So, I decided to get into this whole flatbed knitting machine thing. I’d always been kind of crafty, but knitting with needles always seemed a bit too fiddly for me. But a machine? That sounded interesting.
First off, I had to get my hands on a machine. I spent a good few days scouring online marketplaces and finally found a used one that looked decent. It was a bit of a drive to pick it up, but hey, it was way cheaper than buying a new one.
Once I got it home, I realized I was in over my head. This thing had so many levers and buttons! I found the manual, which was, well, not the most helpful thing ever written. Lots of diagrams, but not a lot of clear instructions.
- I spent the next couple of days just trying to figure out how to get the yarn onto the machine. There was this whole process of winding it onto cones, which was a pain.
- Then, I had to learn how to “cast on,” which is basically getting the first row of stitches onto the machine. Let me tell you, it took me a lot of tries. Yarn kept getting tangled, tension was all over the place, it was a mess.
- But I kept at it, watching some videos online of people who actually knew what they were doing. It wasn’t easy, but slowly, I started to get the hang of it.
Finally, after a few more days of practice, I managed to knit a simple scarf. It wasn’t perfect, had a few dropped stitches, and the tension was definitely wonky in places. But it was a scarf! I made it on a machine!
I’ve still got a lot to learn, but I’m actually having fun with it. It’s kind of cool to see how the machine works, all those needles moving in sync. I even tried making a hat, which turned out kind of lopsided but still wearable. My next goal is to try to knit a sweater. Wish me luck!
The biggest challenge?
Honestly, the hardest part was just getting started. Finding good information was tough, and it took a lot of patience to figure things out. But now that I’ve got the basics down, I’m excited to see what else I can create.
