Broken Toe Cast On Steps for 8ply-ish on the E6000

This is for the thickish almost 8ply. 250g/100g 

T1/1 1RC

No strippers

Insert comb in V beneath the BB needles add weights - or before either/or.

Remove FB needles, the fastest way was push them all up tap them all down a bit, remove the yarn.

make sure all FB needles are back into WP

Locks haven't moved anywhere

TX (5/5) N/N knit 1 row

TX (6.5/6.5) CX/CX 2 rows

N/N Insert Orange strippers

Put on 7s

RC000

Begin to knit ribbing.

after a few rows, put heel grip on edges

Then again, choose thinner yarn and do a racking cast on.

3D Garter Bar For My Brother 7mm KX350 Plastic Bed Midgauge Machine

smooth side

I recently decided to get a garter bar for my KX350 7mm machine. And found that Kris has discontinued her 7mm range, but an Internet search found a place that is now making 3D 20 prong ones. It looks like the company started in the Netherlands and now has a New York facility. Good news, so I decided to buy them.

rough underside

Now this is the product description and I think it is important to read it because they are supplied as described:

_______________________________________________

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

This is a 20 Needle / Tine 7mm Garter Bar: (40 needle version is available in this store) A garter bar is used on a knitting machine to remove the knitted fabric from the needles, turn it around, and replace the knitted fabric back on the needles.    The ability to do this for an entire section of fabric (not just one needle) is necessary for garter stitches, and some lace patterns and cables.  It can also be used if you have a need to temporarily remove a project from the machine. It fits 7mm machines. It can be purchased in sections of either 20 or 40 needles or tines.  Purchase the number of sections as you need, depending on the number of needles in your typical project.   Any number of sections can be used.  The sections fit together and should be secured together using a piece of 1/4” threaded rod with nuts and washers on the ends.  Threaded rod is inexpensive and can be purchased at a hardware store.  The rod should be cut to the length of the assembled garter bars, with enough room to add a nut and washer at each end.  Note that this just needs to hold them together for convenience, it doesn’t need to be tight. The material default for printing this is “White Polished”. Without the “Polished”, the surface of the material is slightly rough.  If you find that your yarn still doesn’t slide easily on and off the garter bar, spray it with several coats of a glossy clear coat spray available at craft and hardware stores.  This will help smooth the surface even more.

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Emery paper 99cents. metal rod $2.50

They have arrived, It is important not to
whinge about the underside being rough, they are and I've highlighted the bit that says that.

So off I went to Bunnings to buy some fine emery paper and a metal bar. Was tricky finding the bar, it was hidden in the very bottom slot and that was the hardest part.

This is what I needed to buy (or in the case of my nail polish - raid). They were right, $2.50 for a metal bar was cheap, but the emery paper was cheaper:

Underside with nail polish - this is three coats

It didn't take long to run the nail file along the underside and any of the prongs with rough edges then the fine emery. Here is a pretty good photo of the underside after I've sanded it and put three coats of nail varnish.

Here are the other four, drying their nail polish

OK now to see how three coats go. There are grooves both sides, which means there's no right or wrong side - this is good. I tried both smooth up or down and I didn't notice much difference. I used some thin cotton to see how it goes - on T2...

What I thought worked better:

• use the single prong tool move the stitches onto the prongs in roughly a straight line. 
• take off the edge claw weights
• don't pull the stitches all the way back - there isn't a groove to put the tips of the needles into

The stitches are captured perfectly over the 20 needles

It works as advertised

So how did I like using them? Most definitely quicker and easier than relatching, even though I only had one 20 needle one dry and ready to try out.

Next - how did it go with all of them threaded onto their rod:

collected the stitches, but missed a few, which is pretty normal for me

Ready to come off the needles. I caught a couple of the prongs taking it off. will experiment with the best way to do that.

The caught prongs created a lot of dropped stitches

All the needles captured. Run finger over the prongs to find any missed. Just pop them on

Pull all the stitches forward to close the latches

As soon as all the latches are closed, pull the stitches onto the prongs

I hope you can see where I popped the rulers in both photos

The bars are flexible and it took several goes to get it to collect most of them.

I pushed the loops on the prongs into a line with the wooden ruler

I put the selector ruler and a wooden ruler between the prongs and the needles

Here it is all done and dusted 100 sts flipped every four rows

Well I do like them, so much better than nothing.

My technique is to

• open all the latches
• attach the bar.
• pull the work all the way along but only to close the latches
• once all the latches are closed, pull the work onto the prongs
• I used a ruler to align the stitches in a row (don't pull them all the way to the end)
• I wrapped the yarn around the end of the bar
• take work off the machine
• as the needles are in hold, set carriage to hold and move it to the other side, this also opens the latches, take it off hold
• align up the prongs with the needle tips. I wiggled it just a tiny bit to get all the tips into the slots
• the bar is flat on the top of the needles - almost flat against them
• gently press along the length of the bar to collect the loops above the grooves
• pull the bar away from the work (see photos) and pop any loops that missed the needles
• if here are too many missed, take it off the machine again and repeat (this is why I popped a couple of pegs to keep any of the work away from the needle tips).
• now this is only because the prongs are flexible, whereas the metal prongs aren't
• to stop the bar tips catching in the needles, I placed a selector ruler and a standard wooden ruler into the space between the prongs and the needles.
• remove the pegs on the bar, if used.
• then pull down at an angle, I'd guess about 45 deg, underneath between the needles and the sinker plate.
• put the work back against the machine, rethread the yarn, making sure it doesn't wrap around the rubber wheels
• keep knitting, turning as you require. 

The metal rod worked well. I used a rubber band one end and a peg at the other, to hold them into place.

Remember to take off the claw weights. I used some pegs to LOOSELY hold the work out of the way along the bar. Not tight, that didn't work.

The prongs ARE grabby, rough, not smooth like the metal garter bars, that's for sure. However, It's not such a terrible thing. The stitches don't squirm all over the prongs and stay where they are put. I did have to put a few onto to needles after turning the work, but I also have to do that with the metal ones and because they hold on, it's better, I think.

So, am I happy with them? Yes. Did I find them rough? Yes but not too bad after three coats of nail varnish. I don't think it's necessary to have a slippery high polish after all. I won't be putting another couple of coats on. I like that they don't slip off the bar like I have had on the metal bars.

And like the regular metal garter bars I've used before, they will take a bit of practice to proficient at using them. but after an afternoon I managed really well on the last one. I'm sure that the next project I have for them will be just fine.

brother KA7668 Needle Selector for KX machines

Beverley has this little brother plastic KA7668 needle selector. I'd never seen or heard of it but, she assured me it existed AND it was for the KX395 convertible 4.5 and 9mm machine. AND would it work on the KX350 7mm machine?

It only goes from RIGHT to LEFT.

So it's in my hands for a whole month - but that's besides the point. What Beverley was wanting to know was:

Does it work in the KX350 7mm machine?

So first thing I did was turn it over and measure it's undercarriage.


The instructions say for the 9mm, 8 needles must be hand selected into B postition and 16 ndls for the 4.5mm setting.. interesting thought me.. why not 10? or 20? making the working mechanism 9mm, but no 9mm x 8 is 7.2cm - so I'm thinking maybe it will work on 10 preselected on the 7mm. I was able to test out the why later..

Now for the photos to show how it all works.

First I tried on a small selection, testing out the 10 needle pattern

Next, I tried the whole bed, still with the first 10 preselected, needles must be in B and D

 in two setting, one was 1x1 rib and the other a varied rib

And neither worked on all needles in work.

But putting the very first needle out of work did, but not with the 3x1 rib

It was not necessary to ONLY choose the first 8, 16 or 10, repeat of the pattern for 1x1 rib, a ruler's worth of preselected worked just as well, the only time you'd need to do this is for when you wanted the pattern to repeat differently. Getting a 4, 8 12 etc pattern wouldn't work on the 7mm machine, it works in multiples of 10. But it makes sense of the 72mm measurement for 8 or 16 needles on the other machine, and this one would have to have the long plastic tongue measure 56 mm. And no I'm not going to have at Bev's doodad!

I can't say if the very first needle would have to be out of work on the KX395 convertible, but it works a treat on the KX350 with one less needle on the right.

And so now I can say.. YES Beverley, it works perfectly on the KX350 as well for 1x1 and 3x2 rib and any other 5 pattern repeats only. Thank you for the lenda and an interesting morning..

Smocking from Knits for Joy 101 Experiments

This is from 101 Knits for Joy. These pamphlets are all well out of print and so I can cite the source, not me, not my work, I can share the document with you.

Here is a scan of the whole pamphlet, a resource no longer available and I know I certainly haven’t seen a live one of any of the Purls of Joy, never knew they existed.

And here are my experiments on my SK280 and intarsia AG20 carriage.

The instructions are fairly simple – although I did come unstuck in the beginning. Oops.

Start with waste yarn, ravel thread

6 rows Col 1 (red) and then 4 rows Col 2 (white)

That’s the start only.

Next bit is the repeat:

6 rows Col 1 (red)

2 TWO rows Col 2 (white)

Then pick up the loops on the previous white on needle 2, then 8, 14, 20, 26 and so on –

2 TWO rows Col 2 (white)

6 rows Col 1 (red)

2 TWO rows Col 2 (white)

Then pick up the loops on the previous white on needle 5, then 11, 17, 23, 29 and so on –

2 TWO rows Col 2 (white

I did two ruler’s worth, that’s easiest for me.

I used a thinner red and slightly thicker white. I used the main carriage with the white, T6.1 and the intarsia carriage for the red, T4.1. Starts with 6 R red, 4R white, then begin the repeats 6R red, but only 2 TWO rows white.

Per the Purls of Joy pamphlet, start on the right hand side on needle 2, then every 6th. I used the 7 prong tool to make it easy to mark out every 6^th.

I liked the top two white only ones, you might like a different set, but only one loop

Here are the two loops I mean.

Knit two more rows.

Then repeat with start on the RH side on needle 5 then every 6^th.

 And here are some using the intaria carriage notes

I moved all the needles out to hold them pushed them back so the latches are near the gate pages, make sure all the latches are open then do the 6 rows of red. It was easier to have the white on the main carriage, however if the fluffy yarn is going to be used, then the intarsia will have to be used and it's a bit more work to set up the needles for the smock threads.

And here's what the other side looks like: