Carolyn, a knitting machine speeds up the repetitive rows and stitches so you can concentrate on putting the backs, fronts, sleeves together by hand or linker machine. If you are using fine 1 or 2 ply yarns yielding up to 10 stitches per inch, the punchcard pattern Brother KH864, Artisan JBL245 or Silver Reed SK280 machines with 4.5mm spacing between needles would be best.
2-4 ply knits best on the Silver Reed mid-guage SK160 manual or SK860 electronic machines with 6.5mm needle spacing and yielding 4-7 stitches per inch. Bulky and chunky 4 ply yarns with lots of texture knit best on the Silver Reed SK155 punchcard bulky machine with 9mm needle spacing yielding 3-5 stitches per inch. No one machine will handle all weights and plys of yarns, so you have to choose one to start with.
If you will need a ribber bed attached to the knitter for cuffs, necklines or hems, look at the Artisan 63-70 manual mid-guage 7mm double bed, or purchase a ribber attachment for the SK280 or SK160/860. Ribbers are not available for the KH864 and the SK155 above.
If you are not sure about which one to start with you could start with the Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine with 8mm between needles at http://www.sewingmachinestore.com/products/abc0303.html
Most machine knitters end up with more than one gauge machine in order to handle a wider range of yarns.
In any case you will save a lot of time once you learn how to operate the machine. Most machine knitters do sweater panels either shaped on the machine while knitting or cut and sewed together with a serger or linker afterwards.
Let me know if you have any questions about the above models which are on our website at http://www.sewingmachinestore.com/products/abc0299.html
Hope this helps. Thanks.
John M. Douthat, Owner & Tech
My wife Qun wants to start a home business knitting clothes. What machine do you suggest she buy?
-Jim
SK-160
SR-860 w/ KC860 Electronic Carriage
Stand
The manual machine and ribber will do solids, stripes, sweaters, ribbing and allow manual manipulation of stitches (lace, cables, finishing edgings, etc). The SK160 is a mid-gauge machine suitable for a wide range of hand and machine knitting yarns on cones or rewound into balls with a winder. The SK860 already has the electronic carriage, but is not operational for patterning until you add the software and cables.
The smaller knitting carriage that comes with the SK160 includes built-in intarsia capability. When you upgrade to the larger electronic carriage, you keep the smaller carriage for its intarsia functions because it is easier to handle than the larger carriage for intarsia.
You can find the electronic knitting machine carriage, Design-a-Knit software and computer cables with the addition of computer and coil cables to match your computer at:
SK-160 to KC-860 Carriage Upgrade
Design-a-Knit Software
The reason I recommend starting with manual and going to electronic at any time is to give your wife time to master the machine knitting techniques that would apply to both manual and electronic knitting. Since Silver is a modular system you don’t have to get everything at once, but wait and buy it when you are ready to use it.
Hope this helps. Thanks.
John M. Douthat
Owner & Tech
