Knitting Machines galore since one is never enough, photo tutorials, and knits gone wild

In our house, Bill usually cooks and I thankfully do any household task as far away from the kitchen as possible. I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself and the children. I choose not to whenever possible.

I’d much rather weed the yard than cook a bird. I can spend a few hours yanking unwanted greenery and the garden stays nice for a month.

With cooking, it can take me awhile to think of what to eat, make sure we have everything so it can be eaten, prepare it, and then face mucking up the leftover mess.

And like clockwork, everyone just gets hungry again in a few hours.

I’ll take the claw tool in a heartbeat. Since the kids will gladly clean the kitchen rather than go anywhere near a hoe, I’ve got it good.

Let’s look at three basic ways of judging the quality of a used knitting machine, beyond an inventory of missing parts.

1. Slide the carriage off the needle bed and look at the underside.

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Our mission is specific. We want a knitting machine good enough to get the job done, yet cheap enough that we can bail if we don’t like it. We are looking for a machine with acceptable downside risk.

My focus today will be on Japanese metal bed knitting machines. I only recently got a Passap and will need more time with it before I can comment. The plastic bed Bond works for many but not for me.
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Even by Pacific Northwest standards, November has been soggy. In the last week, my yard has been drenched with over ten inches of pouring rain.

Most people think it rains all the time in Seattle. Our weather is actually much more complicated. It mainly drizzles, a lot, from October through May, with bouts of solid rain, overcast, and sunshine thrown in the mix. It can hail in the morning, drizzle, and then be sunny all in the same day.

From June to September it rarely rains. It is a constant battle to keep the grass alive. This summer was so bad my lawn died in ugly patches, never again to emerge from dormancy.

All that rain-free summer weather makes for great garage saling. Between April and late fall, I can usually find two knitting machines. Some I keep and some I part out. I find new homes for the rest.
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While waiting for the doctor to come into the room, Bill took out the Wednesday crossword puzzle. After a bit, he asked me for a seven letter word for soft wools.

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Socks have been my favorite project for several years. Quick, portable, soft, and beautiful, they are perfect to knit in public while waiting on the kids.

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I’ve taken such good care of you. Bill rescued you from the thrift store. We cleaned you. We oiled you with Ballistol. We brought you in from the cold garage.

Why do you keep misbehaving?

I need to make a sample so everyone can see how great you are. Even at your age, you still have so much potential. Please be a good girl and stop jamming. I want to show our visitors what you can do.
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In late summer, Bill found a vintage Passap Duomatic, or Pinkie, disassembled and dumped in a battered shopping cart at the local St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store.

Being a husband always on the look out for a wifely present, he promptly pushed it to the pricing dock and crammed it into his Honda Civic.

His timing was perfect.

Not a week before I had responded to a Craigslist ad and was generously given a more recent Passap Duomatic 80. It was in great condition. All it needed was a thorough deep cleaning to remove the sticky old oil. I was too nervous to take it apart because I wasn’t convinced I could put it back together.

Then the Pinkie arrived and became our guinea pig.

Bill and I worked together reviving the machine. He disassembled.  When we got stuck, I searched the internet for solutions.

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