Knitmaster 580 and Designaknit 7 Lace
I needed a refresher course on downloading and knitting via Designaknit 7, I have a Knitmaster PE1 so that makes it relatively easy, uploading is simple though annoying as you can only upload one pattern at a time. Downloading into the PE1 must be the easiest exercise ever, and once in the PE1 you have to save the download on your card. The only thing I have problems with and this applies to all machines is the drawing or in my case copying of lace patterns in Designaknit and then either downloading or knitting them, and it drives me absolutely crazy as I have never been successful once in doing this, I must seriously be missing something.
PE1
With the 580 and the PE1 its even worse, the pattern I chose came from one within the Silver Reed lace patterns, so it should in theory anyway, just download and knit, but no such luck. I am not talking about trying this just once, I tried for over 10 days to see if I had missed something, I tried searching the web for info and I even went so far as asking Softbyte UK for help (silent response at that time, but to his credit Matthew Bragg did contact me and we had some correspondence via email to try and get to the bottom of this problem – that was well over a year ago now and I have heard nothing since).
Simple lace, ie knit and transfer is the method, so I downloaded into PE1 then saved and tried to knit, but the PE1 does not recognise this as lace and this is where I suspect the problem is. To eliminate the machine, I used a lace mylar sheet and this knitted without problem, I also transferred a lace pattern onto the PE1 without using Designaknit and this knitted without problem, its only when you do it via Designaknit that I have the hassle, its almost as if the PE1 sees it as fairisle.
I have researched every bit of info within the software; I have followed religiously the instructions but still no dice. I suppose the next step has to be trying the exercise out with the Brother 940 machine. Anyone out there can help, I would be pleased to hear from them, (I wont go into the countless times I have tried to copy a punchcard lace pattern from a magazine into Designaknit without any success no matter what machine I use. All this apart, this has to be one of the best buys ever compared to what the badged Silver Reed machines are selling for nowadays.
Update
This week I drafted in a simple lace pattern into Designaknit and then downloaded it to the Brother 940. Eventually I was able to knit with it, and seemingly it was because the main carriage had to start from the left side – anyone who knits lace with the Brother knows them main carriage begins on the right hand side – so I knitted 2 rows from the right with the main carriage set to slip and the switch on KCII and this worked – very strange.
Where did I get Brother lace patterns with Designaknit?
I have been asked on Facebook forum where I was able to get lace patterns for Designaknit.
I downloaded all the Brother Stitchworld books from that wonderful site –the files were in DK format.
http://machineknittingetc.com
However note the lace patterns do not appear as lace patterns in Designaknit – they appear as fairisle. Now this could be some shortcoming on my part – I certainly hope so. One thing about me is I am not afraid to be proven wrong.
