You lay the yarn across stationary latch needles, and then slide the carriage, which pushes the knitting forward , closing the latches and the new stitches are in the hooks. Then you push (manually) the knitting back behind the needle latches, which opens the latches again, and lay the yarn in the latches....
It actually goes pretty fast.
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| You can see the yarn laying in the hooks right of the carriage. You can see the 'fingers' pushing the knitting out over the new yarn. |
People who like intarsia, or hand manipulated lace, would like this machine. It's 5mm pitch, so passap and superba tools work with it. You could also knit two separate pieces, with two separate yarns, at the same time. Hmm. What comes in pairs? (I know! Socks!) Seriously, You could knit both fronts of a baby sweater, mirroring the shaping, at the same time. Who wouldn't want to do that?
Okay- I saw an episode of Hoarders, and I'm Never watching that again. And knitting machines are NOT cats. But I have avoided counting them (the knitting machines, that is.) It might be time to count.
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| Custom 131 |
Today, I will review the earliest (20's through 50's) machines: There's the knitomat, the Custom 131, the twinmatic, and the Fleischer Fast Knitter (not really a machine, but not really a knitting loom, either.) I probably need to include the AutoKnitter here. A Steber, too.
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| Fleischer EME Fast Knitter Illustration |
That's enough counting. It's better to knit, don't you think?
16 comments:
"...knit two separate pieces, with two separate yarns, at the same time."
What's this? Wow! Sure would like to see that in action.
When you do, please bring out the video camera! :)
I was wondering if you happened to have pictures of the instruction book on the e.m.e fast knitter? Someone i know has one but it doesnt have the book.
Hi. Just wondered if you know who made the custom 131 knitting machine? I found one, but need a manual for it and I am not sure who made it
Thanks so much!
Molly
I have a Pdf copy of the instructions.
molly Cosgrove: custom 131 was made by passap.
Alisia hale: The e.m.e. fast knitter came with a small pamphlet that unfolded to two loose sheets. I had one once, but have not seen it in a decade. Going on memory.
V: would live to have that. swuerschmidt@gmail.com
To all- sorry that I did not see these comments earlier. Have updated the blog to let me know when people come calling.
S.
Here's the link to the Fleisher's EME Fast Knitter PDF instructions:
http://doctorwhoscarf.com/drwho/machine/FleisherEMEFastKnitter.pdf
Just posted the link to the Fast Knitter instructions.
http://doctorwhoscarf.com/drwho/machine/FleisherEMEFastKnitter.pdf
Thanks for the link to the FastKnitter pdf! I am inspired to put a small project on it.
Do you have the manual for the 160. There is a link to download a manual for the Knitomatic but it's a different model and different set up from the 160. Thank you (: izazbz at yahoo
Molly, did you ever get a manual for the 131? I acquired one and it came with everything including the original documentation.
Hi Eldorin, I would love a manual copy for the 131! there is one available to me and I would love to see it before I decide to drag another machine home
Eldorin, it would be amazing if you could submit a copy of that manual to http://machineknittingetc.com. The only copy of the manual for that machine I have seen is in German. It would be lovely to have an English copy available as well. :-)
I apologize it took so long to do, but the manual was very yellowed and brittle, and I finally got a better quality scanner that I could get good images from the pages. I was able to scan it in and have uploaded it to machineknittingetc.com for The swiss Custom 131 knitter.
I just found the manual! Thank you for doing that. I was trying to translate the German one with dubious success. Woot! Now I can figure out how she works. :-)
I inherited a Custom 131 from my grandmother. I haven't found any information on it. Does anybody know of the value?
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