You're Never Really Prepared
You're never really prepared for how painful it will be when your Kniterate arrives. We've all read through the challenges and woes of others and make all efforts to reassure ourselves that it cannot be that bad. Well it can be, it was and I'm sure I'll have quite a few bad days ahead of me.
Lesson learned #1: It is going to suck. This is not a plug and play machine where you'll be churning out garments within a few hours of setup.
Recommendation: Get yourself a v-bed knitting machine (i.e., Silver Reed) while you wait for the delivery and learn all you can. Trust me, it'll start to click and some of the tricks I learned from my Passap & Silver Reed have paid off.
Lesson Learned #2: The state of your Kniterate on the factory floor will not be the same as when it arrives. My machine apparently had a rough ride across the Atlantic and it was a bit of a mess.
Recommendation: Accept the fact everything will most likely be out of whack and go straight to the troubleshooting recommendations…check the feeder distance above the bed, adjust the clump switch, make sure the feeders clear the needles, etc.
Lesson Learned #3: The software is getting better with a long way to go.
Recommendation: Don't try to be a hero and create a new swatch on your own. Get an existing buck that closely matches your yarns. Seriously stay in the 6-7 NM range and save the grief. Study in detail and take notes on all the variables that worked for the yarn(s) that yielded a successful knit. This is going to be your recipe book going forward. Also, sign up for O'Jolly's courses to compress the learning curve.
Lesson Learned #4: You will get angry, curse the world, Kniterate and a family pet or two. You will want to send off a scathing email to Kniterate (take it from me, you'll feel bad for doing it; especially when you start to yield results shortly thereafter). I spent roughly 40-hours over four days with approximately 100 cycles and just now starting to yield passable single knit with 1X1 and garter stitches. It's a start. Taking what “wins” I can get at this point.
-
Well done for getting a few samples out.
It takes a lot of time and effort to get used to the software and the machine and all the settings and variables can be a nightmare but it comes eventually.
We are having a community call on Friday if you want to join although if you are in the US the time might not be great but we can change it for future sessions.
Laurence
0 -
Love this - thanks so much for posting :):)
Whats this Community Call you mention, and what timezone? Is there a group for this?
Tim
0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
2 comments