Good news and bad news!

I finally got the LC2 lace carriage re-assembled on Christmas Eve.  That is the good news.

Yesterday, the 28th, I sat down to try it. Detailed below is the bad news!

I started off knitting 70 stitches using the main carriage, I did about 20 rows.  Then I changed over to the lace carriage.  Something distracted me and when I came back I started to knit with it thinking I still had the main carriage on.  I knitted about 4 rows and it was really tight.  Then I remembered I had changed the carriage over.  The tension setting was at 0.  Well OK then!  I changed it up to 7, put in the punchcard LC1.  I did my first row to remember the changed the settings accordingly and gingerly started to knit.  It seemed to be going ok but after a few rows I could see some holes weren't appearing where they should, then it got worse and the stitches were getting caught on gate pegs and all sorts of things were happening.  I stopped!

I took the knitting off and noticed that it had bent all the latches on the needles in use.  Yes, all 70 of them.  aarrgghh!!!!!

So that was my first LC2 experience.  I was so disappointed as I had waited a long time to get it operational. (see previous posts for all the gory details)

I have ordered 100 new needles at a cost of $55 so a costly experience.

I think knitting on the '0' tension at the beginning didn't help.  Also, I think I should have done more plain rows after I changed it up to '7' before I started to use the punchcard.

I had put in a brand new sponge bar yesterday as I had read that for lace it needs to be a good one.

I am going to take out the needles with the bent latches and move some from the outer edges in and give it another go.  But this time I will only use 40 max needles in case it happens again.  I have 30 spare needles on hand so with the 100 I ordered I should be covered if I bend any more.

Any tips anyone??????????

An update on the SK 155 and the LC2 lace carriage

Writing this while my husband is getting his second chemo treatment. Thankfully he doesn't have cancer but he does have a nasty autoimmune disease and this treatment has had some good results in slowing this type of disease down.

The other parts for the lace carriage arrived but I just haven't had the time to resume the repairs. After Christmas I am hoping for some respite to get on and do it. It has been a very busy month or so with a lot of time spent at the hospital.

The insurance claim for the damaged Sk155 was settled but I still haven't received a cheque yet. But I am sure I will get it eventually. I can get the ends of the top cover and try and get some of the bumps out of it. I will not buy a new cover as it is not my intent to sell it anytime soon. At least the cover will be functional.

I also got the left RC lever base and lever for it that was missing. It is the left one used to operate a knit radar. As yet I do not have one for it but at least the carriage will be complete.

I have a question. Does anyone know if you can use double knitting yarn on a standard machine with a ribber to do ribbing by using fewer needles?

I would like to get a ribber for the SK155 but they are hard to come by. I got the brainwave that I might be able to do the rib on the standard and transfer it to the SK155 but not sure if it would work. Any input would be much appreciated. I do have a garter bar so I could transfer the stitches from one to the other.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year.