From Basics to Brilliance: A Journey with the LK150 - Replay Live Archive

. . Welcome.. Thank you for joining me on this. . exploration of the Silver. Reed LK Knitting Machine.. . This is a fun, versatile machine that many. . knitters use, and you may have. been curious about it as well.. . Follow along with me,. . and we'll talk about why it's so popular. and what you can do with this machine.. . Now, before we go any further,. . I want to remind you. that Knit It Now has a Glossary.. . You may hear me use some terms. today that you're not familiar with.. . Go to the Glossary,. it's go to >learn and then down. . to >Glossary, and there's an alphabetical. listing and also a visual listing of terms. . and words that are used specifically with. machine knitting and knitting in general.. . So if you hear something and you go,. What in the world is she talking about?. . Go to the Glossary. and you'll get a definition.. . Why is this machine so popular?. . I believe one of the first. reasons is that it's lightweight.. . It is a plastic bed machine,. . which makes it lightweight,. and you can carry it around easily.. . You can take it up and down. without hurting your back.. . Many knitters will take. it when they travel.. . Maybe take it in your RV.. . You can also put it in maybe a shotgun. case and take it on an airplane.. . I've been known to do that,. . to take it to a hotel room and then. clamp it to the vanity in a bathroom.. . And voila, I've got a knitting station.. . Good lighting and nobody can bother me,. . and I can do some knitting. while I'm on the road.. . It's durable.. . It's made with a durable plastic. that can last a long, long time.. . Its needles have little. ball bearings on the top.. . If you notice here in the image,. . the pink there are these little ball. bearing caps on the needle bed,. . on the needle butt,. and it makes it easier to push. . the carriage back and forth,. so it's easy to use.. . Another nice thing about this. machine is it is expandable.. . You can expand it to , to ,. to needles if you want.. . As long as you have a table wide enough. . to support it,. you can knit wider pieces with it.. . Another big reason that this machine is. . popular is it's a great way to get. started in machine knitting.. . It's reasonably priced,. and many knitters start here and then. . quickly realize that they. want a little bit more.. . But for For now, let's have. some fun with the LK.. . Now, my partner Matt recently asked me,. if somebody already owns a knitting. . machine, why would they. want to buy this one?. . Well, there's a couple of reasons.. . First off, it's a mid gage machine, 6.. . 5 millimeters between the needles,. which means that it's going to take.... . It's going to use a wide variety of yarns,. everything from a sock weight all the way. . up to a light worsted weight yarn,. decay, fingering, everything in between.. . So it takes a nice wide range of yarn.. . A lot of knitters start with a. standard gage machine, 4.. . 5 millimeters.. . Takes thinner yarn, maybe lace weight,. . even stock weight. and a lot smaller stitches.. . So a lot of knitters like to go to the mid. gage because they can use a wider variety. . of yarns, a lot of the hand-knitting yarns. that you can buy in any yarn store,. . and the stitches are bigger and they're. easy easier to see and manipulate.. . As I mentioned before,. . a lot of knitters like to travel. with their machines, just like me.. . And this one's lightweight.. . You can put it in your motorhome.. . One of the biggest features,. I think, is that it's easy to learn.. . There are really only four things. that you need to know about this machine.. . They're not a whole lot. of buttons and levers.. . The manual is actually thin because it's. very, very simple to learn this machine.. . And another reason that someone. who already has a machine would want this. . LK is that you can. quickly use up your stash.. . Or if you're a brand new knitter,. maybe you're a hand knitter and you've got. . this huge stash of yarn. that you want to use up.. . The LK is quick and easy to learn.. . Throw some yarn at it and you can make. . blankets and scarves. and hats and whatever.. . Learn to do those really, really quickly.. . As with any knitting machine,. you can knit quickly.. . And if you've had any experience with. knitting machines, just think about this.. . You started out as a hand knitter and you. laboriously knit one stitch at a time.. . But think about knitting . stitches with one pass of the carriage.. . It goes so quickly,. and you can get things done.. . Now, can you do absolutely Really. everything on a knitting machine?. . No.. And should you try?. . In my opinion, no.. . My motto has always been,. . do the boring stuff by machine and do. the hard stuff or the fun stuff by hand.. . A really good example of that are these. . round neck, round yoke sweaters. that are so popular right now.. . Can you knit one of those round yoke. sweaters on the knitting machine?. . Well, sure.. . I personally wouldn't.. . Knit, pick up your hand knitting needles,. . knit that round yoke sweater in the round. with all the colors and all the stranded. . knitting and everything. else that you want.. . And then when you've got the hard stuff. done or the fun stuff done,. . pick up those stitches and knit the boring. sleeve, stockinette sleeves and the boring. . stockinette bodies by machine,. and you can be done in no time.. . I mentioned the word versatile before.. . Another advantage of this machine is that,. again, it takes a wide variety of yarns.. . So you might have a lot. of yarns in your stash.. . It's great.. . You can't use them all on a. standard gage machine.. . But on this mid gage,. . you can choose whatever yarn you. want and knit it however you want.. . So I mentioned that there were four things. . that you really need. to know to use this machine.. . There's only four things.. . Now, compared to this pass-up machine. . that I just got, oh, my gosh, there's. a zillion things to learn on that machine.. . On the LK, there's just really. four things that you need to know.. . The first one is the tension dial,. . the relation of this tension dial. and the numbers on the tension dial. . to the stitch size that you're. going to be knitting.. . I had quite a long discussion at one time. with a knitter who insisted that these. . numbers on this tension dial. equalled hand knitting needles.. . Well, number one, if you're thinking hand. knitting needles in millimeters or hand. . knitting needles in US sizes,. there's a difference.. . Number two, I may pick up a size five. needle and knit at a specific gage.. . You may pick up a size five needle. . in the same yarn, and your gage is. going to be completely different.. . And I guarantee you that a size,. . a number five on the LK is going. to be even different from that.. . So no, these numbers do not correspond. with hand knitting needle sizes.. . However, However, it might be a good way. . for you to knit your. get-acquainted swatch.. . A get-acquainted swatch is to take a brand. new yarn that you may have purchased,. . put it on the machine,. cast on at a starting tension,. . and then a little bit,. and feel it and see what you think.. . And then maybe change the tension. by a full number and feel it and see what. . you think, and do that up and down. the scale from 2 to 5 or 5 to 7, whatever.. . So if the ball of the yarn that you. purchased suggests a size 5 US needle,. . you might start with a five. on your tension dial.. . It's just a good starting place for where. to start to establish what your gage is.. . So the second thing that you need to know. . and really understand. are the needle positions.. . This is what controls patterns and stitch. . patterning and how your. machine actually works.. . So if you don't remember anything else. . about today, please Please really. pay attention to needle positions.. . There are little number indicators. on the left-hand side of any machine.. . This is not just the LK.. . Any machine is going to have A, B, C,. . and D, or A, B, D, and E,. or E, and F, or Q, and Z.. . I don't care what the letter is.. . It's the positions that make a difference. as to how the machine operates.. . If your needles, you see the pink needles. at the top right there are all the way. . back, those are in A position. or out-of-work position.. . That means nothing's going to happen when. . you're knitting with. the needles in that position.. . I'll show you what happens underneath. . the machine in just a second,. but stick with me.. . The second position would be your B. . position, which would be. your working position.. . So when you're knitting,. if needles are in this position,. . they're going to go through the track. underneath that carriage and. . be moved into position for them. to pick up yarn and form stitches.. . So working position is forming stitches.. . The C position is middle position,. and this is used when you are paterning.. . And those needles. . that are in that C position are going. to go through a different track underneath. . your carriage and do something else,. depending on how your carriage is set.. . And then D position is all the way out.. . This would be your hold position or. on this machine, your tuck position.. . Needles will not knit.. . So you would use this. for short row shaping.. . You would use this for bridging.. . So these four needle. positions are very important.. . I mentioned the tracks. underneath the carriage.. . As you're putting the needles. . through this carriage,. as you're passing the carriage along,. . those little round ball bearings are. traveling through these red lines.. . And across the very back here,. . you see absolutely nothing is going. to happen on this back bed here.. . So if the needles are in A position,. . they're just going to pass through. and nothing's going to happen.. . If the needles travel through this track,. they're going to be pulled out,. . the latch is opened with magnets,. the yarn will be positioned in the hook. . of the needle, the hook will be. pulled back, and a stitch will form.. . Keep this in mind as you are thinking. about the position of the needles and how. . you're setting your carriage and how. you're creating stitch patterns.. . The third thing that you must know. and understand about this machine,. . and actually any machine,. are the controls for paterning.. . In this case, it's the side levers.. . These side levers are the ones that have. the little dot in a triangle,. . and it just has a little lever. that goes back and forth.. . When. . the lever is in the triangle position,. the needles in working position will pass. . through the channel under the carriage,. and they will knit.. . Set to the circle,. the needles in the working position will. . not pass through the channel,. and they will slip and not knit.. . With the Russell lever set to single line. . like this, the needles in D. position will not knit.. . This is used for partial. knitting or short rows and tuck.. . With the lever set to the double. the needles in D position will be forced. . through the channel under the carriage,. and they will knit.. . You can create almost any stitch pattern. . on this LK machine that you can create. on other machines, single bed machines.. . Tuck, slip, ferrile, lace,. . and tarsal plating, weaving,. all of those things can be done.. . How?. . By manually positioning the needles.. . Here Here we go back. to the needle positions again.. . On the LK, in any manual machine,. when you personally position the needles. . where they need to be,. and you set those levers where they need. . to be, you can create stitch. patterns just like any other machine.. . Now, on any automatic patterning machine,. . your punch card or your electronics are. going to select the needles for you.. . On the LK, keeping it really simple,. you tell it what needles are going to be. . put into work and what needles are. going to be held or talked or slipped.. . So yes, the LK can do almost anything. . that any other machine can do,. but it does have some limitations.. . It is a manual machine.. . You have to select needles yourself.. . Now, you can do hand manipulation,. just like on any other machine.. . You can transfer stitches,. . you can reform stitches to make. garter stitches, for example.. . You can cross cables,. do all those things by hand.. . You need to do all those things by hand. . on any other machine as well, so you're. not missing out with an LK there.. . One thing the LK never had a ribber,. so you're never going to have a ribber.. . If you don't know what a ribber is,. . you've got needles on your. needle bed going this way.. . If you put a ribber,. it's like adding a second machine.. . You've got needles going this way,. so you've got knit and curl stitches.. . Stitches to do ribbing, for example,. . or any other fancy stitch. that has knit and Pearl stitches.. . Now, some people will. call the LK a toy.. . It is not designed for heavy use.. . It is plastic.. . We've got these Bell Bed machines. . that were made in the ', maybe even. earlier, and they're still going strong.. . You're not going to wear those babies out.. . You can wear out the LK, so we. always recommend that you use good yarn.. . Please don't use the hobby. store or a discount store.. . No red heart on the LK, please,. because you can wear the machine out.. . So you need to be careful that way and use. a yarn that's appropriate for the machine.. . No hand spun, no thick old. lopey hand-spun for your LK.. . It's only 6.. 5 millimeters between those needles.. . So take care of the yarn. that you're using.. . A. lot of knitters will ask for LK. knitting patterns,. and I see this quite often online.. . You have any patterns. for an LK machine?. . There's no such thing, really.. . It's just, knitting. patterns are just math.. . They're just a blueprint.. . A knitting pattern is mathematical.. . Based on your gage,. . it'll tell you cast on X number. of stitches, knit for X number of rows,. . decrease every row three times, decrease. every other row four times and bind off.. . It's just math, and it's just the same. no matter what machine you're using.. . If you want an LK pattern,. . you're going to have to look. long and hard for it.. . And what's going to be the difference. . between that and a pattern. for a Brother ?. . Really no different.. . I'm going to cast on so many stitches,. . I'm going to knit so many rows,. and I'm going to do the decreases.. . So So there's really no difference.. . And if you need a knitting pattern to tell. . you which Russell lever to push or. which side lever to push, shame on you.. . You need to learn what those Russell. . levers and what those side levers. do on your own so you understand.. . Please understand what your machine can. do, and don't rely on someone to tell you,. . push the A button or push. the C button or whatever.. . It's the same thing with this. pass-up that I'm working on.. . It's got AX and BX and CX and DX.. . What does that mean?. Tell me what it means.. . I've got to understand what's going. . on with my machine and not depend on a. pattern to tell me which lever to push.. . Figure it out on your own,. you'll be a lot happier.. . And you can use hand knitting patterns.. . You can use any pattern that give. you decent mathematical instructions.. . Now, the LK has some accessories.. . We're knitters, and we always like to buy. the latest toys to go with our machines.. . And there are some toys that you can. . purchase and that you can. accumulate for your LK.. . The first one is a second carriage,. . and a lot of knitters invest. in a second carriage for their machine.. . It makes it a lot easier if you're. knitting multi-colors.. . For example, let's see you're. knitting in black and white.. . So you have black on this side. . in a carriage, and you have white. in the carriage on this side.. . You'll knit two rows in the black,. . two rows in the white,. two rows in the black,. . two rows in the white, without having to. remove the yarn and rethread the carriage.. . Really comes in handy if you're. doing a lot of color work.. . So a second carriage is. a really good investment.. . Once upon a time, there were. ferrile carriages for your machine.. . A ferrile carriage will allow you. to put black and white in the same.... . A. ferrile carriage It will allow you to put. . black and white in the same color. in the same carriage at the same time.. . So you can position your needles by hand.. . You're still going to have to pull some. . needles out, but push your carriage across. one time, and it'll knit black stitches,. . white stitches, black stitches, white. stitches with one pass of the carriage.. . Now, I go through all that.. . Fair-isle carriages are as. rare to find as hens teeth.. . Don't you love that expression?. . They are very rare and hard to find.. . They aren't making them anymore, sadly.. . So to do fair oil on an LK,. . you need to do two passes. of the carriage for each row.. . You're doing black and white again.. . Thread your carriage up with black,. . pull some needles out,. knit the black stitches,. . free pass, remove the black,. free pass back, put in the white,. . pull the other needles out,. knit across, knit the white stitches.. . So you've knit one row with two. passes of the carriage.. . So ferrile can be a little tedious,. . but it's doable, and it's so much fun,. and it's so beautiful when it's done.. . You don't need a ferrile carriage.. . An intarsia car, a carriage that is. available is the intarja carriage.. . Now, again, it's the same idea of being. able to knit multiple colors across a row.. . Intarja.. Think about intarja as blocks of color.. . So you've got a black. block and a white block.. . You would knit that in two. passes of the carriage again.. . You could.... . So think of Intarja as color blocks,. a black block and a white block.. . With an intarsia carriage,. . you could do both black and white. in one pass of the carriage.. . You would thread up the black,. . for example, and then you would. loop or you would. . thread up the black, for example,. and then you would lay the white yarn.. . Thread up the black, for example,. in the carriage, and then lay the white. . yarn across the needles. that you want to knit in white.. . Pass the intarsia carriage across once,. . and both black and white. stitches will knit.. . Very handy for doing that type of work,. . an Intarsia Carriage,. and those are available.. . Now in In this image here, you can. see something called a needle beetle.. . This is a really thrifted, really nifty.... . In this image here, you can see. something called a needle beetle.. . It's a really nifty little accessory. that is, I think of it as a memorizer.. . The way it works is you select the first. eight needles, you do it in groups of.... . I like to think of it as the memorizer.. . You choose your needles in groups. of eight, so eight stitch multiples.. . So let's say I choose every other. needle and pull it out manually.. . I then run my needle Beatle across those. . eight needles and it memorizes every other. needle and then continues to select every. . other needle in that sequence. all the way across the bed.. . So again, if you were if you were. knitting every fourth needle out of.... . If you took every a fourth needle and put. it into position,. . you could memorize. the first eight and then go across the bed. . and it repeats that sequence. across the bed.. . Needle Beatle is something. that is also for sale.. . They're very, very handy if you like to do. . pattern work and you don't. have to think as much.. . You just remember to position your first. . eight multiples, and then it. repeats it across the row.. . Another accessory is a garter bar.. . A garter Garter bar allows you to. . remove stitches from the machine. and put them back on again very easily.. . You could do all if you. had a garter bar wide enough.. . Now, garter bars for this. machine at the 6.. . 5 millimeter are also very,. very hard to find.. . I won't say anything about hens teeth,. but they are very difficult to find.. . Look for a garter bar that's a 6.. . 5 millimeter, and you'd be able. to remove the stitches from.... . You'd be able to remove the stitches. . from the bed,. take the knitting off the bed,. . turn everything around, put the stitches. back on the bed, and knit another row.. . By turning it around, you'll now. have pearl stitches facing you.. . Take the knitting off the bed,. . turn it around, and knit it again so you. can alternate knit & Pearl stitches. . and create some garter stitch,. which would be really tedious,. . but for short little bits of garter. stitch, you could do that.. . You can I also use a garter. bar for holding stitches.. . So they're very handy,. even though they're hard to find.. . Another accessory is a patterning device.. . The one that's available for this. machine is a KR or KR .. . These, again, are no longer being made.. . They're something you'd have to look for,. but they're not so difficult to find.. . The charting device, and I believe. I have a little diagram here.. . Here's a charting device.. . If you think about it, this little device,. . as you push your carriage back and forth,. it increments your row counter.. . So on this machine, you attach. the charting device to your row counter.. . And as you knit,. the row counter, the CROCounter advances. . the paper drawing of your garment,. and you can follow the lines. . and do your increases and decreases. without thinking about numbers.. . So instead of saying,. decrease one stitch every two rows . times, you just decrease as. the little line passes the indicator.. . Charting devices are a great tool.. . If you can find one, if you're making. garments, they're really, really helpful.. . And again, they're something. It's not as easy to find.. . Third accessory,. call it an accessory, is software.. . Designinit is a piece as such as.... . So here's a picture. of the charting device.. . The LK and Designinit.. . Designinit is software. that allows you to do a lot.. . It allows you to create garment shapes so. you can create your own knitting patterns.. . It allows you to visually. design stitch patterns.. . On the screen makes it very. easy to design stitch patterns.. . Most people think of designing it. with electronic knitting machines because. . one of the features of designing it is. that you can design stitch patterns. . and then download them to an. electronic knitting machine.. . So the electronic knitting machine then. . will select your needles for you based. on what you designed in and design a knit.. . Obviously, we're not going. to do that with our LK.. . There's no electronics in our. little plastic machine.. . However, you can create stitch patterns. and stitch pattern diagrams that you can. . follow to manually pull. and select needles.. . Another thing that you can do with design. a knit is create your garment shapes.. . So you want to make yourself a sweater. that is set in sleeves with a V- neck,. . and it's got a fitted waist, and it's. A-line, and it's got a curved hem.. . No problem.. Do it in design a knit,. . and then design a knit,. you can use the design in its interactive. . knitting as a charting device and follow. the lines and do your shaping.. . You need a cable, and There is a little. magnet here that acts as. . a tripper for the charting device, the. interactive knitting part of Designinit.. . I'll link to the video and some. . of the other things I've talked about. here in the description of this video.. . So you can create stitch pattern diagrams,. you can create your garments,. . you can use the interactive knitting,. all with design a knit and your LK.. . So just because you have a plastic bed. . machine, machine doesn't mean. you're limited in what you can do.. . As you can see, you can do all the stitch. patterns, you can use software,. . you can do all the things you. can do with any other machine.. . Here's an example of the interactive. knitting screen in design it.. . So you would just follow along.. . It tells you exactly which. needles to do your shaping.. . We're shaping the top of a sleeve here,. . and it tells you exactly. where to do your shaping.. . It's saying decrease.. . And she actually has a little voice.. . She'll say, Decrease one,. left, decrease one right.. . Keeps you on track, and you don't have. to think about numbers and keeping track.. . This whole time, I keep talking about how. . easy it is to learn the LK fifty,. and it is easy to learn.. . One of the challenges is. to take it step by step.. . I can't tell you how many knitters say. . to me, I just got my machine last week and. I want to knit my son-in-law a sweater.. . Okay, Good for you.. . Can you cast on?. . How's your knitting?. . Do you want to put a stitch pattern in?. . Have you increased and decreased?. . Do you know how to put stitches and hold?. . What about binding off?. . I mean, there are so many things to learn. that but not necessarily machine-specific.. . So we've created a series of courses. that are machine-specific for your LK.. . And we do tell you, push this lever. and push that lever, unlike patterns.. . The LK Quick Start introduces you. to all the pieces and parts of your. . machine so that you know what they're. used for and what they're called.. . We go back to that whole Glossary again.. . I don't want you to be looking up,. what does she mean by a latch tool?. . Take the LK Quick Start,. . learn what your latch tool looks like,. and have it handy when you're knitting.. . The LK Fun Course has to do with what. you can do without any stitch patterns.. . It is cables, and increasing,. and decreasing, and short rows,. . and all the things that you can do. with your machine from the very beginning.. . Once you understand how to cast on and get. . some stitches on the machine,. you'll need to take a look at LK Fun.. . After that, when you're ready,. we want to talk about paterning.. . We talked about ferrile and tuck and slip. and intarsia, all those good things.. . So that's the next step on your journey.. . And then when you get really ambitious. and you've covered all of that,. . you might want to start. with a pair of socks on your LK.. . So all four of these courses are. available for you at Net-it Now.. . They are sold in a bundle.. . They're also included. with a premium membership.. . Thank you again for joining me. on this overview of the LK.. . If you have an LK,. . I hope I've inspired you to dive. a little deeper into the possibilities.. . You know you can do almost anything. that any other machine can do with your. . machine, and I hope I've. inspired you to give it a try.. . If you have any questions about an LK,. or you're thinking about purchasing one or. . learning more about how to use one,. please go to learnlk.. . Com.. . It's a sister site of Knit It Now, and. we're happy to help you way that we can.. . Happy knitting on your. LK or any other machine..