Faster Fair Isle on the LK 150 Knitting Machine

[@lorrainefield3842]

So well taught. Thank you for giving the settings for the KH260 as well. Icelandic jumper patterns - here I come!!!

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thanks so much! Have fun with it!

[@crivensro]

Thank you so much for such a wonderful, fantastic video! I am a beginner machine knitter and I am deeply impressed by your very clear explanations with the high quality shots.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thank you so much! Let me know if you have any questions.

[@fridamartextiles]

Absolutely fantastic video!! Very clear and easy to see what's going on and understand. This is SO exciting! It really opens up vast new possibilities for the plastic mid-gauge machines. Thank you so much.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thank you! It was harder to explain it than it is to do it. It goes very fast once you get into the groove of it.

[@maribelsoto6552]

Oh my gosh this is amazing 🤩 the beetle makes the patterns so easy

[@suzannehaney966]

One of the best instructional videos I've ever watched... you have a gift for teaching! Bought you a coffee

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thank you so much! I appreciate your kind words and of course the “coffee” (code word for yarn.) I love doing Fair Isle on the KX350!

[@HJKelley47]

I can't thank you enough for these vids for the LK150 using the Needle Beetle (needle selector). Got my LK150 off Ebay over 10 yrs ago, and have not used it often. Your vids open up so many wonderful opportunities to put my machine to use. I tend to use my Bond Elite (7 mm), my Brother 395 and 260 machines, but now WOW!!! Your vids are detailed, and you make them easy to understand. On these three machine I tend to make sweaters, blankets & socks. This patterning understanding opens up broad horizons for machine knitting. Am buying you a cup of coffee!!

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thank you so much! I have many fancier machines but I find myself going to the LK 150 or the KX 350 all the time. This Fair Isle method is easier to do than the one in the manual and the Beetle makes it fast. No time spent counting out needles for Fair Isle patterns. It’s great for tuck stitch also! Thanks for the coffee! I really appreciate it!

[@AnnaHaferman]

Also, if you happen to be in Tennessee, join our Nashville Machine Knitters group on Facebook.

[@dianetaratuta8065]

Merci!

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thank you so much Diane!

[@jackiehenits5239]

Thank you so much for your videos. After watching you, I am ordering the Needle Beetle. You have elevated this simple machine.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Great! It really is a game changer. I'm thrilled that Kriskrafter has these. If you have any questions about the Fair Isle or the cheat sheet, feel free to ask.

[@pashawasha47]

This is genius - I wrestled with my KX350 to get one fair isle sleeve done and never went back to finish the sweater it was such a bear. I have hope of finishing now!

[@AnnaHaferman]

Yes, the way it shows you to do it in the manual is extremely confusing.

[@fcgn1908]

Wow. Just got my LK and I'm feeling nervious. You have made this look so simple. Thank you. I have the needle beetle on order.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Don’t be nervous! Just start slow and play around with it before you start a real project. When I do a new project, I often do it with inexpensive yarn to start and after I’m comfortable with the technique I try it with the good yarn.

[@fcgn1908]

@@AnnaHaferman Thank you. What kind of yarn winder do you have that gives you those "cone" holders? I see now that mind is removable. Where do I get spares?

[@AnnaHaferman]

@@fcgn1908 It’s a vintage Knitking or Brother jumbo winder. There’s one on eBay right now- not my auction- it has an orange base.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Try eBay. Are you a member of the LK 150 groups on Facebook? That’s a good place to ask around because someone will know for sure.

[@boza-fp5mw]

This is helpful, thanks for your hard work.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thanks for watching!

[@annecain3301]

Thank you for another inspirational video. My Needle Beetle is on order. Regards from the U.K.

[@evy6648]

Very nice video Anna. Thank you for doing this. I'm waiting for my LK100 to be delivered. I guess if I want to do this patterning I need the intarsia carriage. Another thing on my wishlist. Also will put the needle beetle on the list. 😊❤

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thanks! This does not use the intarsia carriage but rather the regular carriage. It’s different on the LK 100 as the levers are different but you can still do it.

[@SuperPixelated]

Such a great tutorial Anna. So concise and easy to understand. 👏👏👏

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thank you so much!

[@yolandabenavides8628]

I’m amazed. At what you can do with the knitting machine. And the beetle . The design came out beautiful. Good job! hope you can show more step by step. Thank you!!

[@nataliabegutova9391]

Thanks for the wonderful workshop

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thank you for watching!

[@lsweeten1971]

I am new to knitting and have only used needles which makes the knitter think stitch by stitch (or repeat by repeat) when working a project. Seeing you work on a knitting machine certainly adds a different perspective to pattern interpretation.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Yes, it’s definitely a different way of doing basically the same thing!

[@phillipahinde]

Many thanks,interested to know if there is a maximum number of float stitches that is advisable, will there be holes in the knitting as colours change. Thank you for these videos they are a game changer

[@AnnaHaferman]

Shorter floats are better but it really depends on what you’re making and how it will be used. If you are using the Needle Beetle it works on 8 stitch repeats so you wouldn’t be able to have any more than a seven stitch float.

[@christinamccollum2926]

Aha thanks for the inspiration on how to use my Needle Beetle for fair isle! Thank you for another fantastic video!

[@jojogamesug6596]

Thankyou very much for sharing knowledge dear, it works with my 8 button knitting machine

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thanks for watching!

[@jojogamesug6596]

The pleasure is mine dear

[@florencecox2022]

THANKS FOR THIS VIDIO. BRILLIANT IDEA. HOPE TO TRY THIS SOON. THANK YOU.❤❤

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thanks so much! Let me know how it goes!

[@crivensro]

I have watched your wonderful video again and I have the following 2 questions: - Have I understood correctly that the needle beetle can only select pattern repeats of 8 stitches (or 2x4, or 2x2x2)? So if I have a pattern repeat of 6 stitches, or more than 8, I will have to manuelly select all my stitches in a row, correct? - What about mosaic knitting (hand knitting) patterns: can I convert them for machine knitting? And can I use the needle beetle for selecting them too? May be you would be interested in demonstrating such a conversion if it is possible to do? Many thanks again for fantastic tutorials!

[@AnnaHaferman]

Yes, it will only select 8 stitch patterns, or any combination of 8 stitches such as 3,1,2,2 or 1,3,1,3 or 2,3,2,1 etc. I have never done mosaic hand knitting but you can knit mosaics in machine knitting. Converting from hand knitting to machine is not always possible and sometimes it can be done but is extremely labor intensive and not any faster than doing the technique by hand.

[@nadinedonovan989]

I am so happy to see this video! I definitely want to try this. I have to get more computer paper so I can print it out. Thank you for all your time and effort. I really appreciate it.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thanks for your nice words, Nadine!

[@judypowell5607]

Thank you for your video. I enjoyed it very much. I'm wondering if it could be even faster to select the purple stitch needles first for the needle beetle to move since there are fewer of those needles overall?

[@AnnaHaferman]

Hi! I watched it again and I did start with selecting the purple needles on the first row. However, it doesn't really matter because you alternate each row between selecting purple and pink. It doesn't really matter which color you start with; you just have to make sure to select the opposite color than what is in the feeder. So, if you wanted to start by selecting the pink ones, you would want to put the purple on the right and the pink on the left.

[@PVB95]

Love this video. I have a pattern that has a row of just one color. Could you tell me how I would work that

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thanks! Here is a video that shows how to deal with that scenario: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWrRlnubjLeoY9Esi=6sqwZ3wrCe1t_TuV The pattern in that video has two rows of one color so I numbered the chart differently. With yours having only one row, you might end up with the carriage on the wrong side for the next row, so you could either just add a second plain row (if it works for the design) or picking up the carriage and moving it back to the other side each time.

[@svndfyyve8120]

I’ve watched both of you Faster FsirIsle videos. Your instructions are easy to follow and learn. Question: How would you take care of long floats?

[@AnnaHaferman]

You can lift them onto a needle and attach them to the back of the knitting, you could line the project somehow or avoid long floats by modifying your pattern. It would depend on the project.

[@vkritis]

Hi. I find your videos and educational style exceptional, compared to many others who are trying the same. This particular Faster Fair Isle video using the needle beetle is indeed one of the best I found on the subject if not the best. I had a question about the Jones knitting patterns book though. I have downloaded 2 parts following your link but unfortunately, the patterns detailed for knitting in those PDFs (not their corresponding colour images) start from something in the four hundreds or so... the one you explain in the video (143) cannot be found in either part other than its colour image. You seem to have a hardcopy of the original book. Were you aware that this is the case with the downloads, or am I totally incapable of finding the references?

[@AnnaHaferman]

The book has over 1000 stitch patterns; the first batch is in color and the corresponding diagrams are at the back of the book. So pattern #143 is on page 338 which is page 149 of download # 2. The black and white stitch patterns have the diagrams next to them. I'm sure they did it this way because color printing was more expensive than black and white. If you can find a hard copy of the book, it's really nice to have. The same book was printed with a couple of different covers and names.

[@vkritis]

@@AnnaHaferman Brilliant! I got it. Thank you so much! You are the best!

[@norachilders8930]

Thanks for this well done video. Can you demonstrate a way to do intarsia on the LK150 without using an intarsia carriage? Is that possible? I'm new to machine knitting and just got the Silver Reed.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Diana Sullivan did a video on how to do intarsia without a carriage on just about any machine. It involves setting the carriage to slip which on the LK 150 is to have the back levers pushed forward to the circle icon. The front levers are also pushed forward to II. This method is kind of neat but it does require several passes of the carriage for each row which could really add up if you had several colors per row. Here is her video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZOngqqZd5Wpg9k There is an intarsia carriage available for the LK 150 but I don't own one. I would like to try one out but probably won't get one any time soon since I have a lot of other machines with intarsia carriages. The intarsia carriage for the LK 150 is called the AG11. I believe there's also an older model called the AG10.

[@barbarapalmer6230]

Recently I purchased a second carriage for my LK-150 so that I could have 1 color in each carriage. Do you think that 2 carriages would work? I guess I need to try it to see. Thanks for the video.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Yes, it will. Thread them both and park on the right. The first carriage should be on Hold on the left and Slip on the right. The second carriage should be on Slip on the Left and Hold on the right. I only have one LK 150 carriage but I have done this with the KX 350. I’m going to do a video on this soon. One issue you run into is the two carriages take up a lot of real estate on the needle bed so you can only work a narrow piece of knitting unless you extend your needle bed.

[@lazygun7122]

Thank you for the tutorial. We just got an lk100. Will this method work on the lk100 as well?

[@AnnaHaferman]

The LK 150 does not have a hold lever, but if you pull needles to hold, it will hold them. It has a slip lever that you have to hold down each time you knit (unless you could tape it in place or something.) So, yes, you would just have to pull the needles you want to hold, knit from right to left, switch colors, and then holding the right slip lever knit from left to right. Try this and make sure it works. I don't own an LK 100, so I can't test it out.

[@lazygun7122]

@@AnnaHaferman thanks for the fast response. I'm excited to finally at least have a machine. I watch all your videos! So excited to follow along. Thanks again!

[@aymonharris5783]

Different than hand knitting! 😮

[@AnnaHaferman]

Same result, different method!

[@ednabester4495]

Hi. I LOVE YOU. Will this fair isle be knitted easier with 2 carriages?

[@AnnaHaferman]

Yes, but you will lose a lot of space on the needle bed with two carriages and the Needle Beetle, so you will be limited as to how many needles you can use.

[@kathyoudsema3325]

I went to the website for the Jones knitting pattern that you used. The graphs for the patterns begin at #401. The pattern you used #143 is not shown in the graphs nor are the first 400 stitch patterns. Any idea where we can find the first 400 patterns?

[@AnnaHaferman]

Hi, the graphs for the first 400 patterns which are printed in full color are at the end of the book.

[@misspotential]

@@AnnaHaferman this needs to be a pinned comment because I was looking for it to follow along for at least 20 minutes thinking it was an upload error for the PDF lol love this thank you!

[@AnnaHaferman]

@@misspotential Thanks; I put a note in the description box.

[@misspotential]

@@AnnaHaferman thank you so much! Your videos are so valuable for new machine knitters I just love them! Would you happen to know any US sellers that would have the white rod for the tension mast? I recently purchased this machine and it’s missing the white rod

[@AnnaHaferman]

@@misspotential Is it the LK 150? Try countryknittingofmaine.com She might have one.

[@MyUnchartedChuckles]

very clear loved the video.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thanks! Be sure to look at the one called Faster Fair Isle Edge Stitches to learn how to get a nice edge using this method.

[@knit_ted]

Very helpful. Numbering the rows by 2 really kept me on track. The one thing I struggled with occasionally was getting a long float at the edge from leaving my yarn below the last need rather than moving it above

[@AnnaHaferman]

I will address that in a future video. It's easy to do but just too much information to get into the first video. Basically, on your right to left pass of the carriage, make sure your first needle knits and your last needle floats. Then when you come back with the other color, the needles will be in the correct position to do the opposite. This makes a nicer edge. I will try to get this recorded sometime this weekend. There's a little trick to it to make it easy but too hard to explain in a comment.

[@AnnaHaferman]

Here's how to control the edge floats and get a nice seaming edge: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZ_FeH-Ad8-eZ8k

[@hildabutler9271]

Brilliant this is so good

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thanks for watching!

[@323352]

Hello, I just watched your video for doing jacquard. it is very well explained. Nevertheless I see that you take the models from a catalog but on this one the numbering of the lines starts at 1 and is numbered from 1 to 1 and you make a diagram that starts at zero and goes from two to two. how do you manage to transpose, Besides, do you know if we can find this catalog to buy it? Thank you in advance for your answers . Regards

[@AnnaHaferman]

Hi, the book is an old 8 stitch pattern book. You may be able to find a used copy but it is available for free download. machineknittingetc.com/jones-8-stitch-knitting-pattern-book.html Copy the stitch pattern as it is, then number it from the bottom starting at 0, 2, 4, 6, etc. These numbers correspond the number your row counter will show before you select your needles. The numbers and colors are to help you select the needles and keep your place in the pattern as you are knitting. If you have more questions, please ask. I’m guessing that you might speak another language than English and it might be difficult to understand my American colloquialisms, so please ask. I will try to explain it further if necessary.

[@323352]

@@AnnaHaferman Hello Thanks for your quick response. I will do as you indicated to me, that is to say renumber the rows from zero and from two to two. I think I'll be fine. Thanks again for your explanations. Regards

[@323352]

Good morning anna ! Always happy with your videos! I see you enjoy working with the Jones catalog. also could you explain to me how model number 8 is made? i dont understand the inverted u shaped symbols! Thanks in advance. cordially

[@AnnaHaferman]

@@323352 Those are tuck stitches. Set your carriage to hold. Push needles into hold at the bottom of the upside down U, then knit the number of rows. The top of the U indicates where those tuck stitches knit off. The way the pattern is drawn doesn't look exactly right to me but it may have been specific to the original punch button machine that this book was written for. I do not have one of those machines, so I'm not sure how it works. I will try the pattern and try to figure out how it would apply.

[@323352]

@@AnnaHaferman Good evening. I thank you very much for your explanations which are always very clear! I hope my comments are understandable as I am French and I use a translator to write to you! thanks again

[@user-uk9gw9il6o]

Does this work the same as using a punch card. Is it easier cos my machine is a Brother with a punch card I don’t have a beetle thingy 🧐

[@AnnaHaferman]

Fair Isle with a punch card machine is much easier. The machine will select the needles and you don’t have to switch colors either.

[@veguecolep]

You always change color on the left? Is it a rule or depends on the chart? And you change the needles when your cartridges on the right always?

[@AnnaHaferman]

Select the needles on the right. Change color on the left. Because two passes of the carriage equal one row of knitting and the way the levers are set, you are knitting the stitches of one color on the first pass and the stitches of the second color on the second. There are some exceptions but generally this is how it works with this method of Fair Isle. There are other methods but this one is the fastest. See my brick stitch video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWrRlnubjLeoY9E

[@veguecolep]

@@AnnaHaferman super... it's just confusing to me.. but your videos are super helpful... I also understand that the needles you push forward is the opposite color of the one you are knitting... right?

[@AnnaHaferman]

@@veguecolep Yes. If you draw out the pattern like I showed and follow the steps it will work. It will become less confusing after you do it a few times.

[@veguecolep]

@@AnnaHaferman super! I will try all this tomorrow.. thank you so much!

[@jesspattphotos]

Wonderful video! Thank you. Random question: where did you get the yarn holders you’re using? I need to purchase some of those.

[@AnnaHaferman]

They came with one of my yarn winders. I put a link in the comments to a very similar winder. I think it only comes with one cone, but it is detachable so you wind the yarn on and then detach it so it sits nicely on the table.

[@TheLixistar]

What if we need to do more than 8 stitch pattern ?

[@AnnaHaferman]

You would need to select it by hand. The Needle Beetle only works with 8 stitch repeats. Thanks for watching!

[@marypolish2743]

I'm confused!!! My Jones book does not match yours!!! The patterns instructions start in the 400"s ???? Mine has the same front cover as yours but not the pattern numbers :(

[@AnnaHaferman]

The charts for the patterns shown in full color are at the back of the book.

[@dianetaratuta8065]

I Want to retourne my machine but i change my mine because of you. Thank

[@AnnaHaferman]

I’m glad you decided to keep it! It’s difficult when you first start but it gets easier the more you practice!

[@shirleyfranciscasantostorr4418]

Como consigo el seleccionador de agujas?

[@AnnaHaferman]

Kriskrafter.com

[@juliacannings509]

Can’t get needle beetle in Uk

[@AnnaHaferman]

You can, but you have to order it from the lady who makes them in the US.

[@elidarodriguesvizzotto451]

Bom Dia esse carrinho vermelho serve maq 155 fio grosso por favor me responda em espanhol seu idioma eu não sei por gentileza

[@AnnaHaferman]

Não falo espanhol, mas se você está perguntando se o Needle Beetle funcionará com o Sk155, a resposta é não. Você pode copiar e colar em um site de tradução para sua informação. translate.google.com

[@moulevolubile8818]

Waouh ! Thanks so much !

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thanks for watching!

[@cruelcimmcia859]

Niceeee !

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thanks!!!

[@rimshadesigner6086]

Beautiful i like you 👍🔔🔔👍💖💖💖

[@AnnaHaferman]

Thank you!

[@rahimamacrameart6409]

Mam plz uploaded baby frock video

[@AnnaHaferman]

Someday I will!

[@marthaloaiza7759]

En español

[@AnnaHaferman]

Sorry; my Spanish is not good enough to do a video in Spanish.