Stitches

Is it wise to buy a knitting machine?

I'm an avid knitter. I have intermediate to advanced knitting skills

Public Comments

1. I would say yes as long as you are really interested in it.
2. My take on this is that if you enjoy knitting, it is for pleasure. If it is for pleasure, don't get a machine. I do not knit,but I know that when I create something, I have this sense of pride and a machine can't take the place of what I can achieve on my own.
3. I have one of those - the cheap kind like you can find in Michaels. I do enjoy working with it. I'm a beginner knitter but not a bad crocheter. I haven't even begun to put this guy to the test, but it is satisfying to see the article I'm making grow.
4. It depends. What would you like to knit on the machine? Are you interested in knitting complicated stitch patterns or just stockinette? How much manual manipulation are you willing to do to get the desired result? Will you want to knit ribbing on the machine? There are a number of knitting machines out there that vary in price and features. Some require a significant amount of manual manipulation for stitch patterns, while others are more automated. I own one of the inexpensive knitting machines from Michael's as well. It's very good for stockinette, but you can also knit other stitch patterns with manual intervention. It's not very difficult once you get the hang of it and in spite of the fiddliness of moving stitches around, I find it's still faster than knitting by hand. The projects that I consider knitting on the machine are typically larger in scale (like baby blankets) or have row after row of stockinette. I've used it in conjunction with hand knitting without any problems--knitting the ribbing of a sleeve by hand and then transferring to the machine to knit the many inches of stockinette. With that said, I haven't knit anything on it in over a year. One reason why I don't use the machine is because I like to take my knitting with me. Knitting on the couch in the family room or knitting with friends at a coffee shop is easy with a hand knit project. Knitting on the machine requires me to sit in my hobby room. I'd suggest doing some research on the web to see which machines are out there, what their features are, and how a machine might fulfill your knitting needs.