Leah

From a Knitting Newbe too, I certainly appreciated your "ultra" assistance
with your response to Pauline. However, I have two questions that I have
searched everywhere for. I purchased an "almost new" machine and am
curious regarding needles, about every fifth needle is sorta stiff, or, not
as
loose as the rest; although this does not seem to affect movement of the
carriage.
Nothing in the manual mentions this, which makes me wonder if it is normal
to others.
Should all the needles move in the same smoothness?
A circle of Wax was included, and directions show where to apply it. But, I
don't know how to get the wax where the needles go into and through the KP.
The hunk of wax is too large to rub it into the small canal. I've sort of
shaved it into
the particular areas of concern.

Thanks for any assistance.

"Leah" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 7 Oct 2006 22:38:28 -0400, (Judy P) wrote:

Hi Pauline, I have a sweater machine too..Haven't made any thing on it
yet.. What I have tried, has ended up on the floor... I hand knit and
crochet..

Judy

It sounds to me like you might be in too much of a hurry when using
your machine. I've had an ISM for over 10 years, and the USM carriage
for 3-4 years now. New knitters I've helped with their ISM/USM have
dropped work most often because they were in too much of a hurry to
get the row done and end up with dropped stitches because pushing the
carriage too fast makes needles jump out of alignment ahead of it, so
they don't knit right, and the work can drop as a result. If your
work drops really early after you cast on, it could be that your hem
didn't drop down properly after the first row, causing the knitting to
bunch up and then drop. Try tugging very gently on the hem after you
knit the first row to make sure it's hanging freely under the machine,
especially if you did a closed edge cast on, because R1 tends to be
quite tight when doing an E wrap.

Another problem Bond newbies have is that they either pull the yarn up
too tight at the beginning of the row or not tight enough, so side
edge stitches don't knit right and can drop. You want it snug, but
don't yank the yarn too hard.

Another issue that Bond claims with their new higher tech plastic is
that the USM no longer needs to be waxed for use. I don't know if
they've even put that into their instructions, but as a seasoned ISM
user, I can tell you that when trying out my USM KP and carriage, I
found that it definitely needed to be waxed. Get an unscented 100%
paraffin white wax candle. It should be unscented because essential
oils used to scent them can stain your yarn, same with a dyes to make
a colored candle. You can find the little white unscented tea lights
in almost any store. Pull it out of the metal tray and wax the area
where the needles go into and through the KP. If your carriage is
jamming on the retaining bar rail at the front, wax those joints
before beginning each large project (say after each sweater). I also
wax the back of the machine where the carriage hooks in on the top of
the joints and at the backs of the joints to help the carriage slide
more freely. With continued use, your bed and carriage will loosen up
a little bit and be overall easier to use, but if you find it getting
stiff to work again (and noisier than you remembered it being), try
waxing it again, especially if you let the machine sit a couple of
months between projects.

Another issue new Bonders have is they are either holding the carriage
to the bed too tightly or not tightly enough. You want the carriage
to glide freely, but not bounce.

It's also very important to make sure there is no tension on the yarn.
Pull out enough yarn to complete your carriage pass, and if you run
out, stop the carriage and pull out enough. I usually pull out enough
for 2 rows, then repeat. Some Bonders use a fishing tool called a
line stripper to quickly pull lengths of yarn for knitting out and
have it shot into a basket before working, so they don't have to stop
and pull out more yarn while knitting. If you try and use it straight
out of a center pull skein, it results in tight rows, which can result
in dropped work.

If you are dropping stitches on the same 1-2 needles, then it's quite
possible that in man handling your machine, you bent one or more
needles, so it's not knitting properly, and the work will drop in
approximately the same place consistently, so check for bent needles
if you're dropping in the same area.

Also, check your hem. If you don't have a ravel cord and are just
using the thin elastic that comes with the machine, you might have
nicked your hem, which can cause dropped stitches, as can outright
cutting through it. Also check to make sure your weights are
distributed evenly in the hem. If the hem leans down on one side, it
can cause stitches to lift on the other side of the bed and eventually
fall off. Also, and I've done this myself, check the instructions to
see you are putting the hem on right. Until I got used to it, I
dropped my work, because the hem wasn't hung on the machine right.

For more hints and tips using the ISM/USM, you can visit Steph
Thornton's page he
http://www.stephthornton.co.uk/knitt...t/listhint.htm
It has a lot of goofy patterns offered for free (and one quite
annoying poster who is obsessed with using multiple dots instead of
proper punctuation), but there is also a ton of helpful hints and
tips, like using a crochet hook to "latch up" the rib instead of that
really annoying hooked "latchet" tool. I use a G or H hook to do up
worsted weight rib, I or J for bulky, and E or F for baby/sport/DK.

Another terrific site for Bond techniques and tools you can make
yourself is found at Heidi's Knitting Room, just don't let the glaring
RED background get to you LOL:
http://www.heidisknittingroom.ourfamily.com/

I hope that helps, because once you get used to your machine, it
really cuts down on the boring stocking stitch sections of knitting.
FWIW, I made 3 adult hats very slowly with my USM carriage before it
loosened up, meaning the sharp edges of the plastic started to wear
down from use so the carriage moves more smoothly across the bed, so
working the back of an adult sweater should do it, or do several
experimental swatches 50 stitches by 50 rows with stripes, lace, fair
isle, intarsia, and cables, which can be made into pillows or sewn
together into an afghan, which might be easier for you to handle than
the frustration of dropping half of the back of an adult sweater off
the machine.

Leah