...W.I.P. Wednesday...Knitting Machine Update...disasters...frustrations...and finally success...

...well...I promised a follow up to the Knitting Machine...and I finally got around to trying it out...

...I set it up in the laundry room...following the directions in my nifty internet found manual...

...and I realized that the machine didn't come with this elaborate tension arm - it's supposed to mount on the back and the yarn goes up through a couple of little curly-que thingies...and through a tension knob into the machine...

...but I didn't have it...and although I brainstormed a little bit about how I might make one...I just decided to start knitting...

...well...that was a mistake...in no time at all I had a big mess...and the machine was stuck...

...luckily...there are instructions for taking the knitting head apart to remove jams...

...then I decided to switch yarns to a little bit more stretchy (forgiving) baby yarn...and I practiced keeping the tension with my left hand as I moved the knitting head over the bed of needles...much like a walking wheel spinning wool...not that I've ever done that...but I have seen it done...and it was sort of like that...I would draw the yarn out to arm's length with my left hand and then...keeping tension on it as I moved the head with my right hand...and just went back and forth over the needles...

...and in no time...I had 'knit' a few rows...

...so then I threaded the machine with the yarn I wanted to use...and tried again...the instructions said to knit to the end of your ball of yarn...to get used to the rhythm...so that's just what I did...

...and this is the result...front...

...and back...

...and a closeup after it had relaxed a bit...I think it's pretty perfect...

...I'm not sure what the first thing I'll knit will be...what do you suggest?

...maybe a baby blanket...this machine can only use pretty fine yarn...and I still want to figure out the lace part...

~Have a lovely day!