a pattern for the Winter Windows?

Our club as been going for over 30 years, but the membership has dropped off due to the age of previous members.
I noted that on this forum, as well as other forums, many of the new machine knitters refer to being at work.
Many older hand knitters say that they have hand knit all their lives and can't see the point of learning something new now.
Because of these observations, and the fact that there is a lot of hand knit clubs that do meet in the day in this area, I thought it was best that our meetings stayed being night time ones.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Many thanks for you comments LindaM. The Knitmaster 700 is a fantastic machine and the main carriage can do so many things like slip stitch, tuck, fair isle etc. and the lack of a lace carriage need not stop you from doing some hand tooled lace or even mock lace using card 3 and having needles out of work. I bought my lace carriage with the machine fortunately and I would not be without it because it works on the principle of one row knitted makes one row of lace. It will do fashion lace by taking out the yarn and moving the carriage a few times to change the needle position but that is a little more complicated.

My lace carriage "froze" and would not work so I took it to Metropolitan Machine Knitting in Cheshire and he fixed it in no time. When I asked how I could prevent it happening again he just smiled and said "use the darned thing" - he was right. Because of my illness it had not been used for years.

I do hope you manage to get a lace carriage. They are quite expensive when new but you may find a loved one second hand. Good luck.

By the way, a good way to boost yourself would be to make the skirt I pictured. It is plain knitting throughout and very simple to do. If you have access to a shop selling In-Ex Steaming Kits (two dowel rods and two narrow gauge metal rods) making that is a doddle. Then you can make a little top to make it into a suit and you will feel so good about yourself and your skills as everyone will admire it.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Hello Susieknitter. The Winter Windows jumper is from a set of punchcard patterns by Rosalie Davis called Collection 3. It is quite old but has been used many times and in different ways. It featured as a Brother Electronic Pattern in the now defunct Profitable Machine Knitting magazine but I managed to get the 24st punchcard version direct from Rosalie and adapted it for my Knitmaster.

I know it is a favourite with folk because I am often asked about it when I wear it. I have my version of the pattern in my computer because I have printed it off for a few people but because of copywrite laws I could not photocopy the punchcard but loaned my actual punchcards out. However, the last time I did that they went off to a retirement home somewhere with a member and even I do not have the cards already punched now! 

My husband bought me an automatic punchcard machine for my birthday but I had to send off to Hong Kong for it. A bit pricey but a great help which my arthritic hands and I think I might get on with doing myself another set of Winter Windows just to prove to him that it works!


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## Reba1 (Feb 5, 2012)

Glenden9
My husband bought me an automatic punchcard machine for my birthday but I had to send off to Hong Kong for it. A bit pricey but a great help which my arthritic hands and I think I might get on with doing myself another set of Winter Windows just to prove to him that it works![/quote said:


> First - Welcome to the group. I love your sweaters you have posted.
> Second - very curious as to the "automatic punchcard machine" you mentioned. Could you share some information? I have a manual handpunch, which I've only used a couple of times.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Reba1 said:


> First - Welcome to the group. I love your sweaters you have posted.
> Second - very curious as to the "automatic punchcard machine" you mentioned. Could you share some information? I have a manual handpunch, which I've only used a couple of times.


Hi Reba1
If you put PM10 PUNCHING MACHINE into your search engine you may get more information about this but here is a picture of how it looks and works. It is quite easy to use and I get a rhythm going which makes it less onerous than using the hand held punch. My hand soon aches when punching a card with a busy pattern so I bought an electronic machine which helped enormously. However, it has developed a fault and I have had to revert back to using my old punchcard machine but I had forgotten how lovely that was and am enjoying it once again. I hope you can see from the picture what it is all about.


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## Reba1 (Feb 5, 2012)

If I had something like that, I might actually punch some of my own cards! I found a YouTube video showing it in action. Very cool but a bit pricey.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

We have bought one for our Club and members bring their blanks and patterns and are able to use it. They were very impressed with it and since I have used it I prefer it to the hand punch. If I needed something pricey my family often clubbed together at birthday or Christmas time and, of course, my husband was feeling generous last birthday so I am lucky really. As you say, a bit pricey.


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## cecilija64 (Jun 2, 2014)

Hi fellows. I'm new to knitting paradise as well.

I 've got a pre-historic brother KH830/KR830 but it's still doing fine.

As I'm not a very experienced MK I'm hoping to find friends here who in this for longer and can help from time to time.


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## Azzara (Jan 23, 2014)

Welcome from Ontario Canada.
I also have a KH830/KR830 in my machine collection.
I just need to remember which bed it is hidden under.


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## susieknitter (Jul 14, 2011)

cecilija64 welcome from Derbyshire UK. I'm sure there are plenty of us on here that are willing and able to help you.


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

I don't suppose you happen to know which issue of profitable machine knitting had the electronic pattern?


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

Hello Jaysclark. If you mean for the Winter Windows pattern it is the Nov/Dec issue for 1988. I know it is an old pattern but it is a well loved one.
Do you have an electronic machine? The pattern in the mag. is for electronics but I have wondered whether I would not be infringing any copyright (spelled correctly this time) if I photocopied my actual punched cards for those with punchcard machines. What do you think? I say this because I have tried hard to find Rosalie Davis at the address given on the pattern book without success and think her pattern may be out of print.


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

Glenden9 said:


> Hello Jaysclark. If you mean for the Winter Windows pattern it is the Nov/Dec issue for 1988. I know it is an old pattern but it is a well loved one.
> Do you have an electronic machine? The pattern in the mag. is for electronics but I have wondered whether I would not be infringing any copyright (spelled correctly this time) if I photocopied my actual punched cards for those with punchcard machines. What do you think? I say this because I have tried hard to find Rosalie Davis at the address given on the pattern book without success and think her pattern may be out of print.


Thanks for this. Yes I was hoping to use on my 970. I have some old pmk's so will check them.

I am never sure about copyright. The brother punchcard books are available for free online, but not sure about individual designers

Your work is wonderful!


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

The original was knitted on a Brother 950 and the numbers do not mean much to me because I am on Knitmaster but it sounds as if you have a later model so should be O.K. Please let me know if you find it and thanks for your kind comments.


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## 30Knitter (Apr 9, 2012)

My KH830/KR900 is not under my bed and is well used. It is a great workhorse and has been well taken care of. It was my first machine and still gets the bulk of my knitting.


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

The ladies in our group, which meets on Friday mornings, mostly use Brother machines and we have two of them to work with so I am exposed to Brother. They all seem to love their machines and several of the members have two or ven three machines to work on. One lady has a Passap, two Brothers and a Knitmaster and she has given two machines away.

Are we able to send things direct to members of KP or must it all be on this format on the web. If you do not find your magazine, would there be any value in my trying to download what I have on this - like a photograph? You would be able to work out your own measurements because it is just a matter of counting the windows and I did a cut and sew neckline when I had completed the front and back alike.

I then knitted the sleeve downwards from the shoulder seam using a few rows of main colour before I started my choice of windows. When I got to the bottom of the full window nearest my sleeve length I put a few rows there in main colour until I had the correct length. Very easy really but the lovely Rosalie Davis design looks so well.
I have knitted it in Jade green, royal blue, red and navy but my own is in black which I prefer. The first one I knitted had some glitter in the white yarn but I never seem to be able to get much in the way of glittery yarn these days.

It would please me greatly if someone was able to knit one as it would help me to feel that I have made some little contribution to this lovely forum.


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

Glenden9 said:


> The ladies in our group, which meets on Friday mornings, mostly use Brother machines and we have two of them to work with so I am exposed to Brother. They all seem to love their machines and several of the members have two or ven three machines to work on. One lady has a Passap, two Brothers and a Knitmaster and she has given two machines away.
> 
> Are we able to send things direct to members of KP or must it all be on this format on the web. If you do not find your magazine, would there be any value in my trying to download what I have on this - like a photograph? You would be able to work out your own measurements because it is just a matter of counting the windows and I did a cut and sew neckline when I had completed the front and back alike.
> 
> ...


I have that issue yay!! The 970 is the last electronic brother made, so it will be easy, if tedious to input it.

Thanks for your help


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## Glenden9 (May 14, 2014)

You are very welcome. Good luck.


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