The Reboot — This Time with Kniterate
Welcome to Knitting in the Fast Lane! On this hot August day in these rapidly evolving and often uncertain times, I’m so fortunate to be standing here in my home/studio/office in front of my Kniterate knitting machine.
If the name of this blog sounds familiar, you’ve been following me for a long time, and I thank you! In January of 2011 I started a machine knitting blog Knitting in the Fast Lane, where I diligently kept notes on my knitting adventures with the Passap DM-80 knitting machine.
Early on I was surprised when I was approached by a former knitwear associate, now retired and living in the Midwest. She commissioned me to knit her several sweater blocks (rectangles of sweater knit fabric with finished bottom edges). My friend wanted to cut and sew sweaters for herself, her husband, and her grandkids and hadn’t been able to source any sweater knits she found suitable.
Thus began a new phase of my machine knitting. I would use my Passap knitting machine to provide luxurious sweater blocks to people who sew. Eventually, I was able to provide yardage. I continued to develop the sweater knit fabrics, and ribbing too, and contracted local mills to knit them. (Yes, there are knitting mills in the New York City area.)
At the same time I began cutting and sewing sweater knits myself and started to experiment with and modify industry methods. Soon Knitting in the Fast Lane went on hiatus and the Crafting Fashion blog was born.
Crafting Fashion became a place for me to document my new cut and sew sweaters and to provide tips for others who might be interested in sewing them. The tips and techniques from Crafting Fashion grew into my online course How to Cut and Sew a Sweater. It was developed specifically for home sewists and machine knitters looking for step by step methods to turn sweater knit fabrics into beautifully sewn sweaters.
The New Knitting Machine
Believe me, I still love my Passap knitting machine, but I've definitely upped my knitting game. In March of 2017, I became an early bird backer of the Kniterate in the very first few hours of their campaign on Kickstarter. Kniterate is the brand new digital knitting machine with many of the capabilities of an industrial machine, yet compact enough to fit on a desktop; or better yet, a sturdy work table, as the machine is quite substantial when compared to domestic machines! The machine is a 7-cut, v-bed with 252 needles per bed. Each needle is individually controlled. It’s the machine behind me in the picture above.
The reboot of Knitting in the Fastlane will document my knitting explorations as I get to know the fabulous Kniterate. Stay tuned if you like machine knitting or are just curious as to how stitch patterns, sweaters, and knitted fabrics are designed and developed. Let the experiknitting begin!
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As a Kniterate ambassador I’d be happy to give you a virtual tour of the machine. If you’re a Kniterate owner, you may be interested in my prerecorded Designing with Kniterate classes.