“My Kniterate is Here! Now What?”

Last edit 2023 Sept 13

As an early bird backer of Kniterate on Kickstarter I was fortunate to receive my machine in early March 2020. It was delivered to an office about two miles north of my home. The Kniterate folks had asked me to be a Kniterate ambassador. I was excited to both demo the machine and do my design work at the office.

Less than two weeks after my machine was delivered, however, New York went on covid-19 lockdown. I wasn’t to see my machine again for another three months, when I was able to have my machine moved to my home studio.

So in June 2020 I began working with the machine for real. I’d already gotten past the starting challenges those first days at the office. My most embarrassing mistake was having a typo the first time I changed the name of a compiled design file to command.kc. (Too much excitement! Left pinky never hit the “a” on the keyboard!)

So far I haven’t heard of anyone else with the typo issue, but I’ve heard of a few common challenges and questions that new owners have, both from participants in my classes and on the Kniterate support forum.

Once the Kniterate is delivered, the owners are able to follow the Up and Running playlist on YouTube. But then what? Many instructions, explanations, and answers are in the Kniterate manual and on the newly expanded support pages. But even if you’ve read the Kniterate manual and all the support pages, it’s difficult to remember the exact answer when you need it or to figure out where to look when all you want to do is get knitting. Based on the most common issues I’ve heard, I’ve provided a little quick guidance for anyone who’s set up the machine but can’t manage to get the knitting started:

If the machine won’t turn on, turn the red emergency button clockwise.
To remove the sampler from the machine, run the warmup file.
If the Kniterate doesn't recognize the file you saved as “command.kc”, try saving the file as “command”.
Stabilize the top tensioner and reset the knot detector to clear the yarnT or yarnTop error.
To clear initial clump errors, be sure the clump detectors are pointed downward.

Keep reading for further explanations and some special tips for domestic machine knitters.

But the machine won’t turn on!

The emergency stop button could be activated. Turn the red emergency button clockwise.

HOW dO i gET THE sAMPLER OFF THE mACHINE?

Knitting without yarn will cause the loops that are on the needles to drop from the needles. Since the machine arrives with knitting already on the machine, run the warmup file without yarn. This will cause the knitting to drop from the needles. Continuing with the warm up will drop the knitting completely from the machine.

Why Won't Kniterate Recognize My Command.kc file?

Provided you haven’t made a typo as I did, it could be your computer is set up to hide file extensions. If this is so, saving a file as “command.kc” is really saving it as “command.kc.kc”, which Kniterate doesn't understand. Changing the name of your file to “command” may work because the .kc extension is already there but hidden.

Clearing the YarnT or YarnTop error

Once the machine has successfully been turned on, error messages may appear on the display screen. If all the red lights on the top tensioners are on and you receive the yarnT or yarnTop error, these are easily cleared. Either the knot sensors have been tripped or the tension arms are tripping the sensors. Ordinarily this happens when the yarn breaks or the top tension is too loose. The tension arm pops up, the light goes on, and the machine stops. But if you’re not using that particular tension arm at the moment, you’ll need to stabilize it to prevent the arm from any triggering. Gently swing the tension arm below yarn Guide III of top yarn control unit.

Each knot detector should be perpendicular to the floor. If it’s tilted, it’s been tripped during transit or setup. Gently place it back into position as shown below.

The knot detector should be pointed straight down.

A Clump Error Before Getting Started!

You may get a message to make sure all sensors have been cleared. I’m not sure how this happens, but the front, rear, or both clump detectors sometimes, somehow get rotated 180°. Gently rotate the clump detector so the pointy end is pointed down.

Update! [ETA The clump detector has been upgraded since I initially wrote this post and may not have the issue presented here. See picture below. Picture of the old detector following shows its position on the machine.]

The proper position of the clump detector until a clump triggers it

Special Tips for Domestic Machine Knitters

People with machine knitting experience often gain proficiency more quickly than non-knitters. Here are a few machine actions that domestic machine knitters, in particular, should be aware of.

Don’t expect the top tension arm to have as wide a range of movement as the tension arms on domestic machines. As mentioned above, a big swing would trip the sensor indicating loss of top tension. The video below shows how the top tension arm behaves when knitting normally.

Lateral tension control is a feature on the Kniterate that domestic machines lack. It controls the tension when the carriage moves from right to left. With a proper setting you can balance the selvages so that one side is never tighter than the other. The lateral tension arm may spring out a bit when the carriage begins its traverse to the left. Otherwise it remains pretty close to the machine. In the video below yarn 2 is knitting. Yarns 1, 3, and 4 are set up to knit. Lateral tension arms 5 and 6 are not in use and are in their out-of-work positions. Be sure to stabilize any unused tension arms by securing them in the slots close to the machine. This will prevent the yarnS or yarnSide error.

For anyone who’s ever disliked rehanging weights while knitting, the rollers are a wonderful, adjustable part of the machine that controls the takedown of the fabric. Roll settings, as they're called in the design app, have been the biggest challenge for me. Too much roll and the yarn will break; not enough and stitches may drop. The more I’ve knitted, the more I’ve learned that there’s actually a small range of takedown settings that will work for a particular design, and there are a few sequences of settings that work for cast-on, transfers, racking, and bind-off. These settings work together with stitch size. You can observe the takedown starting after the first second of the video below.

Domestic machine knitters used to Japanese-style machines, don’t forget that this is a true double bed machine. You’re probably used to thinking of the rear bed as a main bed, but when you’re ready to begin working in the design app, remember that any needle on either bed can be selected on the Kniterate.

Favorite Articles to Read (or Reread) Before Starting to Knit

You’ll also find these articles on the Kniterate support pages particularly helpful:

My best advice is to take your time getting to know your Kniterate. Enjoy! You’re going to knit some pretty amazing things!

O!

If you’re a Kniterate user, you may be interested in my prerecorded Designing with Kniterate classes. If you’re not an owner yet, I’d be happy to give you a virtual tour of the machine.