Although textures and intricate stitches are my true favorites, I spent a couple of weeks earlier this year revisiting double jacquard on the Kniterate knitting machine. Double jacquards were the first structure I explored on the Kniterate because, in some ways, jacquards are very approachable. In an earlier, more basic version of the Kniterate design app, programming a double jacquard was very straightforward, but that early version lacked a visualization of what each needle was knitting.  The new version of the design app is much more robust with a bunch of options. I didn’t exp ..read more

  Last month was Textile Month and if you were following my abbreviated September Instagram journey, you noticed that I participated in the #SeptTextileLove challenge. Each year it's a fun way for textile makers to come together, share their work, and inspire one another. September marked my first participation with this challenge. While I did not document every single day, I was truly inspired by others, and I posted as frequently as life and work permitted. A special shoutout to Seam Collective for introducing this challenge. My favorite prompts and posts (with added commentary) from t ..read more

  A knitted thank you sampler As an early bird backer of Kniterate on Kickstarter I was fortunate to receive my machine in early March 2020. It was delivered to an office about two miles north of my home. The Kniterate folks had asked me to be a Kniterate ambassador. I was excited to both demo the machine and do my design work at the office. Less than two weeks after my machine was delivered, however, New York went on covid-19 lockdown. I wasn’t to see my machine again for another three months, when I was able to have my machine moved to my home studio. So in June 2020 I began working wi ..read more

  A two-color tuck pattern My previous post on tucks in machine knitting was certainly not the last word! In this post I focus on these two important points: Placement matters when designing with tucks. There’s an easy workaround for a jersey tuck pattern on the Kniterate. Tuck stitches can be created on any type of machine — manual, punch card, and electronic machines. They are often used in combination with other techniques, such as slip stitches, cables, and colorwork, to create complex and intricate patterns. The swatch above, knitted on a Kniterate, combines colorwork and tran ..read more

  Two-color cardigan stitch variation, knitted on a Kniterate Ah, the tuck stitch! You gotta love it. Seriously. We machine knitters only have four basic "stitches" (knit, purl, tuck, and miss). Two of them are actually the same stitch (knit and purl) seen from opposite sides. One of them (the miss, a.k.a slip or skip) isn't really a stitch, though knitting a stitch when you meant to miss the stitch would make a huge difference in most projects. That leaves the tuck. It’s a versatile stitch that can add dimension when combined with a number of techniques. Fabrics made with tuck stitches ..read more

  My default hat pattern, knitted on a Kniterate With double jersey jacquard, I consider this hat a Kniterate special. I first made this pattern in the 80s on a Studio Bulky 8 machine. I keep making it because it’s a great way to make use of gauge swatches and failed trials that most knitters have lying around. The pattern actually first began as a failed gauge swatch. I was taught to make them big, 100 needles x 100 courses. At this gauge my rectangle is considerably larger. If you plan to knit this as a way of using up test swatches, you may need bigger swatches than you’re used to mak ..read more

  Lemon yellow plated on peach sweater with hand embellishment Plating is a wonderful effect I never seem to use often enough. It’s also a very easy technique with the Kniterate. Generally, plating requires a separate guide, hole, or slit in the yarn feeder to hold the plating yarn in a constant relationship to the main yarn. The yarns knit simultaneously. Since the relationship between the yarns remains the same throughout the knitting, interesting effects can be achieved, especially on rib fabrics. On the Kniterate the two cotton yarns are threaded through separate tensioners then com ..read more

  Pattern 60 from Knitting Lace by Susanna E. Lewis imagined as a sleeve NOTE: Shortly after I posted this, I learned that Susanna E. Lewis had passed away. Susanna was a fiber artist, an author, and my teacher at Parsons School of Design in the late 80s. We were recently in touch again and she enjoyed hearing about Kniterate. She sent me her Knitting Lace book that prompted me to explore lace knitting a little more in depth. I will miss her. I was recently asked two questions about knitting on the Kniterate from two different people. The first person, who has access to a Kniterate, want ..read more

  Knitted on a Kniterate to my surprise! Both of these swatches were knitted on a Kniterate. Each was a surprise in its own way. As I see it, unexpected swatches fall into two categories. Category one - Did I design this? The first type of surprise swatch is created when I imagine a stitch pattern and carefully enter my knitting sequence into the design application. When I drop the swatch from the machine, I barely recognize it. (By the way, this scenario plays out with punchcards, too.) Tucked, racked, knitted on a Kniterate This tan 100% wool swatch was my first surprise swatch on the ..read more

  “Lace is composed of three elements: openings, lines, and solid areas,” state Susanna Lewis and Julia Weissman in A Machine Knitter’s Guide to Creating Fabrics. Frankly, my experience with “true” lace, the type made by transferring stitches laterally, is limited. Creating those openings means making transfers, and transfers can be tedious on a hand knitting machine. Before Kniterate, I stayed away. Over the years I’ve admired the beautiful knitted lace made on hand knitting machines. Decades ago I owned a Singer 360 which could transfer a stitch to an adjacent needle and knit it in one ..read more