October 2022

Flat Bed Brother KX350 knitting machine, cleaned and tested in October 2022

Let me introduce a freshly cleaned and tested Brother KX350 knitting machine. It is a plastic flat bed knitting machine with 132 needles positioned 7 mm apart. So, it is considered a mid-gauge. But it handles bulky yarns (medium worsted) pretty well. I was able to easily knit Red Heart Super Saver yarn on this machine.

It is extremely straightforward how to assembly and setup p the machine. The manual is written very well.

The machine is very light-weight, which makes it easy to handle.IT comes with all assesories including a video tape (if you are into that kind of things )

About this specific machine:

All worked great. The box shows some tear and wear.

Pros and cons not mentioned earlier:

(+) The sinker plates is NOT detachable, which prevents it from being lost.

(+) Simple and straightforward to use.

(+) Includes heavy-duty combs, which act as cast-on combs and weights at the same time.

(+) Very clear manual with some instructions on knitting garments and other knitting techniques.

(+) Not as loud as metal beds when knits

(+) There is a stopping mechanism to prevent the carriage from accidentally sliding when knitting too vigorously

(+) Numbers for the needles are written right on the bed. I like it a lot since nobody has to worry about misplacing the strip

(+) putting the machine back to the box is so EASY! (especially comparing with the metal beds with heavy lids). All assesories are stored in their designated places inside a sterofoam.

Cons:

(-) plastic bed (which to me does not seem to be a con at all…. I am not worried about rust. I am also not worried about plastic being brittle and discolored if I keep the machine in the box when not in use)

(-) comes in a carboard box, which is not a bid turn off for me anyways…

(-) the machine has only basic patterning capabilities. But since it knits regular yarns (those that you can buy in Michael’s and Joan Fabric) – no patterning is needed since you can get self-striping and variegated yarns that provide a lot of interesting color combination and self-patterning. .

Read more on pros and cons on this machine in my previous article about this machine.

While testing this particular machine, I knitted using medium worsted yarn the cowl/neck warmer below.

The original box has some minor staining. The machine will be shipped in original box covered with brown shipping paper.

Overall, in my opinion, this machine is perfect for a beginning machine knitting. You will get a feel of what it is – machine knitting. You will not kill your back trying to carry this machine. You can still knit a lot of various patterns, however, they will require a lot of hand-manipulations. Which is again great for people who LOVE hand-knitting and just need to have knitting with more even stitches and faster.

Watch this machine in action in my video blog.

Brother KH260 refurbished in September 2022

Brother KH260 are wonderful and highly desired machines. They habe 110 needles, spaced 9 mm apart from each other).

This distance and large needles makes this machine “bulky”. Brother KH260 can handle a large variety of thicker yarns, including worsted. I tried double-thrded boucle yarn and it ahndled it well as well. I was especially happy about it because I love textures yarn, especially boucle, but not many machines can handle them.

What I did on this machine:

Removed all needles, cleaned them and inspected individually and then during knitting on a full bed.
Oiled carriage and ensured that all levers and kbod ove frely and do not mis-function during knitting
Cleaned the bed and gently cleaned the plastic parts

Overall the machine was in good shape before I started cleaning it. The case does not have any major bends/scratches. Only minor ones.

This machine came with all its assesories with some minor exeptions.

The card clips were missing – I cinluded two paris of new ones (small yellow plastic things in the picture below).

The assesories that are missing from the machine and wll not be included are:

Oil canister. I do not include old oil on purpose. Please, get a fresh/new oil. The recommended by many machine kntiters is Hoppe’s Elite Gun Oil
No ravel cord is included but any smooth strong yarn can be used.
Place card holder was missing from the set. As you can see in the video, I was not even using it and the cardreder worked well. However, any straight or bent hand-knitting needles will work. I included one.
-some manuals state that the machine comes wth 20-count punch card set. The hard copy of the manual that came with this machine lists only 15 cards. Indeed, a set containing only 15 cards came with it.

All tools fit into a tool box: a buil-tin compartment on the main bed.

This tool box is excellent to store assesories whlie the machine is not in use. The sinker plate, tuck-brushes, punchcard, tension rod and the row counter also fit wonderfully into the lid of the case when not in use.

The machine size is larger than all other single-bed flat-bed machines. The bed is winder and slitly longer.

The machine performed wonderfully with slip, tuck and fair isle patterning on full bed. I did not even have my usual trial/error starts. I did nothave to putz around too much with tension and the right number of hanging weights…. I was very pleased how well everything went.

I used this machine to knit simple stockinet, fair-isle, slip and tuck-stitch patterning. You can see those in my video. Below are the things I made while testing this machine and filming my demo.

Cowl/hoodie from a variegated dark red yarn using slip-stitch. Reversible/double sided.

Cowl/hoodie with a matching hat. Hoodie was knitted using a self-striping yarn and tuck-stitch patterning. Can be worn as reversible. The hat was knitted using simple stockinet. The ribbing was made by a mock-1×1 ribbing.

Cowl/hoodie knitted using fair isle and custom-made punch card. It can be worn as double-sided/reversible.

I did not really find a lot of cons for this machine. Maybe simple specifics of the machine which make it to stand out.

So, pros and cons are:

Pros:

+ Carriage (despite being heavy) is still relatively easy to move especially in KC mode (attached to a timing belt)

+ capable of handling thicker and textures (typically challenging) yarns

+ accessories, including needles, are still easy to find.

+ straightforward manual

+ because of the usage of thicker yarn, creates a texture similar to hand-knitting. I personally love those large stitches. Makes me instantly feel warm and cozy. The thicker yarn when knitted on loose tension also make the knitted fabric very soft and moldable (not stiff as on some standard machines).

Cons:

– Larger than other machines, including some other bulky models. It is also heavier.

– Expensive as they are highly desirable.

– carriage levers prone to sticking, especially when not in use for a long time. This might result in improper needle selection. But can be done with regular maintenance/care.

– requires more weights than other machines very likely because of heavier yarns.

– tuck brushes need to be installed. Some machines (mostly standard) already have built-in tuck-brushes on sinker plate. This is not really a con but just one more thing to keep track of and not to misplace.

Overall, machine knitters all over the world call Brother KH 260 a working horse. And I am in complete agreement!!

Singer 360K for Philip

Overview and run down of Singer 360 K for Philip

Test performed: full bed stockinet, slip, fair isle, 1×1 mock ribbing.

Sport yarn is the best. Thicker (e.g., worsted yarn – best on every other neelde).

I did not extensively test the knit leaders but all knobs and levels work.

The machine came with some assesories and some I added. I added a set of punch cards. The set is brand new but differs a bit from the original Singer/Studio set. The machine came with some knit leader sheets, and they will be included.

The overveiw is below.

Missing are:

Oil canister. I do not include old oil on purpose. Please, get a fresh/new oil. The recommended by many machine kntiters is Hoppe’s Elite Gun Oil
Only one ravel cord in included but any smooth strong yarn can be used
only one set of point cams (number 15) and yarn separators were included. These are usd for single-motif knitting. This is somewhat advanced technique and if you are proficient enough with just one single motif (two sets are needed to knit two single motifs) you will know by then where to get additional sets. To be honest, I tried single single-motif and it was so challenging that I simply gave up. It is challenging by all the small details needed to kniw a single motif. There are other machines to do it much easier. Plus, I like motifs throughout the whole bed anyways… But with just one set of point cams and yarn separators you will still be able to knit just one single motif.

All tools fit into a built-in storage.