![\"KM](\"http:\/\/www.knitbot.org\/BlogHTML\/2008\/KM-Lace\/KM-lace-learning.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI believe I finally cracked the mystery of getting my Brother KH930 to
\nknit lace properly. I’d struggled with this before, to no avail.<\/p>\n
Brother knitting machines have a separate lace carriage that is used to
\ntransfer stitches. That is, you use the regular carriage to knit
\nsome fabric, switch to the lace carriage to transfer stitches from one
\nneedle to another. This is what creates the equivalent of “knit
\ntogether” and (on the next knit row) yarn over. It can take
\nseveral passes, depending on which way the stitches are meant to lean.
\n The electronic program you’ve selected controls which stitches
\nget slipped where. And, once they are all set up, you go back to
\nthe regular carriage and knit a row, two or more.<\/p>\n
Simple, yes? And — fraught with peril. Lifting stitches
\noff a needle is rarely a challenge for the lace carriage.
\nDepositing them on the appropriate other needle is sometimes less
\nsuccessful. My experience was that I’d get along mostly okay and
\nthen the machine would drop one stitch in 10. Well, that’s A
\nLOT! More than you can reasonably keep an eye on to
\nfix if you notice a stitch that looks like it’s about to take a suicide
\ndive on the next pass. And it just made a nasty tangle instead of
\nlace.<\/p>\n
I looked at any number of things — more weight on the bar pulling the
\nfabric; less tension; more tension; bent needles… no use.<\/p>\n
The following swatch was worked bottom to top. You can see things
\nstarted out poorly (though this is hardly the worst example). And
\nthen I Figured It Out, and things worked almost perfectly.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nI suppose I should work a few more efforts before declaring absolute
\nvictory, but here’s the key thing that seemed to make a (logical)
\ndifference: I ran the fabric being knit down over the ribber
\nneedles (i.e., I covered the ribber needles with a piece of cardboard,
\nand kept the knitting in the front of the machine instead of having it
\ndrop down between the ribber and the main bed. Put another
\nway: remove the angle of the backwards tilt of the main bed
\nintroduced when you attached the ribber.<\/p>\n
Or, perhaps most succinct: use the ribber OR the lace carriage,
\nbut never the 2 at the same time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I believe I finally cracked the mystery of getting my Brother KH930 to knit lace properly. I’d struggled with this before, to no avail. Brother knitting machines have a separate lace carriage that is used to transfer stitches. That is, … Continue reading