The Knitting Machine

Wouldn't it be awesome if the Knitting Machine were a cross between a Time Machine and a Knitter? Well, it kind of is, because working on a knitting machine means you can knit at super sonic speeds!! It would also be a great title of a novel, like a sci-fi novel...I'm working on it...

Let me share with you what I mean. For those of you unfamiliar with anything other than two hands and a pair of knitting needles, a knitting machine is a stationary tool that has many needles that knits a piece of fabric in no time, by simply moving the 'carriage' back and forth (the picture hopefully shows you kind of how it works, otherwise, I've since discovered several instructional videos at youtube.com).

There are some very complex machines, and some very simple ones, and the knitting machine I borrowed from my mother-in-law is the latter that simply clamps onto a table. After a bit of practice, I finally got the hang of knitting basic rectangles to turn in scarves and wraps. Well, in tidying up the apartment, Matt thought it was time to give it back, so I finished up two last projects. Actually, they were two wraps that were meant for Erin for Christmas, but time got the better of me and I never got a chance to finish them up (so we just gave Erin the balls of yarn with the promise that they would one day get finished).

Well, with the ease of this machine, I was able to finish two of them in just one day! This wool is really soft and wonderful, so a wrap is great thing to make out of it (in total, I think I've already made 4 out of the same yarn, in different colour variations). And since the pattern is really just a long rectangle, knitting it with the machine is a cinch - back and forth, back and forth. I did attempt to make these back in December, but you know how sometimes when you try to make something in a hurry, just everything seems to go wrong? Well, that's what happened, and with this machine, if a few stitches fall off the needles, its almost just as easy (and fast) to rip everything out and start again...but also very frustrating! This happened quite a few times in December, so I think I just threw in the towel. And even this time I was working under a bit of a time pressure, but not enough of one that things went wrong. In fact, these two scarves worked out perfectly!

I'm tempted to invest (they can be several thousands of dollars!) in a more high tech knitting machine in the future, but that won't happen until I have a knitting/sewing room to keep it in (and possibly win the lottery...). For now, Diane can have her machine back, and I'll continue knitting away the old fashioned way.