# Brother Lace Carriage



## Heknitter (Oct 18, 2012)

I have a Brother 860. It has punch cards and a lace carriage. I can't find any directions on using the lace carriage. Is it used with the knit carriage or by it self? Thanks.


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## megilham (Aug 28, 2012)

The lace carriage doesn't actually knit it just arranges the needles ready for the knit carriage, So each carriage has to make a pass over the bed for the row to be completed. You should also have extension rails for the lace carriage to slide clear of the bed allowing the knit carriage to pass over the whole bed if using all kneedles.

At least that is how my old Brother 588 used to work.


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## Heknitter (Oct 18, 2012)

Thanks for your help. Now I understand. I run the lace carriage over the needles before the knit carriage every time. With the punch card the lace carriage sets up the needles to knit. Thanks again. Larry


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## KateWood (Apr 30, 2011)

Larry, do you have any of the original lace cards for your machine??? Normally it can take 4-6, for some patterns even 8, L carriage passes before you knit with the K carriage. On the cards that are included with your KM there are arrows that indicate which way the L carriage is to go across the N bed transferring the stitches then when you are to knit a turn around symbol will be under an arrow. At that point you will move the K carriage from R to L back to the right then transfer with the L carriage or continue knitting depending on your pattern. I would recommend you practice with a lace pattern card before attempting any other lace pattern so you can become familiar with how the Ns are selected and arranged before the K carriage is used or if you should still be transferring sts. Sometimes these cards patterns are written incorrectly or punched wrong and Ns can get crossed.
Do you have your machines manual to read the section for lace knitting? You can find it here also, lace patterns are available to study in the Brother punch card pattern volumes that you can download from this link;
http://www.aboutknittingmachines.com/BrotherFreeManuals.php


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## Heknitter (Oct 18, 2012)

Thanks for your help. I wondered what the little red arrows were on the punchcard. Thanks for the information about the Brother site. Went there and found lots of good things. Larry


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## KateWood (Apr 30, 2011)

You're Welcome.


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## euvid (Apr 2, 2011)

The instructions for the lace carriage are in the manual for the machine


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## Torticollus (Dec 3, 2011)

On my Brother 890 the red arrows are the movement of the knitting carriage back and forth and the blue arrows show when to move the lace carriage across.


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## 30Knitter (Apr 9, 2012)

Heknitter said:


> Thanks for your help. I wondered what the little red arrows were on the punchcard. Thanks for the information about the Brother site. Went there and found lots of good things. Larry


You can also watch your needles to be able to predict when your knit carriage is to be used. Your needles will always go to "B" position when the lace carriage is finished transferring. You should always end up on the left side of the bed when the lace carriage has finished. Sometimes the needles have gone to "B" on the right and the next pass brings out more needles, that means there are more passes to be made. There should be no more needles in "D" from right to left.

I have even used lace cards not made for the Brother machines, but I keep in mind how the movements should be before running the knit carriage.


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## Lidia (Nov 13, 2011)

Torticullus you have the arrows the wrong way round. The red arrows are for the lace carriage and the blue arrow that goes back on its self is for the knitting carriage where you knit 2 rows before following the red arrows again.


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## Torticollus (Dec 3, 2011)

Yes, you are correct - sorry about that! I realized that afterward. Thanks for pointing it out.


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## Knuttyknitter941 (Oct 22, 2012)

Heknitter said:


> I have a Brother 860. It has punch cards and a lace carriage. I can't find any directions on using the lace carriage. Is it used with the knit carriage or by it self? Thanks.


It is used in conjunction with the main carriage. First you knit with the main carriage (with the punch card in and operating) until only certain ndls are selected to "D" position. Then you pass the lace carriage back and forth until no ndls are in "D". Then it's back to the main carriage.

The lace carriage function is to "flip" the yarn on the D ndl to the next ndl., thus creating a hole or space. It can only flip from one ndl to another. You can't have two empty ndls together when you finish. Hope I've helped.


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## ninapi (May 25, 2013)

I have a Brother 860 and I am trying to use the lace-tuck carriage for the first time and I don't understand how/when/which direction to move both carriages, if you move the lace carriage by itself how does the punchcard move forward/get tripped? 

Any help would be great,


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## 30Knitter (Apr 9, 2012)

The lace carriage resides on the left side of the machine. Your knitting carriage will reside on the right side of the machine. The row count will be tripped with the knitting carriage. The punch card will be moved by the lace carriage. You will start with your punch card locked on row 1. Knit one row with the lace carriage, the needles will be selected to be transferred. You will then release the punch card to the middle position, NEVER all the way back. You can then move the lace carriage to the left. At this time the needles that were selected will be transferred to the left. (I am guessing you are using the lace cards that came with your machine - they should be red). There are arrows on the card indicating which direction to move the lace carriage. You will also see an arrow with a sideways u, this means move the knit carriage from right to left (knit 2 rows). If there is a number, then move the knit carriage the number of rows indicated. You may want to do a dry run (no yarn in the machine) and watch what the needles do. 

Run you lace carriage for the number of rows and as long as there are needles selected you will move the lace carriage. If there is no movement, that means the transfers for those rows are done.


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## ninapi (May 25, 2013)

I know how to work lace, what they do not know is how to integrate the two techniques lace and tuck. the punch card shows me 2 types of arrows, black, a large, close. But I do not know when I have to press the 2 tuck and when should I start with lace.'m Trying to understand the card n. 721 of the 3rd vol. beginning with the carriage L, which selects the needles, but after that, what should I do? take the main carriage, which is where? on the right side of the machine?Thanks for your help.


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## 30Knitter (Apr 9, 2012)

If you are doing tuck with lace, your knitting carriage will have the tuck buttons pushed in. You will knit the tuck pattern where you see the return arrow, remember the knit carriage will make your tucks. Does your card have red and blue arrows? The red arrows mean that the lace carriage moves, the blue arrows mean the knitting carriage moves. You lace carriage will always be on the left and the knitting carriage will always be on the right. Movement on the knitting carriage will be right to left and back. There are some tuck lace patterns you can do by putting needles out of work, just remember when you do that technique to set you cams under the carriage not to bring the end needles forward. Use 1x2 tool to set the cams.


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## Lidia (Nov 13, 2011)

Do you mean that you want to knit 'tuck lace'? If so you do not use your lace carriage. You use a tuck card and take needles out of work. If you find a pattern for tuck lace it will tell you which needles to take out. As you have a Brother 860 you need to take the end needle selection off (orange or pink cams on the underside of the carriage,otherwise the carriage won't tuck as everytime it comes to a space it thinks it is at the beginning of a pattern, then treat it as an ordinary tuck pattern. So 'KC' card locked, knit across to set needles, unlock card, both tuck buttons in


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## ninapi (May 25, 2013)

I thank you for the advice, and I'm slowly beginning to understand even if I still have many doubts and occasionally stumbling in the wrong. I bought the book 'punch card pattern' with theKnitting machine and I loved this punch card that combines lace with tuck. The delivery of the stitch is: After trasferring the stitches by L carriage, note following 
1) If the needles are selected, push the tuck buttons, and move the K carriage,
2) If the needles are not selected, push the Plain lever and move the K carriage .
The punch cards shows two types of arrows but not red,but black that changing the size. I hope to do. And again thanks


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## Lidia (Nov 13, 2011)

This is a new one to me. Thank you Ninapi I will give it a go.


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

ninapi said:


> I thank you for the advice, and I'm slowly beginning to understand even if I still have many doubts and occasionally stumbling in the wrong. I bought the book 'punch card pattern' with theKnitting machine and I loved this punch card that combines lace with tuck. The delivery of the stitch is: After trasferring the stitches by L carriage, note following
> 1) If the needles are selected, push the tuck buttons, and move the K carriage,
> 2) If the needles are not selected, push the Plain lever and move the K carriage .
> The punch cards shows two types of arrows but not red,but black that changing the size. I hope to do. And again thanks


I am also struggling to understand the tuck and lace punch cards as the instructions are not very clear. I am not sure how many rows to do with knit carriage in tuck and plain. The arrow directions don't seem to make much sense as it shows an arrow going right to left, but the lace carriage is already on the left, so I do take it off and move it to the right??


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## mtnmama67 (Dec 16, 2011)

What wonderful tips and hints!! I,also,get thhe two colors on the cards mixed up!!

Thank you - each of you so very much!!


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## Tallie9 (Jul 24, 2012)

jaysclark said:


> I am also struggling to understand the tuck and lace punch cards as the instructions are not very clear. I am not sure how many rows to do with knit carriage in tuck and plain. The arrow directions don't seem to make much sense as it shows an arrow going right to left, but the lace carriage is already on the left, so I do take it off and move it to the right??


Yes...there are times.....depending on the lace design....that you will physically have to lift the lace carriage off the bed...and move it to the opposite side of the bed.....A good example of this is a racked lace design (it looks like a vertical lace zig-zag)......*Your first pass will be lace carriage from left to right.....There is no return pass.....so you take lace carriage off ....and place it back on the left bed.....Now you can move your main carriage from right to left.....and back to the right*.......You will repeat this * to * for 6 rows(depending on your design).....*Now starting on the 7th row you will have to place your lace carriage on the right side and move to the left.......then knit 2 rows with the main carriage as before* .......You'll repeat this * to * to row 12..........
Meanwhile your punch card is off-setting the needles by one to the right (rows 1 thru 6).......and then off-sets to the left (7 thru 12).....
Fortunately most designs are not this tedious...


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## jaysclark (Jan 26, 2013)

Tallie9 said:


> Yes...there are times.....depending on the lace design....that you will physically have to lift the lace carriage off the bed...and move it to the opposite side of the bed.....A good example of this is a racked lace design (it looks like a vertical lace zig-zag)......*Your first pass will be lace carriage from left to right.....There is no return pass.....so you take lace carriage off ....and place it back on the left bed.....Now you can move your main carriage from right to left.....and back to the right*.......You will repeat this * to * for 6 rows(depending on your design).....*Now starting on the 7th row you will have to place your lace carriage on the right side and move to the left.......then knit 2 rows with the main carriage as before* .......You'll repeat this * to * to row 12..........
> Meanwhile your punch card is off-setting the needles by one to the right (rows 1 thru 6).......and then off-sets to the left (7 thru 12).....
> Fortunately most designs are not this tedious...


Thanks for this. I have punched a card for tuck and lace and in some places you have the tuck buttons in and others it is plain knitting and it seems to have arrows all over the place lol!!


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## 30Knitter (Apr 9, 2012)

Just remember when you have the tuck buttons pushed in to make sure you remove the knit carriage all the way to the right off the bed so it doesn't engage the punchcard drive belt. Tuck and lace will both use the drive belt, so you need to make sure each carriage is disengaged from the machine before moving the other carriage.


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## Esttyquin (Mar 23, 2017)

KateWood said:


> Larry, do you have any of the original lace cards for your machine??? Normally it can take 4-6, for some patterns even 8, L carriage passes before you knit with the K carriage. On the cards that are included with your KM there are arrows that indicate which way the L carriage is to go across the N bed transferring the stitches then when you are to knit a turn around symbol will be under an arrow. At that point you will move the K carriage from R to L back to the right then transfer with the L carriage or continue knitting depending on your pattern. I would recommend you practice with a lace pattern card before attempting any other lace pattern so you can become familiar with how the Ns are selected and arranged before the K carriage is used or if you should still be transferring sts. Sometimes these cards patterns are written incorrectly or punched wrong and Ns can get crossed.
> Do you have your machines manual to read the section for lace knitting? You can find it here also, lace patterns are available to study in the Brother punch card pattern volumes that you can download from this link;
> http://www.aboutknittingmachines.com/BrotherFreeManuals.php


sorry for bothering you but i need same help but the site is no longer available. Also need to learn d kh 588 lace Carriage works. Can u help?


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## Tallie9 (Jul 24, 2012)

Esttyquin said:


> sorry for bothering you but i need same help but the site is no longer available. Also need to learn d kh 588 lace Carriage works. Can u help?


Most knitting machine manuals can be found here.....At the top of the page you will find drop-down menus for the brand of machine...
http://machineknittingetc.com/brother-knitking/machine-manuals.html

Instructions for using the 588 lace carriage are in the manual.....One thing I found not very clear in the manual....
if you pass the lace carriage from left to right for transfers......how the heck do I return it from right to left when there are no transfers to be done?......Simple answer....as long as you haven't brought the needles out to 'D' position using the 'set lever'.....you simply pass the lace carriage to the left side of the bed..


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## MKEtc.com (Aug 14, 2013)

588 manual
http://machineknittingetc.com/brother-kh588-user-guide-guide.html


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## Esttyquin (Mar 23, 2017)

Tallie9 said:


> Most knitting machine manuals can be found here.....At the top of the page you will find drop-down menus for the brand of machine...
> http://machineknittingetc.com/brother-knitking/machine-manuals.html
> 
> Instructions for using the 588 lace carriage are in the manual.....One thing I found not very clear in the manual....
> if you pass the lace carriage from left to right for transfers......how the heck do I return it from right to left when there are no transfers to be done?......Simple answer....as long as you haven't brought the needles out to 'D' position using the 'set lever'.....you simply pass the lace carriage to the left side of the bed..


Thank u very much.


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## Esttyquin (Mar 23, 2017)

MKEtc.com said:


> 588 manual
> http://machineknittingetc.com/brother-kh588-user-guide-guide.html


Thank u.


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