cleaning the main bed

The previous owner hadn't used the machine recently so I knew it would need a good clean and a little service. I looked up the best methods on the internet.

I unclamped the machine from the sliding shelf inside the cabinet and took out the sponge bar. As imagined, the sponge was totally flat. I'd bought a couple of sponge-bar DIY kits from here, so first I removed all the old sponge with a screwdriver.  I attached the long strip of foam with double sided tape and then stuck the thick black ribbon on top of this. I couldn't remove the plastic ends of the bar so I just used wire insulation tape around the ends of the sponge. Before fitting the bar back in I wanted to clean the needles. I removed them one by one. This was more difficult than I imagined as I couldn't seem to do it without the needles scratching the machine. It was also extremely annoying that as soon as I lost my concentration, I'd forget to close the latch of the needle and I would get it stuck. It's difficult to concentrate on anything when you have a 6 month old baby that's feeding for a growth spurt! I cleaned the needles in batches in a jar of surgical spirit with a drop of Bellodor oil added. I shook the needles in the jar of solution, then removed them and wiped with a drop of oil on a cloth. While the needles were out I used the vacuum cleaner to get the dust out of the machine. There was a lot of dust in there. It reminded me of the Japanese animated film, My Neighbor Totoro, where a family get a new house and the children see dust bunnies coming out of everything. Annoyingly, the baby had decided she was scared of the vacuum cleaner so I kept having to stop to cuddle her!  Once that was finally done I gave the machine a good wipe-down with the solution and replaced the needles and new sponge bar. I also cleaned the carriage, with the solution and then wiped with oil. I checked the brush wheels for threads.

The main machine was now ready to use. Wow!  I've never used a machine with a new sponge bar!!

I could have cleaned the ribber and the other carriages and accessories, but I decided that as I'm going to work my way through the instruction manuals, I might as well clean the bits as and when I need to use them. Otherwise, I'll want to use everything all at once and not learn the basics. I need to learn the basics so I can understand the complex techniques.

welcome

about me

Hi, welcome to my blog. My name's Amy, I'm 25 and live in West Yorkshire with my 6 month old little girl. I would say I'm creative. I like looking at things, designing things and making things. I like experimenting and inventing things. I like to be different.

my creative adventure so far

I've never really known what I want to be “when I'm grown up.” I did 2 years at the University of Salford, the first year being Year 0, the Art and Design foundation year. I specialised in fashion in the final few modules of this year. I then went on to the first year of the Fashion degree course. In this year you do both design modules and styling and image making (photography) modules, and you would go on to gain a degree in either fashion design, or fashion styling and image making. So I studied culture and did illustration, pattern cutting, fashion research, development and design projects, styling and photography. It wasn't for me though. I wasn't 100% sure of which I wanted to do, but I didn't think either was worth doing a degree in. It all seemed to be about sketchbooks and presentation. You had to explain all your research and ideas and present it all in exquisite, professional sketchbooks, with beautiful illustrations and very neat hand writing. I found this was restricting my flow of ideas. I had thought about specialising in styling and image making, as I liked photography, but then I spoke to a few professionals in the industry and realised I didn't need to do a degree to get anywhere. So I rented out a little room in a mill, turned it into a photography studio and started building up my portfolio. If I'd carried on my degree I would have been in so much debt that this wouldn't have been possible. I built up a good portfolio, worked with some wonderful models, assisted some amazing photographers. I even trained as a make-up artist so I could carry out some crazy ideas. I never made a living from it, although because of my lack of confidence I didn't pursue paid work. Then, due to personal reasons I had to give this up after a couple of years but it's something I'd love to do again.

machine knitting

I don't have much experience with machine knitting. I've had a Bond machine for a few years but never really got into it as it's an old second hand one and just doesn't run smoothly. Last year though, I decided to get a cheap metal machine through eBay. I got a Knitmaster es-302, knitted one thing on it and was hooked. I then ended up getting a Toyota ks901 through Freecycle. Not just the machine, but a ribber, lace carriage, intarsia carriage and yarn brake, Knit Tracer, a tilting black metal stand, a joiner-made cabinet and bench, and about 300 magazines and pattern books.

So, as this is a new adventure for me, I've decided to start a blog to record my learning, my achievements and my mistakes.