Alright, so I got my hands on this Sentro 32 pin knitting machine a while back. I’d seen a bunch of videos, people churning out hats and scarves like nobody’s business, and I thought, “Hey, I want some of that fast-track knitting action.” So, I bit the bullet and ordered one.
Getting Started, or Trying To
The box arrived, pretty standard stuff. Pulled the machine out. First impression? It’s plastic. A lot of plastic. Felt a bit like a kid’s toy, if I’m being honest. The instructions were mostly pictures, you know the type. I squinted, I guessed, I figured it out. Mostly.
Clamping it to the table was the first little challenge. My kitchen table has this annoying lip, so it took some fiddling to get it secure. You really gotta crank those suction cups down, or the whole thing wobbles when you get going.
Then came threading the yarn. Oh boy. They talk about tension. Tension this, tension that. My first few attempts to even cast on looked like a spider had a fight with a string ball. It was a mess. Dropped stitches before I even made a full rotation. Frustrating? You bet.
Actually Making Something… or Not
So, I finally got it threaded, took a deep breath, and started turning that crank. Slowly. Very slowly. The first few rows actually looked… okay. I was getting excited! Then, disaster. A dropped stitch. Then another. The machine made this awful clunking sound. My heart sank a bit.
I learned pretty quick that you can’t just zone out. You gotta watch it like a hawk. Every single pin. If one of those little plastic latches doesn’t flip right, you’re toast. Or, well, your knitting is.
My first “finished” item was a tube. A very wobbly, uneven tube with a few too many holes. It was supposed to be a preemie hat. It looked more like something a very confused mouse would live in. I undid the whole thing. Back to square one.
Getting the Hang of It (Sort Of)
I’m not one to give up easily, though. So I kept at it. I must have cast on and ripped out that first project ten times. I watched more videos. I read some blogs. Turns out, the yarn you use is super important. That cheap acrylic I had lying around? The Sentro hated it. Snagged, split, you name it. I switched to a smoother, slightly thinner yarn, and things got a bit better.
I figured out a rhythm for cranking. Not too fast, not too slow. And I learned to listen for the “bad” sounds. The little clicks that mean a stitch is about to drop. The little counter on the side is handy, I guess, for keeping track of rows, though it feels like it might break if you look at it too hard.
I also experimented with the flat panel setting. That was a whole other learning curve. You have to manually move the yarn around certain pins. It’s fiddly. I dropped way more stitches trying to make flat panels than tubes. My patience wore thin pretty quick with that feature.
So, What Did I Actually Make?
After a lot of trial and error, and a fair bit of yarn sacrificed to the learning gods, I did manage to make a few things.
- Some simple beanies: Once I got the tension right and used decent yarn, these actually turned out pretty good! Casting off is still a bit of a faff, but the main knitting part is super quick for a basic tube hat.
- A pair of leg warmers: These were okay. A bit lumpy in places where I’d rescued dropped stitches, but wearable. My kid thought they were cool, so that’s a win.
- A very short, very holey attempt at a scarf: The flat panel mode defeated me on this one. I gave up. Maybe I’ll try again someday. Maybe.
My Honest Thoughts
So, this Sentro 32 pin thing. It’s a mixed bag, really.
What I liked:
- It IS fast. When it’s working properly and you’ve got the right yarn, you can crank out a tube of knitting in no time. Like, seriously fast compared to hand knitting.
- It’s kind of satisfying to watch it go when it’s behaving. Hypnotic, almost.
- Good for making simple things in bulk, like charity hats or basic kid stuff.
What drove me nuts:
- Dropped stitches. The absolute bane of my existence with this machine. And they happen. Often, at first.
- The build quality. It’s plastic, and it feels like it. I’m always worried I’m going to break something.
- It’s SO picky about yarn. Too thin, too thick, too fuzzy, too splitty – it complains.
- Flat panel knitting is a pain. I mostly just stick to tubes now.
- It’s noisy. That click-clack-whirr gets old after a while.
Honestly, it’s not the magic bullet I thought it might be. It’s a tool, a very specific one. If you want to churn out loads of simple knitted tubes, and you have the patience to really learn its quirks and coddle it with the right yarn, then yeah, it can be useful. It definitely doesn’t replace hand knitting, not by a long shot. It’s its own weird little craft. I still use it sometimes, when I’m in the mood for a quick project and don’t mind the potential for a bit of troubleshooting. But I also keep my regular knitting needles very close by.
