Fast forward to last November. I was fortunate to bunk with my pastors wife at a retreat. She's chock full of stories and information on things that most people never ever think about. I always enjoy picking her brain and gobbling up the morsels of information. Somehow knitting came into the chat and she mentioned the recent purchase of a knitting machine -
STOP, hold your horses, did you say knitting machine?
Yes, I thought that once we finished remodeling our kitchen I'd give it a try. It looks easy enough!
Intermingled with drool came my hundreds of questions, the most important of which being "When do you think you'll try it?" The look on my face would've been enough to stop most people in their tracks, tuck tail, and run. Not Debbie. She patiently answered all of my questions, never minding the drool!
This brings us to the receipt of my tax refund. Two weeks ago, coincidentally the same day I received my tax refund, I found a "50% off any item" coupon for one of my favorite craft stores, AC Moore. Shortly after Debbie informed me of her knitting machine purchase I began pricing them at local stores and I knew that AC Moore had the best price without a coupon. Being extremely frugal (i.e. cheap) there was no way on earth I could justify spending over $100 on this. The coupon was the perfect excuse. Hooray for coupons!
The next day was spent assembling the kit and attempting to knit a few rows. The recommendations were for the machine to be mounted to a stable, sturdy table and the only one that I have that's large enough to hold it is cluttered with our homeschool books and papers. Therefore, the initial project was started on the floor. I quickly realized that the table was going to be a necessity. Fortunately, I had another project waiting in the wings to bring this to fruition!
This past week the table was ready and off I went. My first project was a baby hat, which was made partly according to the instructional video and with the yarn that came with the machine, Caron Simply Soft in yellow. It took about 3 hours to complete which includes the time to watch and re-watch the instructional DVD, read the instruction manual for further information, cast on and cast off. Not too bad. I will say that I think the machine works better with some knitting know-how, otherwise casting off would be a true chore to figure out. Otherwise, I love the machine!
I can't wait to conquer all of the projects included in the instruction booklet. They walk you through various projects to enable mastering of machine, which is fantastic in my book!
I thought this would be perfect for those of us who would like to knit on a large scale. Don't misunderstand. I LOVE to knit by hand, but knitting by hand and selling your wears for near the cost of yarn is not viable in my humble opinion. Is this wrong? Does it ruin the effect of thoughtfully made items?
**By the way, the machine I purchased is called The Ultimate Sweater Machine by Bond America. Their website claims that you can produce 20" of knitting in about 5 minutes. I'll assume this is without any ornamentation and once you're completely comfortable using the machine. **
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