Archive of Thread: Jennifer Jett from Maryland (US) Back

5 years ago
Hi! I am Jen. I am a fiber artist.  I have learned cross stitch, needle point, hardanger, cross stitch, hand and machine appliqué, hand and machine quilting, cross stitch, crochet, needle tatting, embroidery, bobbin lace and hand knitting and taught most of these in a few shops in Maryland.   I had a brain surgery which solved one problem and caused several more.  It was suggested that I learn something new to stimulate a new area in my brain that could possibly help my speech.  I decided to take a knitting class.  ðŸ§¶ That was 6 years ago and close to 200 projects knit that are pictured on my Ravelry “Jettquiltsâ€? page.  My speech has returned to normal and  I have really fallen in love with knitting.  You will rarely find me without needles in hand.  I now have a new problem.  I have way too much yarn accumulated and I have a wish list of projects too long to ever complete by hand.  Many of the items I want to knit have large portions of a plain knit or basic patterned knit that I was hoping to knit that section on a machine and then knit the fiddly bits by hand.  

I own a Brother KH 840 and the KR 850 ribber.  Both are still in the box.  I am afraid I will mess it up if I don’t know more about the machine.  That is what led me here.  I need to learn the language of machine knitting, how to care for a machine and most important how to make the things I want to knit.

5 years ago
Hi Jennifer!
So glad to hear that your health is better and you found a creative outlet in knitting!.
You are not alone in having too much yarn ... I'll bet everyone reading this is nodding in agreement 

Using a machine for the plain, boring parts is a great way to use a knitting machine!  That way you can concentrate on the fun and interesting parts by hand.

One thought .. the Brother KH 840 is a standard gauge (4.5mm) machine and will knit lace, fingering and some sport weight yarns beautifully.  But notice these are all fine yarns.  I want you to be aware that your hand knitting yarns may be too thick for this machine.

Here's a quick video about machines and the yarns they use.
http://www.knititnow.com/learn/tutorial/524/yarns-for-machine-knitting

Another source of general information about machines can be found at http://www.LearnMachineKnitting.com

Please let me know how I can help you get started on your machine knitting journey
Sue