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Can you believe it’s been 7 months since I purchased my first knitting machine? I can’t! Time has just flown by! And what have I accomplished with my first knitting machine?
I’ve made a hat.
That’s right a single hat. Why? Because my Singer MOD 700 is fickle. We fight a lot…. I’ve been working with it and I do believe our relationship is getting better. At first, the carriage kept sticking. I didn’t want to force it so that meant releasing it, untangling yarn, and then being forced to start over. Which resulted in me being upset. Something wasn’t right.
That’s when I discovered the sponge bar and how deteriorated it was. So I hopped on amazon and found a new sponge bar and waited for it to come in the mail. It arrived, I successfully changed out the old one and began knitting again. Only to have the carriage get stuck again and my hands to slip off the carriage, plunging to their death to the metal bed. Round 12 goes to the knitting machine.
*This is not the exact same sponge bar I bought, but I do recommend it for Singer Knitting Machines.
With events coming up, I decided to focus on weaving and making more product and put away the knitting machine until there was time to play once again. Well that time didn’t come again until March. January was nuts, we moved and I was still dealing with family tragedy. Then I’m not sure where February went… I think switching from part-time to full-time at work whooped my butt for awhile there.
Finally, in March life seemed to settle down a little bit with only a baby shower to plan I had some time. Only now my knitting machine was on the floor in my craft room with no home. Maybe that’s why I was having a hard time, my MOD 700 wasn’t attached to any table when I worked on it before. So I hit up Amazon again and found a great deal on a table! And to go with my table, I also purchased a basic computer chair so I can move as I work. If you’re looking for a nice table for your knitting machine, check this one out! Here’s the chair I purchase also.
After that arrived, I once again attempted to use my knitting machine. This time I was armed with knowledge. While I waited for the table to arrive, I took a class with a local Knitting Machine teacher at The Knitting Studio in Rochester, NY. She was great! I learned cast-on, cast-off, what the machine should feel like, how to oil my machine and check for yarn, and she gave some great advise.
So now I have my machine, knowledge, and a beautiful table and a chair to go with it. I was ready! Or so I thought…
I casted on, made a swatch or two, got distracted by a handsome man and suddenly, OUCH! Somehow, I’m not really sure how, I managed to hook my elbow on the latch hooks. Once again the knitting machine drew blood. I’m starting to think it’s part vampire…
But no worries, I have not given up! I am determined to keep going and make beautiful things on this machine!
I decided to take a trip to the Yarn Guy in Toronto, Canada. I’ve heard great things and thought it’d be a good place to go to get inspiration. Of course, work didn’t cooperate until about a week ago when we finally went. It was amazing!
Bret decided to go with me. So we made it a wonderful trip. We left Tuesday evening and arrived in Niagara Falls for the night. Of course we checked out the falls before going to dinner at Swiss Chalet (according to Bret, the best restaurant ever! And WTF why’d it leave NY?). Good food if you’ve never been.
The next day, we drove the rest of the way to Toronto and visited the aquarium. I have never been to an aquarium before, it was so cool! I used to have a salt water tank, but nothing like theirs! All the sharks and sting rays and sea turtles were amazing.
After swimming with the fishes, we finally made it to the Yarn Guy. It’s like paradise for any yarn nerd. There was shelves and shelves of yarn everywhere! And tucked in the back, are hundreds of knitting machines. Pretty much every type of knitting machine there is. I was in awe.
Luckily, the staff came to my rescue and soon we were off. They showed me so many different projects made on my MOD 700 machine and introduced me to the mid gauge Singer SK150 model and what that could make. I originally came to get a lace carriage, but now I wanted another machine.
And here I told myself I wasn’t allowed another machine until I made something sell-able on my original machine… Whelp, that went out the window.
I am now the proud owner of a Singer MOD700 with the lace carriage, and the Singer SK150.
I am super proud of myself though, because I did not buy a single skein of yarn. The staff tried very hard to sell me yarn, but I had a budget in my head and I knew getting the lace carriage and the SK150 would put me over it, so I resisted stocking up on some beautiful yarn. Good thing I did too because my purchase came to just under $850. Yikes, my budget was $500… whoops.
I’m glad I bought both the lace carriage and the SK150. I have already played with both and love both. I have so many plans in mind (hats, mittens, scarves, shawls, blankets), but first I am going to plan a week of just swatches. Look for my post on making swatches sometime in the next few weeks.
I can’t wait to play!
~Ashli
P.S. What are you working on? What kind of knitting machine do you have? Did it draw blood like mine seems to like to do (I hope not)? What are you making on your knitting machine?