Transfer lace knitted on punchcard or electronic Brother and Knitmaster/Silver Reed machines
How lace knitting is formed – the basics:
An eyelet hole is created when a stitch is transferred to the adjacent needle and another stitch is formed in the next row by knitting across the empty needle. Eyelets form the basis of lace knitting. Working a pre-determined pattern of transfers creates a lace pattern. The lace carriages of both machines transfer the stitches in the direction of travel.
Before starting to knit
Lace can only be worked by using a lace carriage on the main bed of the machine. N.B. If a ribber is attached to the machine it must be lowered out of working position or you will damage the machine.
Brother – punchcard or electronic
The Brother machines have a separate transfer/lace carriage which rolls the punchcard forward. Both carriages remain on the machine. The main carriage is set to N-L and knits across after the lace carriage transfers the stitches.
The lace carriage can be set to:
F (fine lace), which only part transfers the stitch, splitting it between two needles
or…
N (normal lace), which creates an eyelet/lace hole when the stitch is transferred
Knitmaster/Silver Reed – standard and fine gauge punchcard or standard gauge electronic
These machines have a separate lace carriage which is specific to either standard or fine gauge machines
This can be set to:
Plain transfer lace; creates an eyelet (lace hole) when the stitch is transferred, but also knits the row at the same time. The yarn is placed in the feeder and remains there throughout the process.
Or
Fashioned lace; creates an eyelet (lace hole) when the stitch is transferred, but does not knit the row. The yarn is threaded into the feeder for the knit rows only and removed for the transfer rows.
General advice when knitting lace
Weighting is important for lace knitting; less is more, so keep it light. If there is a ribber attached, the best result will be obtained by covering the ribber and laying the knitting over the ribber rather than letting it fall between the beds.
Yarn should be strong and flexible, for example, linen is not so easy to work with; a worsted spun wool is ideal. Fluffy and textured yarns are best avoided.
Tension is critical; remember that the transfer is stretching a stitch so you may need to loosen the tension slightly compared to all-needle single bed knitting in the same yarn.
Understanding the pre-punched lace cards that come with lace carriages
On both makes of machine, the lace carriage rolls the punchcard forwards.
Brother
Red arrows – indicate the direction the lace carriage should be moved. If a red arrow is on the same row as a blue looped arrow (see below); work the blue arrow instruction first.
Blue looped arrows – indicate that two rows should be knitted with the main carriage.
Knitmaster
Plain lace – the arrow indicates the direction in which the carriage should be moved.
Fashioned lace – the arrow indicates the direction in which the carriage should be moved, and the red blocks on the right indicate transfer rows (worked with the yarn out of the feeder), and those in between (usually two) are the knitting rows.
Understanding needle selection and the method of transferring
Both machines have to be taken across the bed in a ‘selecting’ or ‘preparation‘ pass of the carriage to set the pattern in the memory. This will select the needles to be transferred and then in the next pass of the carriage the stitches will transfer in the direction that the carriage is travelling.
Brother: Needles that come out towards you will transfer.
Knitmaster/Silver Reed: You can’t see the needle selection on this machine, but on a manual machine you can check the pattern is correct by reading the ‘feelers’ on the card reader.
How the carriages travel when working lace
Brother: This machine has a dedicated lace transfer carriage that does not knit, all the knitting is done by the main carriage in separate passes. The LACE carriage is connected to the punchcard, the main carriage is set to NL and does not connect to, or drive the punchcard.
The lace carriage has to travel from side-to-side across the bed, and will have to be passed back across the needles to take it out of the way before you can use the knitting carriage to knit a row.
When punching a card or drawing a pattern, this must be taken into consideration. remember that the lace carriage drives the punchcard and will need to have these non-selecting rows included in between the transferring rows.
Knitmaster/Silver Reed: The carriage is always connected to the punchcard whilst knitting lace, however by bringing the side levers forward the lace carriage will knit plain knitting.
- In Plain Lace a row on the card is transferred and knitted in one pass of the carriage, so can be drawn as that (remembering which direction you want the stitches to transfer in and putting them on the correct row accordingly)
- In Fashioned Lace, the carriage transfers without knitting, so any knitting rows must be included in the punchcard as well as the transfer rows (remembering which direction you want the stitches to transfer in and putting them on the correct row accordingly).
Top tip The best way to understand lace is to knit a pre-punched or in-built electronic pattern so that you learn the method before attempting to design a lace pattern yourself.
Knitting Method:
Brother:
- Put both extension bars on the machine.
- Insert the card and lock it.
- Start with your carriage on the right and your lace carriage on the left.
Top tip For advanced users only. If using a colour changer this will have to be reversed, check the transfer direction of the card to ensure the pattern will still work, or adjust it accordingly.
- Work the set row.
- Carry on working the lace carriage until there is a non-selecting row travelling back towards the left. This should signify the transfers are complete.
- Knit 2 rows with the main carriage. Pre-punched cards have a double-back arrow marked on them, and it is a good idea to add this to your own cards.
Top tip Brother electronics will tell you when to knit with the main carriage if you press the yellow button before starting your knitting.
Knitmaster – plain lace:
- Remove standard carriage and install lace carriage
- Insert the card and lock it.
- Insert the lace edge cams in front of the edge needles on the main bed.
- Bring side levers forward and work the set row (usually left to right).
- Side levers back, unlock the card and knit as normal.
Knitmaster – fashioned lace: before you start, make sure the direction of the carriage when transferring will correspond to that required by the first transfer on the punchcard (see below)
Start as in steps 1-4 above, but taking the following into consideration:
| It is usual to start with your carriage at the left. |
| Knit the set row from L to R. |
| The first transfer would be from R to L and you should punch your card accordingly. |
Rows which transfer only – remove the yarn from the feeder and set the centre pattern dial to central ‘0’ position. shown in red |
Rows that knit, put yarn in feeder and set centre pattern dial to left hand P position shown in yellow. Now have a go…
|
Thank you for your detailed explanation. Could you tell me by what mechanism does the needle moves in a way to put the stitch on the adjacent needle. What does the lifting? I know the card dictates when this should be done but how is it achieved.
Hello Marian, I don’t have my machine out at the moment to run a test as we have just moved house. However from memory I can say that that as with the Brother machines, the Knitmaster/Silver Reed uses two, directional (one left, one right) flat, chamfered edge, sprung metal plate to make the transfer. The selected needles that are holding the stitches to be transferred come out from WP so that the stitch drops behind the latch, these needles are bent slightly in the transferred direction as the carriage moves across, and then this plate scoops the stitch to be transferred onto its neighbouring needle in WP which has retained its stitch in the hook. So you end up with an empty needle now in WP, which was the one that came out of the bed, and two stitches on the needles that stayed in WP. When working lace using the all in one setting, the unselected needles that remain in WP are taken through the normal knitting channel, so that after the transfer the yarn makes new loops on the empty needles and knit the two stitches together. It is easier to understand how the needles are selected for this lace transfer on a Brother machine because you can see the needles brought out on the preparatory, selection only row. On the Knitmaster/Silver Reed, even when using the P, (transfer only) setting the selected needles stay in WP, so you can’t see the selection. This is a rather generalised description, but I hope will give you some idea of how the lace transfers and different methods for selecting lace patterns are made.