Knitmaster ES302 - A labour of Love

I recently accidentally acquired a very old and battered Knitmaster ES302. I've always wanted one and couldn't really say no at £40 delivered. It was worth the risk to get my hands on the lovely chrome machine with patterning Knobs. Not buttons, not cards but KNOBS! It was filthy, dented and fusty musty. The needles were rusted and half the parts were missing but as it had the most important pieces (a needle bed, carriage and sinker) I thought I could wing it with the rest.

Before I stripped it down I decided to very carefully test the functions as I didn't want to be disappointed after what I knew was a lot of work to be done. It knitted like a dream even on rusty filthy needles and a non existent sponge bar that resembled charcoal powder. As the carriage was in very good but dirty condition I decided to avoid stripping that down because as my Mam always said, if it isn't broke, don't fix it so I decided on a de-gunk, de-fluff and a new sponge Bob. (My Google always changes bar to Bob). I removed the non existent Bob then set the needles soaking in a jar of Methylated spirit (not the best for needle cleaning but all I had at the time) while I got out my trusty channel brush and de-coked all the years of fluff. Surprisingly not a lot of fluff, I did expect more. It seems that all the muck was on the needles 🙄

FIVE DAYS later I had cleaned all of them. All rubbed down with steel wool to remove the rust and the dodgier stiff latches had a good going over with a toothbrush to get the remaining dirt out of the latch throat. A good polish with kitchen paper and they were ready to go back in. I purchased a sponge bar kit from Xena Knits in the UK who were very helpful and fitted a new sponge. A first for me as in 45 years of knitting I had never used a kit until now. All needles back in, sponge bar inserted (sponge side down lol) and a good polish and gentle oiling of the needle butts and carriage. I used a soft cloth with oil on to wipe the machine down, I never oil straight from the bottle and now she's good to go. Thanks to a very helpful chap called Alex on Facebook I managed to get all the missing pieces including the fantastic retro counter and a pack of original cards and manual.

And thanks to a fab lady called Terri on Facebook, I now have enough pattern cards to keep me occupied for a few years 😄 I also have a promise of some spare needles from a very kind lady called Sue (isn't Facebook great?)

All shiny and sat as ready as she can be (not on the clamps as my table won't allow) my husband walks in and looks at it.

"Where's that one from?" Oh, I answer, I found it at the back of the wardrobe. I think it's from Yarnia 😂