13 Sep 2022

Machine Knitting Book Review September 2022 Edition

posted in: machine knitting, Uncategorized | 0
selbu patterns

I am going to review some books I find to be great resources for machine knitting. I have tons of old machine knitting books, but I realize knitters do not always have access to the old out of print books. There are many newer books which are great resources. First book up for review is Selbu Patterns by Bardsgard.

Selbu Patterns: Discover the Rich History of a Norwegian Knitting Tradition with Over 400 Charts and Classic Designs for Socks, Hats, and Sweaters
by Anne Bårdsgård | Sep 21, 2021

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Trafalgar Square Books (September 21, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1646010884
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1646010882
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.64 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 1 x 10.5 inches

Selbu Patterns is a large, heavy, hardcover, coffee table style book. The photography is great. It is printed on thick glossy paper. It even has a satin ribbon book marker. The book is for hand knitting, but it is mostly charts which translate well to machine. Some designs are small repeats which would work on a punchcard, while other designs are very large and cover half a cardigan. All designs/charts show several repeats (not written out as one repeat of the pattern), so if you are making a punchcard, you will have to break the design down to a single repeat to fit.

The book starts out with a very short section about the history of knitting in Norway. This is followed by a collection of master patterns (socks, hats, sweaters). The master patterns are written out for hand knitting. There are no schematics or line drawings showing the item/measurements.

The majority of Selbu Patterns is knitting design/charts. These charts can easily be imported into Designaknit Graphics Studio and used for machine knitting your own personal knits. Many of the motifs are quite small and would work great for mittens, socks, and smaller items. It is easy to mix and match designs to your own liking. Some designs are slight variations of others, but overall, I think it is a great book to add to your library.

selbu patterns
selbu patterns
selbu patterns
Satin page marker
8 Sep 2022

Machine KNIT Shawl

posted in: Uncategorized | 2
machine knit passap

Lots of knitting going on here but I haven’t had time to blog. I hope you are also getting lots of knitting done! I have a quick shawl pattern to share. I knit the shawl on the Passap E6000, but you can use any double bed electronic knitting machine and Designaknit. I have included the Wincrea .bmp file too.

This pattern was made from necessity. I needed a quick shawl for a trip I was going on. I literally designed, knit, and washed the shawl a few hours before I was leaving on my trip . Finished width 24″. Finished length 71.” I knit mine in black and light grey so it would go with everything. I added the KNIT text on the borders, but you could delete the text if you don’t want it on yours… You could also shorten the borders on the top and bottom if you wanted to cut off some length…the borders are 4″ on each end if you are knitting in 2/30 yarn.

Machine set up is 80 stitches (40-0-40) double bed and total of 1000 lock passes on the row counter (250 pattern rows). The files are for Designaknit and Wincrea. I knit mine on Passap E6000 knitting machine in double bed jacquard T186. This is a double bed tuck technique which results in a wide width. (If you knit on a different machine or with a different technique, it may end up narrower and shorter.) I used 2 strands 2/30 (2 strands/cones of each color). Both end needles go on the back bed with T186. Tension for cast on 4. Knit tension 4.3. I do use a comb and weight with the T186 tuck pattern.

I have the .stp Designaknit file and Wincrea .bmp file on my Dropbox for you to download. Click HERE to access the files. (You can knit this with 2 strands 2/24 (double strands each color) or one strand (each color) 2/17. (The 2/17 lambswool from Uppingham is nice for UK knitters). Thicker yarn will make a wider/longer shawl if knit with T186.) Also for a wool option in USA, Jaggerspun 2/18 works single strand and the Jaggerspun Heathers 2/8. I do not find the 2/8 to be itchy. It is cheaper than the 2/18 Merino and I love the Heathers colors. You may knit this pattern and sell your knits. Please do not share the files but direct people to my blog for them to download. Thank you.

passap knit shawl
passap knit shawl
8 Feb 2022

Journal 6 and Wincrea Software for Passap

posted in: machine knitting, passap, Uncategorized, wincrea | 0

If you have an E6000 and want to create and download your own stitch patterns to your console, there are currently 2 free programs that will do exactly that.

Journal 6 is open source free software for the Passap E6000. The software will download your designs to the console and much more. Journal 6 is available to download from Github here. The software developer also has a Passap card reader technique calculator on her website here. There are also some other resources on the PassapPal website.

Wincrea is much more basic compared to Journal 6. It is just a color chart/graph where you can make and import designs. I do not use it but I do make .bmp files of my designs (from Designaknit) which will work with Wincrea. You can download Wincrea here .

Now the question is what cable do you need to go from the console to the computer? The information for making your own cable for Journal 6 is on page 8 of the software instruction manual. Richard Croucher makes a simple, affordable cable that works with Journal 6, Wincrea, and Designaknit. Richard is in the UK but ships worldwide. He also sells the console download chips and a cable switchbox. The switchbox is a must have in my opinion. It will allow the cables to always be plugged in to the console which will avoid wear issues with continual unplugging and plugging in. Contact his wife Anne here or contact me for their email.

Distinctive Knits in the US also sells a switchbox but I think theirs may only be for the Designaknit cable. You would have to contact them to see if they sell a Journal 6 or Wincrea cable (or if the current Designaknit cable will work).

I could write an entire post about download cables. There isn’t really a “buy now” link to find the cable you need. I have seen some people find a Journal 6 cable on Amazon. You need to do some research for the specific cable or post in the very helpful Facebook group for Passap for current where to buy information.

Regardless of which software you use, be sure to also download the instruction manual and read it thoroughly. If you are looking for software for downloading, stitch design, garment design and more, invest in Designaknit. There is a demo version for Designaknit on the Softbyte website. Designaknit cables may work for Wincrea and/or Journal 6 but I have not tested this recently…

How do you know if you console will accept downloads? Connect your cable to the E6000 console and the computer (this may also work without the cable plugged in). Turn the console on, then wait until the WAIT message disappears. The console should say PROGR, then press ENT, display shows ERASE press ENT again, the console says CAST ON. Press cast on number- example 3 and then ENT. Console says ALL STPATT press NO. Console says STPATT A now press the unlabelled key, and finally the Zero key. The console should show PC START or error 213. If it doesn’t do that, it probably means that it doesn’t have the chips that are required for accepting a download.

You can buy download chips from Richard Croucher and install them yourself. They are require no soldering, just careful insertion into the console. You can read more info on chipsets on Diana Sullivan’s blog. I do believe her husband may do Passap console repairs, battery replacement, and add download chips. Distinctive knits and PassapUSA may also sell the download chips. Do some research for purchase because they are all the same and the prices are all over the place.

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