knitting machine

I find lots of sweaters that I would love to knit, but simply don't have enough time to knit. After pining away, I finally came up with a solution. I decided to get a knitting machine. Much easier than slowing down time. I found a 50% coupon for Michaels and bought myself an Ultimate Sweater Machine. I watched the DVD and thought, wow that doesn't sound too hard. I had read mixed reviews about the USM, and it seemed like people either hated it or loved it. I was hoping I would be one of the people that love it.

I spent most of the next 4 days screaming at my machine and almost breaking the carriage . I was not loving it. My first mistake was not waxing the keyplates. The video did not mention using the wax at all. I was taking a break one evening, and wondered to myself what that round circle of wax was for. Ooooohhh, you have to wax the keyplates! Well after doing that it worked better. Not perfect, but better. I was able to knit about 5 rows before the whole weighted hem came crashing down on my bare feet. Note to self: wear shoes while machine knitting.

Suddenly on day 5, something clicked, and I was magically able to knit without jamming the carriage or dropping any stitches. Yay! I accomplished something meaningful!

Last night I attempted to write my own sweater pattern. I spent about 2 hours knitting the back on my machine, and when I cast off, I realized that the armholes were way too long. Alas, I had to frog. But I was much happier to lose 2 hours of work, than a month's worth of work if I had knit it by hand.

Tonight will be my next attempt with said sweater back, this time with much shorter armholes.