March 2020: in attempting to fill a request for a punchcard repeat, I am finding added ways of looking at the topic, will share in a later “revisit” post.
This technique combines holding with the slip stitch setting. When KC is set to slip it is the punched holes/black squares that result in needle selection and stitches knitting. Blank areas in cards or mylars are slipped/ skipped.
my mylar repeats for each segment
the swatch before pressing knit side
the purl side
the dimensional texture is flattened out when pressed
the purl side, flipping the shell shape horizontally
using a yarn with memory and tighter tension would help retain the 3-dimensional quality if that was the original intent
A bit on method: the repeat used for the hand technique in the previous post was changed to an even number of rows, with other adjustments.
The execution was in a brick configuration 
. all knitting begins on and moves right to left; needle bed may be marked to help track repeats
. for straight side edges program second mylar repeat first; I knit my sample on needles 22L – 34R
. some needles will need to remain OOW, cancel end needle selection = KC II
. COL: first selection row is done L to R with the yarn color used for the next shell sequence in A feeder
. COR: the machine is set to hold non-working repeat groups, and the KC is set to slip <->; in the half-repeat working the first half-shell takes place on the first 7 needles on right
. COL: when the top of the repeat is reached the orange row will be selected left to right
. COR: after needle selection of previously held stitches happens on that row, bring the total number of stitches for the next repeat on the left into work manually, knit one row across the 21 needles
. COL: stitches in the yellow area will be in B position; bring all stitches to their immediate right to hold, then the “yellow group” to work by hand, continue to knit in the same process across until the horizontal row of shells is completed
. COL: program machine for full, alternate pattern repeat (bottom of mylar) for a row of all whole shells
. COL: depending on personal preference, holding may be canceled for the first selection row, or stitches may be pushed back to D position and carriage kept set to slip <-> before knitting back to right and resuming working on each pattern unit
. COR: repeat process, working on groups of 14 stitches at a time from left to right
. COL: on completion of the row of full shells return to the first program, continue the process until the desired length is reached
To match casting on and binding off I often start with waste yarn, make the decision as to how to end the piece in a way that I like based on my test swatches, then rehang the stitches from the first row and treat them as I did those in the last row of knitting.