Archive of Thread: Hello from the San Francisco Bay Area! Back

2 years ago
Who am I? I'm someone who needs a creative outlet, and being a very tactile person, textile arts have been my thing. It all started with hand knitting, leading to crocheting, sewing, spinning my own yarn, weaving and finally machine knitting. 

Where are you on your machine knitting journey? I am at least advanced beginner, maybe more, but not an expert. I make sweaters, blankets, accessories, on a variety of machines. I may have gotten into the habit of rehabbing machines that need TLC. Some I keep, some I pass along to others. My KM mechanic skills are slowly growing. 

When did you get started? I purchased my first machine, a Passap DM80, in early March 2020, right before everything shut down for the pandemic. Since then, I've added several machines, including Superba, Studio, and Brother machines. I like learning them all--it keeps my brain busy and happy. 

Why did you join Knit it Now? To use the learning videos and then I started also using the customizable patterns. I've been a member for awhile now, but have never participated in the forums. I decided I should start hanging out with other machine knitters more!

2 years ago
** edit  this is from Sue Jalowiec - I was logged in as Tracy in error
Hi Susan,
Welcome! I'm so glad you've joined us!

I  love that you quickly added machines to your "collection" and I'm so glad you are having fun with machine knitting.

Have you discovered the guild in the Bay Area?  I understand they are an active group.
http://mkgsfba.org/

2 years ago
Hi, yes, in fact I just asked last week about joining the guild for their new season starting this month. I was able to ask them questions at their booth at stitches west for a couple of years before diving in--and then the pandemic hit and I didn't check to see that they were continuing to meet via zoom. I've heard wonderful things about this guild, and am excited to join in the fun! 

I did hear your advice (too late, LOL) about learning a machine really well, before playing with a bunch of machines, so I'm going through your brother 930/940 course right now--for me, the trick is to remember the differences on each carriage (lock) and also, how it works differently to use an attached ribber vs. a double bed, since half my machines are double bed and I learned them first. I managed to break a couple of the rubber wheels on a Studio sk700 carriage because I didn't realize you can't use the sinker plate on it at all without lowering the ribber--I wasn't trying to use it to rib--just ran it across the bed. Luckily that was an easy/inexpensive repair and all is well, and lesson learned!!!

Thank you for your excellent videos and patterns. I really enjoy them, and find them very helpful.

2 years ago
So lucky you are to have a in person guild in addition to this community. Have fun 

2 years ago
Thank you Bettina, I am grateful to be able to have a guild close enough to participate.