Over the past year I have been re-visiting some knitting techniques that have fallen by the wayside. This one, knitweave was the thing that I fell in love with on my first Brother machine, a beautiful Brother KH710 button machine. Years ago, I knitted bags, rugs and fabric for cut and sew. When I got my first punch card machine (KH860) it was a technique I never thought to try. So... I went in at the deep end.
I didn't want to just use a punch card for the weaving, I wanted a tapestry effect. That meant that it would have to be part weaving and part intarsia.
The gallery below shows the progress of my cushion cover. My machine was set for Knitweave with a punch card locked on a blank row. This enables you to knit fair isle / weave etc by manually raising the needles. I laid the threads over the needles with just the backing yarn in the machine. Following as best I could a cartoon drawing I set off.
It took a while to do but was extremely satisfying watching the picture build and then finishing off with surface knitted decorations (except the owl which was crocheted).
Try it, it's fascinating and uses up loads of stash bits. You can raise needles in any formation you desire but I have mainly used it over every other needle or every two needles. Wrap your yarns as if you're doing intarsia and have a go. have a look through the gallery to see the knitting progress.
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