Thursday, March 18, 2010

Knitting Machine Woes & Triumphs

Ok ~ so I bet you can't guess what I did? huh ~ huh ~ huh ~ bet yah can't .... well, all right, maybe the title DID give it away! Yes, it's true, I DID buy a knitting machine. ok, ok, I'll be honest. I bought three. No, wait, I only bought two, the nice lady at the garage sale threw the other one in ~for Good Measure~.

punch card knitting machine,knit king auto KK98

Yes, it's true ~ I can now knit at LIGHTNING SPEED!!! MWWAHAHAHAHA And guess how much $$?? ( Cuz you know it's not really a deal until you can brag to all your friends & acquaintances about what a DEAL it was...;-D) $25 bucks each!!! Yup, $50 bucks for the two, and third one thrown in for free!

AND....wait, there's more! If you ask now, I'll ALSO include the model #'s AND let you know how much they are worth on the current eBay market!!

:-D (that's a cheeser, in case you were wondering)


Well, twist my arm! Ok, so the OLDEST FREE-BEE is a KnitKing Auto KK98 punchcard. And there is a Brother ( Brother & Knit King are one & the same) on eBay right now just like it going for $1499.00!!!

punch card knitting machine,knit king auto KK98

WOO-double HOOOOO! And I tried that baby out, and it makes lace, and does these funky tuck stitches and slip stitches and stuff BEAUTIFULLY! Plus, it wasn't that hard to figure out. ( it took me all of 2 days....but I admit it, I was a bit obsessive about it...nevertheless... hah! 2 days!)

knit king auto KK98




punch card knitting machine,knit king auto KK98

The next one is a KnitKing Compuknit IV (essentially a Brother KH940). It is basically like this one on eBay. Please note the $2500.00 price tag. (Mine was $25 too, hehehehe, minus about 4 zero's!!!) Mine came with all of those gadgets too, even two G-carriage's, an intarsia carriage, and all sorts of pattern disks & this garter bar thingy ( haven't used that yet), and a color changer doo-hickey, and even a funky old square disk reader.

knit king compuknit IV,brother KH940

garter bar,knitking knitting machine


The instructions from that were SO funny:

"An introduction to the floppy disk ~ .....there is also another quite separate memory in your machine called "RAM", which allows you to program your own stitch pattern designs.....the disk will accept information from the knitting machine quite happily."

We all know what a quite sad disk will do ~ or what we will do to it, ( didn't they used to sell sledge hammers with Win95 ??)

Yes, this one took me three or four days to figure out... it was a doozy,



BUT
I have played around on it and produced some REALLY pretty tuck stitch patterns, a funky lot of slip stitch examples and some cool thread yarn knitting that looks so fine I am gonna use it for baby clothes!!


AHAHAHA ~ all of that size 10, 20 & 30 bedspread crochet thread that I have been hoarding will actually get USED.
So eat THAT, Wood Genius! HAH! ( I may now have to get more... wouldn't want to run out... colors, this could go beyond Christening layettes....hmmmmm)

knit king compuknit IV,brother KH940

knit king compuknit IV,brother KH940

knit king compuknit IV,brother KH940


knit king compuknit IV,brother KH940

knit king compuknit IV,brother KH940

knit king compuknit IV,brother KH940

knit king compuknit IV,brother KH940

knit king compuknit IV,brother KH940



knit king compuknit IV,brother KH940



And lastly, but certainly not leastly, I ALSO got ( for a measley $25, might I remind you all ... hehehe my bargain diva prowess is PROCLAIMED!!) a KnitKing CompuKnit Bulky (again, the same as a Brother Electronic KH270).

knit king compuknit Bulky,brother KH270

Which, there is also one of THOSE on Ebay as well, going for... guess it.. guess it...

$3145.00!!!

WOO HOOO!! doing the happy dance~ arm pump, butt wiggle, neck jive HAPPY DANCE!

So yah. And so it goes. In fact, I am going to have to haiku this. Sorry, you know me, those haiku just sorta roll on out ~

Three knitting machines
five days of intense study
a lifetime of yarn.

Oh that's so appropo. I just hope Wood Genius doesn't see it. He might regret handing me that $45 cash out of his pocket last Saturday at the garage sale. ( I only had $5 on me) Of course, if he hadn't, I might have had a heart attack right then & there. And then he'd be stuck doing his own laundry and making light conversation with total strangers..... sympathetic to the sad ordeal of cleaning out my ~Stash~...es. ( I have multiple stashes... but let's not discuss this right here & now, eh?)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMYGOODNESSSAKESALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am DULY IMPRESSED!!

Way to go MAMA!!!!

The deal is awesome, and the products of the deal ROCK MY FACE OFF!!!

GORGEOUS lace and knitting!!!!

Majestic Lane said...

It's official! I am JEALOUS!

redhead83402 said...

LaWanda & Majestic Lane ~ THANK YOU!!!! You made my day!!! I am SOO justified now!!
~Red

MajesticLane said...

Red - guess what...I just inherited (sort of) one of these. Knitking Compuknit IV. Can you help me?

redhead83402 said...

majestic, I am so sorry, I never saw this posted question ~ if you get back & see this, let me know if you are still interested in help, I can definitely help you out ~ I will also go onto BYC & see if I can't find you there ~
so cool you inherited one!!!!!
~Red

Hillpehle said...

I just picked up a knitking auto kk98 at an estate sale.Totally clueless on using it. Any links to videos?