has anyone got a knitting machine?

[clutterqueen]

Hi
Am thinking, thinking, of buying a knitting machine to make baby blankets to maybe sell them as a small (very small?) business.

Does anyone have one? Are they easy to use?
Thanks!

I used one when I studied textiles at college many years ago.

They're great fun, hook it all up and off you go whizzing back and forth. I never knitted a scarf but IIRC it wouldn't take too long to get a long piece of knitting.

We used to churn out loads of samples of fabric in minutes.

Yep, easy to use. Go to John Lewis and try out the easier machines - they'll advise you on one suitable for you and talk you through how to use it if you ask them nicely :)

how long would it take to make a scarf? do you need strong biceps?!

hmm jareth, can't see any knitting machines on john lewis website.

Oh I'm sure I've seen them in there (I've tried out sewing machines there before and thought they had them - sorry)

Interested. But don't they take up tons of space?

I've got one but haven't used it for a while. You can knit the back of a man's jumper in fair-isle in about 20 mins. The more complicated the pattern, the longer it will take as it takes a little more effort to push the carriage across from one side to another.

There aren't as many stockists as there were in the 80s when macnhine-knitting was very popular. JL used to have them, but don't know if they still do. They are often on ebay. There's also BSK who do mail order.

There is a city and guilds qualification in machine knitting, so it might be worth finding out if any colleges near you do it, and then having a chat with a tutor. I did that - a tutor lived near me and I spent half a day at her house which gave me quite a lot of the basics. There is a very good basic book - it's on cards rather than being bound, by Sandra Bingham called "Knit it my way" with really good illustrations.

Passap are heavy - they're a double bed machine. Brother and Toyota are lighter.

Once you get into it, it's really good, and there are some lovely yarns for machine knitting.

There are also 2 monthly magazines, Machine Knitting Monthly and Machine Knitting News.

Hope that helps.

I've just had a look and found this - don't know if the location is any good for you. The good thing is that you don't need to have a machine, you can use the ones that are there.

Hope it helps.