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

Silver Reed LK150
Let's explore this fun, versatile machine.
Whether you're a devoted metal bed, electronic machine fan, or a machine knitter looking to expand your horizons, you may be surprised at what can be accomplished with the humble LK150.
Let's explore together!
Let's explore this fun, versatile machine.
Whether you're a devoted metal bed, electronic machine fan, or a machine knitter looking to expand your horizons, you may be surprised at what can be accomplished with the humble LK150.
Let's explore together!
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. . 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..
My apologies ..I wasn't able to stream LIVE this morning. Here's a recording of the material I planned to cover
LearnLK150.com
Glossary
Lk-150 Classroom
Needle Beetle from KrisKrafter
Lk150 course bundle
Buy an LK150 from Knit it Now
Buy an LK150 Intarsia Carriage from Knit it Now
Videos
Needle Beetle
Lk-150 and DAK
Extend an LK150
Links mentioned in the video
LearnLK150.com
Glossary
Lk-150 Classroom
Needle Beetle from KrisKrafter
Lk150 course bundle
Buy an LK150 from Knit it Now
Buy an LK150 Intarsia Carriage from Knit it Now
Videos
Needle Beetle
Lk-150 and DAK
Extend an LK150