alessandrina.com

Because of recent changes in my life, I may be in the position of attempting to explain to some new knitters how DBJ “works”, and to offer them some suggestions on managing  the making of it. Since the machine I will be involved with is a Brother electronic specifically, I am gathering notes that are pertinent to that brand. I thought I would share some of my working notes here. The set below was gathered more than 2 decades ago, so I cannot add a specific bibliography, and information that may be gleaned from manuals is not included. This is the start of an ongoing series: 1.some DBJ rules for 2 color work, Brother machines, some adjustments need be made for more colors or for use on other brand KMs

knit slowly, watching edge stitches to ensure that they are knitting off properly. If they are not, hang the side weights on the work, and move them up every 20-30 rows

clear the end stitches on every row, be especially watchful in wide pieces, failure to do so may cause mis patterning or dropped stitches at edges

listen for the click when changing colors. On brother machines the carriage must be  taken far enough to the left for the click to occur, lining up the connecting plate for the yarn change. If color is changed without going far enough, you may either knit with the same yarn or no yarn

thread all four yarn holders, then if the wrong button is pressed you will only knit a row in the wrong color instead of dropping your work to the floor

check your yarn change before you knit each row for correct color or the possibility of 2 yarns traveling together

weigh the work evenly

be certain selection row is in correct direction (with pattern locked on punchcard), or you may end up with stripes rather than a pattern design

if you need to stop work , leave with carriage on right, it makes it easier to identify which color was last used in your sequence

do not use fully fashioned decreases as this affects the pattern near the edge stitches

reduce weights to correspond tho the number of needles in use when decreasing

work multiple decreases ie at underarms with carriage on the right, this way both sides may be shaped at once using the main yarn on right, the next color on left, thus avoiding long floats

if the design is not an all over one, continue in Jacquard for remainder of fabric, using a repeat that has 2 rows marked/punched, 2 rows un marked/punched throughout

ribs in single strands of garment yarn may be foo soft or wide, for 1X1 ribs try adding an extra strand of yarn. When completed, pick up the heel of the adjacent stitches to fill in empty needles, and knit 2 circular rows before continuing in jacquard

2X2 ribs are better suited to single strands of yarn; at the top of the rib bring the empty needles into work, rack to the left and knit 2 circular rows, rack to the right and continue in jacquard

full needle ribs are usually wider than jacquard, as an alternative the piece could be started on waste knitting, and rehung on fewer stitches, then in turn knitting the rib

the lili buttons represent an every other needle set up, so an even number of needles is required; the needle position indicators on the  ribber tape and the corresponding space between them help track pairs/ even numbers of needles in work

racking handle on P: the knit and purl needles are point to point, directly opposite each other, on H the purl needles are are halfway between each pair of needles on the opposite bed, and the latter is most often the basic needle arrangement for doouble jacquard; check needle alignment before knitting planned fabric to avoid needle damage, etc

vertical striper backing on brother kms is possible, but needs a bit of added manipulation and its own specific directions for needle set up

for thicker fabrics the needle arrangement on ribber may be for 1X1 rib, 1X3, or other configuration, pitch on P. The larger the number of needles on either bed, the closer the tension on that bed to the tension suitable for that yarn in plain stocking stitch. In this instance, the ribber tension is tightened up by one or 2 numbers. If the ribber needles are in ever groups ie 2X2, 4X4, 4X2, etc, then the lili setting may be used. This sometimes helps if the effect on the knit side tend to show noticeable vertical lines along the sides/length of the stitches created on the ribber.