For a long time I have dreamed of giving a Knitting Machine a whirl. I remember my Oma (Grandma) and my Aunty working a way on theirs and apparently my Mum had one a long time ago as well.

The week before last, I remembered my cousin had mentioned quite a few years ago that she had one she wasn’t using so I arranged to borrow hers to try out. I needed to wait for Scott to pick it up for me though as they are quite heavy. I was getting quite excited dreaming of the things I could knit up!

Fast forward to Saturday and Scott had a load of rubbish to bring to the local tip. He popped in to the ‘Tip Shop’ (which is where the attendants claim anything they think worthy of recycling and sell for a song to the public), and low and behold he found a Knitting Machine – for the grand total of $5.

I was ridiculously excited when he brought it home, but had doubts it would work considering he found it at the dump.

I didn’t wait long before setting it up – and I discovered it was in fact in perfect working order and by looks it had been very well cared for. It was packed perfectly into it’s case, no broken bits, and the needles were all nicely oiled.

So after a few attempts to get it right here is my cute little stocking stitch swatch in 4ply!

The machine appears to be either a lightweight or standard gauge machine which means I may have a little trouble with 8ply or Double Knit – but that’s where my cousin’s machine will come in handy as hers is for chunky yarn.

The machine did not cost $5 on it’s own – this is what else came with it:

A box of yarn (thin and a little smelly so I don’t think I will keep it), punch card patterns and paper patterns that all fit in the machine.

A ‘Ribber’ which fits onto the Knitting Machine to knit rib (it’s almost as big as the Knitting Machine!)

There was also a selection of humorous knitting patterns and books, but my computer is taking so long to load photos today, I’ll leave that one out!

Now that I have mastered the stocking stitch, I need to figure out the casting on/off and all of the other bits and pieces the machine can do.

Scott kindly reminded me this morning on the way out of the door that Monday is my housework day – in other words he’s worried he’s going to come home this afternoon to discover I’ve knitted the family a set of matching jumpers!

I do have big plans for this machine so stay tuned – and no, it will not involve matching outfits