toypup wrote:
"Shannon" wrote in message
...

This may sound stupid but are you sure the second yarn in properly
threaded through the yarn feeder? Are the needles for the contrast color
pulled out to the correct position? That's all I can think of. Shannon
(Ontario, Canada)


Thanks for the replies. It was properly threaded. I gave up and started
over. Halfway through, I had to unravel and the problem started again.
Thinking about it, the first time I unravelled was when it all started, so I
figure it was the tension, but I couldn't figure out how to get the tension
just right after unravelling. I tried cutting and tying the loose yarn to
end of the piece near the carriage so that it was mostly pulling from the
cone instead of loose yarn off the floor and that worked.


Good thinking! You do need tension on the yarns as they feed - but
neither too much nor too little. The need for tension will be
different when doing fair isle, then for plain knitting, and different
again for tuck stitch, and of course, different for ribbing.

Part of this is getting to know your machine. Pulling from the cone for
tension is a temporary fix because as the cone becomes smaller, the
"pull" changes. Mainly, you want to have the yarn feeding freely from
the cone, then apply tension as it passes through the tension wheel on
the mast. When this is set the way it works best, make a note of the
yarn, the stitch, and the tension number in a little notebook for future
reference.

Good luck with your knitting.

--
Joanne
stitches @ singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth
http://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/