My sweet sister gifted me with a knitting machine for my birthday last October, and admittedly, it sat in my craft room untouched for a long while. I’ve been working through some Market Prep for the First Thursday market coming up (read about it here) and decided to break it out for some quick win prep.
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The knitting machine I asked for was the Sentro 48 pin knitting machine. This particular one came with the machine, 4 small value quality balls of yarn, plastic darning needles for finishing, and the necessary pieces needed to secure it to the table via suction cups.
When I first unboxed it months ago, the first thing I noticed was that it didn’t actually say Sentro on it. It seemed to be an identical machine with a different brand name. Personally, I thought that was weird, but apparently it’s super common with those after reading the reviews.
Once I got to working with it (after putting it together, because there is some slight assembly required), I realized there was a pretty substantial learning curve. To be honest, I thought I could just put my yarn in and go. Alas, that is not the case. The cast on row consists of weaving the working yarn in front of and behind the pins in a “catch one, skip one” alternation. I’m still not sure what the reasoning behind that is, but whatever. I have yet to try just putting my yarn in the feeder and going to town. Maybe that will be my next experiment.
This machine is also EXTREMELY picky when it comes to yarn. I have a ton of stash yarn that I was hoping to use for hats mostly to use it up. There is a tension holder with three different tensions attached to the device, but it doesn’t tell you which weights require which tension, so it’s literally a guessing game. And, surprise, it can vary by color of the yarn, even if it’s the EXACT SAME BRAND AND WEIGHT. When I tell you that I was l i v i d as my black yarn kept dropping off of the needles, that’s an understatement.
I’ve tried two different yarns with this so far that have led to successful/complete hats: Red Heart With Love, and Craft Smart Value (I think this may be a Michael’s exclusive. It was their cheapest value yarn). The RHWL led to a really soft and stretchy hat. I was able to use the middle tension and struggled only minimally when I realized that tension was super important. The CSV is what’s making me want to rip out my hair. I’ve made two different color combinations perfectly: red & gray, and brown & orange. When I went to do a black & orange hat is when all hell broke loose.
The orange yarn was no problem. I was rippin’ right along. When it came time to attach the black yarn, my machine decided it wasn’t happy. The black yarn, about 15 rows into 75 decided it wanted to start dropping stitches left and right. I’ve learned through youtubing that this particular problem is due to too loose of tension. Tell me why the tightest tension is still too loose, Sentro, tell. me. Especially since the tight tension is perfect for the other colors I’ve tried. I was literally so irritated that I threw the mangled ball of black yarn away. Was it hasty, yes. Was it necessary for my sanity, also yes.
Another big gripe I have is the ease of turning the crank. Or rather, the difficulty of turning the crank. If you have the yarn held at the tightest tension, the handle is a w f u l to turn. Literally I had to stop after every 5 rounds in order to rest my arm and shoulder. Now, I’m not in peak physical condition, but I can say with confidence that I have a little more stamina than that. That issue was curbed pretty quickly when I found out that you can buy a drill attachment/adapter
This little guy seriously was going to save my remaining good shoulder. You can find the one I got on Amazon. I literally filled my cart with “same day delivery” stuff because I couldn’t wait to get it and use it.
When I got this adapter on the drill and I sat down, I was really cruising…for approximately 6 minutes…
My husband took this picture, with the intention to lovingly tease me on how “hard” I was working, but we both realized how hard/difficult using this machine STILL WAS!!!!!!
Maybe it was me, but within a few minutes of drilling along, I started seeing plastic shavings from the crank rubbing against the machine, and about a minute after that, I heard and felt a loud click, then the machine stopped.
It. Just. Stopped.
Turns out, I had been pressing the crank at a weird angle with the drill and it got wonky. It took Scott a few minutes, and some yanking of the crank, to fully unstick it.
Once we got it unstuck, it really only lurched a few times and it didn’t really get stuck again. It just really took some concentration to make sure I was pressing directly in instead of at an angle. I was able to crank out I think like 4 or 5 hats with different colors before I discovered that the black yarn was my nemesis. Honestly, I haven’t touched the machine since the black yarn debacle just out of pure frustration.
Honestly, if you’re going to get a knitting machine, if you have the means, definitely go with a reputable one not on Amazon. I’ve heard really good things about the Addi knitting machine, but it comes with a steep price point. If you go with the Sentro (or whatever brand they decide to send), be prepared to go through some growing pains and your fair share of frustration.
It does make some REALLY cute/sturdy hats though. I’ve also made a hockey helmet bag for Scott, but that was a one-off, and it definitely has some mistakes and is not quite big enough *grimace*
Enjoy some pics of the process/finished items. I plan on debuting these baddies at the First Thursday market THIS WEEK!!!
The Mediocre Homemaker 