Well, I couldn't possibly presume to tell you what you should prefer, but this is my present favourite reference. It crept up on me gradually. I bought it from Reynolds in Sydney, along with a few other books. I must have thought it looked promising, but it did languish forgotten for a while. But every now and then I'd look to clarify some technique or other, and find it useful.  It proved to be particularly useful when I was roped in the demonstrate "Punch Lace", I was honoured in this way on the strength of having discovered, by accident, that 1x1 punch lace is an excellent way to add ..read more

I've just sent out into the world a tuck lace shawl made from Candalaraine 2/60 Baby Alpaca/Silk. It was made using a standard gauge punchcard machine. The process of making this was so satisfying I've started swatching to see what else I can make to use this beautiful yarn. The completed shawl was made using Singer Card 4 Card 4 repeat All the needles corresponding to the knit every stitch columns were taken out of work, except for two needles at each edge, left to knit a neat selvedge. The tension was set to the loosest setting. The finishing washing and blocking proce ..read more

It took two years to organise, but turned out to be worth the wait. Susan Guagliumi, international star of machine knitting, came to share skills and opinions. And she came right to my living room, the original home of the Brunswick Machine Knitting Novices We saw amazing samples and demonstrations of knitted effects achieved using bridging techniques. Speaking for myself, I did not take a lot of notice of the directions on how to achieve particular effects. But I will read the book with much improved understanding if I am moved to try out some 3D embellishment in future projects Have a look ..read more

Yesterday I spent the day in Maryborough, not cycling through the sweltering countryside with my companions. Looking for cool and sedentary diversions, I found myself at the Maryborough Flour Mill Gallery http://www.maryboroughflourmillgallery.com.au/index.html home of the extraordinary Sew What collection of vintage, antique and toy sewing machines I recommend a visit if you are passing that way. Added attractions of the venue are the coffee and biscuit (included in the price of admission ), chairs and couches to relax in and retro reading material to browse. As I leafed through the thoughtfu ..read more

For years I have been crediting Billy Connolly with a wise saying, only to find that it is something that Swedes say all the time, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes." Billy said this on the cliffs near Wick, on what appeared to be a cold, wet and windy winter night such as you might expect by the northern tip of Scotland. When I saw this on the television I was surprised by a wave of nostalgia for this bleak landscape that I had never seen in real life. But one of my Great Grandfathers left Wick to try his fortune in Australia on the goldfields. I was touched to thi ..read more

I want any new knitter to consider the proposition that you can knit a wide variety of weights, stitch patterns and knitted items with just one standard gauge punchcard machine. Now if your hobby is machines, rather than knitting, by all means collect every domestic machine and accessory ever produced. Its an interesting study and a potential lifetime hobby, but not much help for a newcomer hoping to make interesting and useful items, with limited hands on support. “What kind of yarn do you want to knit?” This is the question often put instead of an answer to the question, “I’d like to take ..read more

This pattern features on several blogs as a warning about the aesthetic danger of enthusiastic, but uncritical embrace of popular craft. However, it turns out that this has come back into style in some pockets of hipster culture. "That is so cool, can you make me one?" I did.   In the absence of a shotgun, we used a broom for a prop. I planned to stay with the original styling as closely as possible. The yarn is lighter weight (Superfine Wool Australia 3 ply as opposed to Bluebell 5 ply). The pockets were left off for technical reasons. The jacket is proportionately longer, a 1973 ..read more

A while ago I wrote about various applications for the Punch Lace setting on the Singer/Studio/Knitmaster/Silver Reed machines (Thread Lace on Brother machines). I like the textures I can knit using this setting. Now my previous post reproduced a chart explaining the relationship between the holes on punchcards and knitting on the various settings on those 24 stitch repeat punchcard machines. Just one problem - no mention of Punch Lace! So here is the key to add in, Punch Lace:  Punched hole; Needle knits yarn in thread mouth B. Unpunched; Needle knits yarn in thread mouths A & B. I l ..read more

Some time ago I found an insignificant looking piece of paper and got so excited that I reproduced it and passed it around to any machine knitting friends nearby. No one shared my enthusiasm, but I'll put it here. This chart refers to the Silver Reed  (Studio/Singer/Knitmaster)  24 stitch punchcard machines. I think it is accurate for the Brother punchcard machines as well. Below are some photos illustrating just one way of using a favourite card, Singer/Studio/Knitmaster Card 4, using tuck stitch and needle selection to make a fabric with sections of different textures, and ..read more

I've been pleased with my large blankets, useful as outer garments and for many household and travelling purposes. However, although simple, the knitting process was not quite as simple as I would like. Knitting neat edges was not an automatic process. To overcome this I modified Singer/Studio/Knitmaster Card 7 so that I could position two columns of knit stitches on each edge. Of course this meant that two columns in every 24 do not tuck, adding an interesting textural stripe to the fabric. The occasional seersucker type stripe effect is best seen in this project knitted by Marlene. The ..read more