My mission is to help people who want to get their knitting machine out of the case, learn it, have fun with it, and make things.
So, how difficult is machine knitting to learn? Well, I don't want to compare it to rocket science because I don't know a thing about rocket science. But I have tried to learn a few difficult things in my life. For instance, isn't a musical instrument rather difficult to master?
Learning to use a knitting machine is not anywhere as difficult as learning to play most musical instruments. If you understand and follow the steps, good knitting happens. So why do so many people struggle to learn to machine knit?
First of all, there aren't a lot of knitting machine dealers to give private lessons. Even though most people have lots of clothing made on knitting machines, very few people own a knitting machine. For the general public, these are alien objects.
If you try to learn on your own, most of the knitting machine manuals have small diagrams, puzzling lists and tables of instructions, and cryptic advice. The machine's parts and tools are strange and unfamiliar. They don't look like sewing machine parts, or hand knitting tools, or other gadgets in our ordinary lives. They're different, and they have peculiar names.
I use a common teaching method, that is, breaking the tasks into their individual steps and then working to describe the step in sufficient detail to make each step easy. Video is a wonderful medium for doing this, since I get to use pictures, sound, and movement, but diagrams and written instructions are often also necessary.
Most of the videos I do are free. You can find them here: https://www.youtube.com/user/dianaknits
I also have some for sale at www.dianaknits.com. My Beginner Course is two DVDs, nothing fancy, just a methodical course. If you'll just watch a lesson and do that one lesson each day, you'll be quite proficient in a little over a month!
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Very well stated. Having learned on my own years ago I often became frustrated but as you said, "it's not rocket science" and I persisted through many trial and errors. I have referred many to your free courses and many have been thankful. I as many appreciate what you give to the machine knitting community. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi, Diana, I have a brother 260 with ribber. I'm just learning and I have a few of your videos. One thing I have noticed is nobody whether it's in a manual or a vid has really delved into the how and why done slowly to explain how to use the cams and levers. I want to fully understand which cam and lever,whether it's a single bed or a double bed. I need someone to give me that lightbulb moment. I'm not alone,just discussed this with someone on facebook, she has the same problem. If there are other different makes of carriages as well that have similar functions it would kill two or three birds with one stone.
ReplyDeleteHuge request if you could make a video there would be many beginners very greatful. I already asked June Clark and she said she'd think about it.