If you have ever used or seen a domestic knitting machine, you have seen the weights hanging on the knitting that's coming from the machine. These weights make sure the stitches on the needles don't jump up and drop. The rollers of a Kniterate serve the same function.
Right underneath the needle beds, two rollers catch the fabric and pull it down. The amount of force with which they pull the fabric down is called the takedown.
In this article, you'll read how to work with the rollers and how to set the amount of takedown in the design app.
How much takedown is needed?
The amount of takedown you need is highly dependent on the yarn and knitting technique you're using. Below are some tips for how to adjust the rollers to solve certain issues:
- If stitches are dropping during transfers, try increasing the takedown.
- If stitches are breaking during transfers, try decreasing the takedown.
- If your using stitch sizes higher than 10, use more takedown. (not for transferring stitches)
Here are some guidelines for you to use:
| Situation | Suggested initial takedown |
| Plain single jersey or double jersey |
300-400 |
| Jacquards | 300-400 |
| Rows with transferring stitches | 0-50 |
| Row before rows with transferring stitches | 50% of takedown |
| Last row after many consecutive rows with transferring stitches (This little tug can help to avoid dropping stitches) | 50-100 |
How to set the takedown
In the option columns, select the 'roll' (rollers) cell of the row for which you'd like to adjust the takedown. Change the takedown by typing the value you need, for example '300'. The takedown for this row is now set.
To easily set the same takedown for an extended number of rows quickly, set the takedown in the top row that you'd like to adjust. Drag the red square in the bottom right corner of the cell down to set the same takedown for all rows selected while dragging. See recording below.