Thread lace and punchcard knit carriage use on Brother 910_1

Yes, the 910 has no thread lace setting. I happen to also own a punchcard machine model # 892E (no idea why Brother chose to add the E to a punchcard model name). I remembered eons ago reading about someone on an Australian list actually getting a punchcard model carriage to work on an electronic machine. It is good to beware that not all carriages may be interchanged between different models, especially if the latter were manufactured several years apart.

The magnet on the back of the electronic carriage is what trips the reader in the 910. With the 892 and 910 carriages side by side, I marked the approximate spot I wished the magnet to be. It is presently in place with cellophane tape for my tests. I believe it to be a “rare earth magnet”, 12 mm in diameter, part of a jewelry piece from days gone by, with a deep attraction to all KM metal parts.

spot39the first location was too high, the pattern did not read properly place40what turned out to be a much better spot  better placea random mylar repeat mylar45the resulting fabric, on both purl and knit sides both sides

I used two cotton yarns, with a slight difference in weight. With the exception of when knitting transfer lace, the first instinct may be to use the color reverse option when the mylar repeats show lots of “white squares”. However, in this type of fabric blank squares knit both yarns; black squares or punched holes knit only the thinner yarn, while the heavier one floats behind it. The KC tension used needs to accommodate both yarns easily knitting together. When only the thin yarn knits on selected needles, the stitches formed will actually be larger in size than those where both yarns knit together, giving the “illusion” of holes.

This fabric was also at times referred to as punch lace. It is only possible in Brother machines that have 2 cam buttons in the center position, both center buttons under the MC/L mark are depressed. The punched holes/ black squares in mylar select needles that will knit in the fine yarn only. If you are using a very fine yarn for the second yarn, you may have to wrap it twice around the dial on the mast tension unit to control its feeding. Better edges are produced by canceling end needle selection or manually pushing any selected end needles back to B. If KCII is an option on later electronic models, some of the work is done for you. End needle selection may also happen as part of the design repeat, so in those instances, unless you are happy with the thin yarn only knitting on the very edge of the fabric, those needles need pushing back to B by hand as well.

selected needle

end needle camsset camsBTW: end needle selection must also be canceled whenever patterning with needles out of work is used, or needles on both sides of out of work ones will produce knit stitches regardless of programmed pattern.

If a contrasting color is used as the thin yarn in the B feeder, the results may be seen below. Note: the colors appear reversed to their position in feeders, so A (thick) color is seen more on the purl side, the B (thin) is more evident on the knit side of the fabric. The top of the swatch shows the result when blank rows are programmed into the reader. Sometimes this setting is used as an alternative to replacing the standard A/B feeder with the machine’s plating feeder (if available for your model km). Reversing yarn position can produce some interesting stripes

combo colornot all A/B yarn feeders are created equal 
sinker plates

I have always found the extra B gate on left more a nuisance than a necessity, particularly if the B yarn needs frequent changing.

Another unconventional use for this setting to produce “pretend cables”

thread_lace

It is possible to knit thread lace with the plaiting feeder in place on the single bed as well. The effect approaches glitched versions of the pattern, Stitchworld #407. This is a quick hack to keep the front yarn from slipping out of the yarn feeder The blue and white yarns are equal in weight, the orange replaced it and  is thinner

Pretend/ mock cables 2

I  had begun this post eons ago, and somehow it became a UFO. A recent discussion on Ravelry reusing elastic yarns brought this swatch to mind, and here is the start of a return to the cable pretender category.

Big Pretender: this fabric is thread lace, using elastic for one yarn, and very fine mohair for the other: a useful fabric for tightly fitting garments or garment sections, without the hand transfers or the rigidity of an all-over cabled item. The positions for the 2 yarns are reversed, so they both will knit the unpunched areas of the card, and where there are punched holes, the elastic will create floats, pulling on the knit only stitches in the alternate yarn, creating the surface blistering.

the punchcard

Some suggestions for working with elastic yarn: the nature of the fabric created when knitting with elastic, ie, in FI, is greatly affected by the yarn used, the elastic used, and the pattern being knit. Larger swatches than usual are required to estimate gauge for use of the resulting fabric in garments, at least 100 sts by 100 rows. If using a pre-drawn motif, doubling the width and height may be a quick way to make up for “shrinkage” of the pattern. As with all fussy yarns, make certain the elastic flows freely and is not getting hung up on the bottom of the cone. Sometimes, if loose tension is not enough to make it manageable, the upper tension dial may be bypassed completely. Edges of fabric will be cleaner if the elastic knits on the end needle at least every other row. This is one fabric that benefits from the use of weights. Steaming helps the elastic to spring back after finishing the piece, test small areas, and best temp on your own iron.

A series of publications using a technique published much earlier in Japanese books as swatch samples “magic cables” by Ricky Mundstock, tuck stitch, and hooking up / ruching stitches, combine to create the illusion.

more to follow