Knitting Machines 101

Knitting Machines 101

Knitting machines come in 4 “sizes”. These sizes are determined by the thickness of the needle and the distance between those needles on the knitting "bed". Each "size" has an optimal weight of yarn it likes to work with.

Machine “size”	Distance between Needles	Number of Needles	Yarn weight to use	Comments
Fine Gauge	3.6 mm	250	Very fine, almost thread-like	Produces a very fine, very light weight fabric
Standard Gauge	4.5 mm	200	Fingering or baby weight to sport weight*	Produces a light weight garment. Perfect for baby things, socks or sweaters that will be worn inside. Because of the highest number of needles, stitch designs can be pretty intricate.
Mid-Gauge	6.0 mm	150	Sport weight to worsted weight*	Produces a fabric that is most like a hand knit look.
Bulky Gauge	9.0 mm	110	Worsted weight and bulky weights	Produces a thick, heavy fabric. With fewer needles to work with, intricate stitch designs will not work.
* The heavier weight yarn that is acceptable for a machine is only advisable for stockinette, any patterning may cause the carriage to either not knit smoothly or to jam up and not knit at all. It is advisable to use yarn weights at the lower end of acceptability. Another note: You can use a smaller-than-recommended yarn on any machine, it will just result in a looser gauge. I.E. You can use fingering weight on the bulky machine (You'll get a looser weave) but you can't use bulky yarn on the standard guage machine (you will jam the carriage.)

Knitting machines come in 3 levels of automation: Manual, Punchcard (automatic) and Electronic (automatic).

Level of Automation	How it Works	Price Level	Comments - Pros/Cons
Manual	All manual operation, no automation	lowest	There is a plastic, portable model perfect to see if machine knitting is for you, or if you like to take your knitting with you. Pro: Least Expensive Con: Plastic, less sturdy machine with no automatic capabilities
Manual – upgradable to automatic	Basic machine is manual but an electronic carriage is available	medium	The machine bed is metal and sturdy. The carriage that comes with it is all manual, and also has the functionality for intarsia knitting. The electronic carriage upgrade makes this machine the same as a full featured electronic machine. Pro: The basic unit is a sturdy machine with a lower price. The basic carriage includes intarsia. Con: Can’t think of any :-)
Punchcard	The mechanical workings of the machine rely on punched cards for pattern knitting	medium	A card with your pattern punched on it (like a player piano), the machine reads the pattern and automatically selects needles for pattern knitting Pro: Lower price for patterning abilities Con: You are limited to a small. (24 to 30) number of stitches per pattern repeat.
Electronic	The electronic workings of the machine rely on one of three "brain" options	highest	These machines are modular in that you buy the machine bed and then you get to decide on one of three options for it's "brains" (the mechanism that controls the automatic knitting). Brain Option 1: Your own computer with the Design-A-Knit software and the appropriate cables Brain Option 2: The PC10 - a mini computer that attaches to the machine and contains the software needed to create your own shapes and stitch patterns. Brain Option 3: The Silver Concept - a box that contains a cut down version of Design-A-Knit software (you can create your own stitch patterns, but no custom shapes) With options 1 or 2, you can design very intricate patterns and unusual shapes (e.g. dog sweaters, asymmetrical or side-ways knit sweaters). Pro: No limit on number of sts in a pattern. Easiest means of storing patterns. Interact with the computer for ease of keeping track of where you are in the piece. Cons: Highest price. Need a computer with DAK or “Concept” box to enable the automatic patterning.

Random Notes

The “beginner” machines are probably the manual ones that don’t do anything fancy—they just make stockinette stitch a whole lot faster than doing it by hand.
If you are pretty sure (but not totally sure) you want to do this knitting machine stuff, you might want to get the Mid-gauge manual machine that is upgradable to an electronic version. With the basic part of this setup, you can learn how to use the machine and get a feel for what it can do. Then if you want to go further, you just have to purchase an electronic carriage (the thing that goes across the needles and results in knit stitches) and then, one of the "brain" options mentioned above.
If you are not sure at all you will like this, but are really curious and want to give it a shot, get the LK150, the manual, plastic, portable machine. This is a great little machine, that, although all manual -- thus the learning curve is pretty flat :-) is still a pretty versatile machine.