Knitmaster 700

Knitmaster 700 knitting machine with optional lace carriage

Great machine this, simple to operate and easy - ok not the best looking but Knitmaster never were great in the aesthetics however, if you want a workhorse then this is it. The Knitmaster 700 has the built in Knitrader 7 and its a handy facility if you just want to concentrate on awkward patterns ie lace for instance - you can get on with the job in hand and just knit. I am very impressed with this lace carriage, it knits and transfers at the same time, so it gets my vote for ease of use, and as with most lace patterns are great for summery tops now is the time.

Knitmaster LC2 Lace Carriage

I used a basic sleeveless KR7 pattern and have produced a garment (wonders never cease). I love this machine for its ease if use and I did not use my motor once. The lace carriage does fancy lace as well but you have to remove the yarn to transfer, the same switch for this gives you a free move so its easy to set up your punchcard. If you were about town doing a demo - this is a handy beast, and whatever you produce looks good, especially lace. As with all punchcards, patterning is easy when you know how (not things I use a lot ) but I can appreciate their flexibility and quite understand that many designers use punchcard machines - great for portability too.

24 Stitch Punchcard system

The one thing can be said about this patterning system, unlike the mylar sheets, you can easily get 24 stitch punchcards and I have so many I dare not take stock (most came along with the machines either donated or bought). Come to think about it, my Passap Duo punchcard collection is enormous, and its not down to me either, for me to think about punching 24 stitch cards is bad enough but 40 stitch, no chance. One thing I did do though was to punch a single line of one by one holes just for the picot edge transfer, took about a couple of minutes and then the Knitmaster lace carriage simple transferred and knit in one go, what more could one ask for. I have a good few ribbers for the Knitmaster machines mainly SPR 50’s but luckily enough a dear friend gave me a SPR 60 ribber and it was new, so that’s the one I use when using any of my Knitmasters, and of course don’t forget the unusual facility only included as standard with Knitmaster ribbers and that is the ability to produce pile knitting. It has many uses I am sure, but must confess I have never used it myself - hey good idea ie my next project perhaps - wonder if you can knit towels.

So very easy to knit with

Now I have a confession to make, yes I did finish the basic knitradar sleeveless summer top pattern but when I knitted the front after finishing the back, I looked at it and realised there was something not quite right, and guess what, I had put the punchcard in the opposite way, and lace was produced but it was flat and boring compared to the sort of raised pattern produced when the punchcard was inserted the correct way around - soo damn it, I had to start it again...one of these days I will get it right first time.