Archive of Thread: Hello from Arizona! Back

4 years ago
Hi all,
My name is Sarah and I live in Lake Havasu City, AZ on the Colorado River. I have been machine knitting for about 6 weeks now on my SK 280 punchcard machine. I've managed a toddler sweater and a pullover for myself so far. I'd really like to learn how to do lace (my machine has a lace carriage) but my 3 attempts so far have been scary failures with tangled needles (I'm hoping they aren't bent) and yarn nests. I'm super excited to be here and can't wait to learn what I'm doing wrong.
Sarah

4 years ago
Welcome Sarah!  So good to have you with us.

It sounds like you are off to a great start!

I'm sure you aren't doing something "wrong" (as machine knitters we always tend to say that )  But it's important that you have a basic understanding of what is happening when you use your lace carriage.
Be sure you are using lace cards and yarn that is appropriate for your machine.  (no cotton for now, use something that has a bit of stretch)
Follow your manual with no yarn at first and get a feel for how the needles transfer.

Take a look at the tutorials in the Lace Classroom.  Even those having to do with hand transferring ... again, you need to understand what the lace carriage is doing.

Please let me know if I can be of help.