Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Knitting Pal and crocheted square

I am still working slowly on the second Wool Eater square.  It is almost done but I am switching between this square and a scarf on a knitting pal. 

The knitting pal is an interesting tool.  It works very much like a knitting machine but with additional functions.  You can knit many rows at once by using more needles and complete pieces quite fast.  You can knit forward and backwards on several needles at once.  Using multiple colors on the needles you can do some very interesting knitted pieces.

One bad thing I have found about the pal is keeping the stitches on the pegs.  So many times I have had projects that I walked away from and came back to find that stitches had popped off and run.  Bummer, it means starting over.  It is extremely hard to pick up those dropped run stitches.

Now when I walk away I place a cast on comb (from a knitting machine) on the fabric along with a couple of weights. This helps hold those stitches on those pegs so that they can't just relax and do their own thing.  

Want to see what the knitting pal can do?  Search a bit on youtube and there are a couple of videos there.  These are great as learning the pal can be a bit of a frustrating mess.  The instructions are not all that great that come with the pal. 

This scarf is being done with only one segment of the pal, two tools but holding the same color.  One row, left to right is a plain row, the row right to left is a reversing of the stitch (saw in one of the youtube videos), where you pick up the stitches and flip the new ones before placing them back on the pegs.

I have one more scarf to do for a couple of grandsons and plan to use the pal again, but might use as many as three or four tools, same colors to make it a bit faster.  I only have a little time to work on these in the evening so they are slow going.

I have to decide what stitch pattern to use on the second one.  I am leaning toward a stitching back and forth over four pegs two to five times then moving on to the next four.  I will have to do a peg count before deciding how many moves to make.

I have been allowing this knitting tool to sit too much when I find it such a unique tool  to use.

9 Comments:

Blogger steel breeze said...

Any chance of a pic of the knitting pal? I've been trying to google it and have so far drawn a blank!

Enquiring minds want to see this amazing device! :)

1:05 AM  
Blogger Amoonsinger said...

Better then a picture is some videos, these are not in English,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaIEk587aws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yeJulN4gaY
They do not show all that a knitting pal can do but give you some idea.

Not sure this is going to work but this picture is from an ebay seller: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=290391392908 if that works it shows a couple of processes of this tool for making unique designs.

9:33 AM  
Blogger steel breeze said...

Wow! Thanks for those links. Does the output look like ordinary stocking stitch or is the stitch twisted? I couldn't quite make that out!

Love the fact somebody invented this. Especially liked the multiple colour thing.

4:01 AM  
Blogger Amoonsinger said...

If you use the tools and knit ordinary stockinette then yes that's what it looks like.

I am doing some practice pieces right now trying to determine what stitch method I want for my grandsons scarf and no none of them look like stockinette.

The first stitch was three needles over four pegs back and forth five times. It looks like little pockets with eyelets around them.

The second piece is working one needle over two pegs ten times before moving to the next two pegs. This one is lacy.

Each of these will look different depending on the amount of needles used and if you use more then one color. I am using one color only right now.

Oh also the texture changes with multiple tools in work.

I do find it is not the easiest tool to use for knitting and the bad thing is the man who started all this died long ago, and the tools are harder to find. I have three sets of them.

7:07 AM  
Anonymous Shona said...

Heya

Thank god for you. My mother in law has a knittingpal that she bought more than 10 years ago but as it never had instruction she didnt know how to use it. She has since dug it out and is desperate to use it but doesnt know how. So shes asked me to search online as she isnt computer savy. I found a video or two on youtube but they were in either spanish or italion. If you have instructions or know of a video can you please let me know, as it would be so helpful for her. Only way i managed to find your article was that knitingpal was imprinted on all the parts of hers.

Appreciate any help you can give.

Regards
Shona

1:41 PM  
Anonymous shona said...

Heya

Thank god for you. My mother in law has a knittingpal that she bought more than 10 years ago but as it never had instruction she didnt know how to use it. She has since dug it out and is desperate to use it but doesnt know how. So shes asked me to search online as she isnt computer savy. I found a video or two on youtube but they were in either spanish or italion. If you have instructions or know of a video can you please let me know, as it would be so helpful for her. Only way i managed to find your article was that knitingpal was imprinted on all the parts of hers.

Appreciate any help you can give.

Regards
Shona

1:44 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I would LOVE the instructions if the knitting pal if you are able to copy and send them. I found one at a thrift shop sans instructions. Please Help!

6:48 AM  
Blogger Amoonsinger said...

Mommypiepie, I have never been able to contact the copyright holders for this tool to get permission to make copies for people. I know that others have tried to contact them also.

There are a couple of videos that though not in english, do show how to use the pal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaIEk587aws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yeJulN4gaY
Then there is a group on yahoo for the knitting pal that has a basic instructions photo album that you can run as a slide show:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/knittingpalknitters
MaryJeanne

7:53 AM  
Anonymous Anne said...

Other then spending over $20 on e-bay, anyone know any place to find one? I found mine in a second hand store for about 50 cents I think, but I want to expand it, for making blankets! I'm almost desperate enough to spend the money on e-bay, but I'd really rather not.

3:17 PM  

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