Thursday, January 30, 2014

Machining along...

First sweater from the new machine - Silver Reed SK 280, a single bed, standard gauge,  punchcard machine.  My usual model has a shoulder injury, so it's a hanger shot today.


Details:  yarn was from ancient stash (15+ years?) Michell & Cie 10/3 alpaca -- I believe it may have been labeled as fingering weight when I purchased it, but it seems much lighter to me.  Which explains why such nice alpaca languished in stash for so long -- it was always meant for a husbandly sweater, but there was no way I was going to hand knit that.  Machine knit plain stockinette body, hand knit K2P2 ribbing.  Body sides and set in sleeve shaping done full fashioned -- neckline was 'cut and sew'.  Very scary cutting into that fine gauge alpaca, but I think it worked well -- two rows of machine sewn zig zag stitching held everything in place.  Neckline ribbing was knit double length, then sewn down on inside in order to cover cut edge.

I was pleased with how well the machine performed, and look forward to trying out some of its other features. 

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