My Father's Daughter
I have to admit a small felony today -- I stole the title for today's post from Emma, who, in a recent post, was remembering her father's passing. I hope she won't mind, as I do mean it in a very serious and respectful way, in spite of the main subject of this post.
I am the daugher of an engineer. In fact, I am surrounded by them -- my father, husband, brother and brother-in-law are all in different flavors of the profession (automotive, computational, chemical and mechanical). For those of you not blessed with an engineer in your family, let me just say that engineers are born, not made. It's in the DNA to want to do what they do. They grow up knowing that eventually their compulsive need to push every button, twist every knob and flip every switch will lead them to a dorm room with a large number of math and physics books in a program where there is a 5:1 ratio of guys to girls and where there is a very good chance that they will be in school for five years and still not get to take any electives. And it doesn't bother them at all. So what happens when you cross an engineer with an English/drama major? Well, you get a biologist with a penchant for computers. And mechanical toys.
My dad has his tractor (and I must admit that it is very fun to drive it around a bit) and since I have taken up knitting again, I have developed a significant curiosity about knitting machines (I also have an unnatural affection for Palm devices and expensive laptops, but that's a subject for another time). Now, I didn't want anything complicated or expensive to start out with. Just because I like hand-knitting, I figured, didn't guarantee that I would like knitting with a machine. Or that I would want to maintain a machine. So I figured I needed to acquire a machine in a manner that wouldn't cost me very much if I decided that I hated it.
Enter the 40% off coupon at JoAnn's and the Bond Universal Sweater Machine.
How Could You Not Want Something that was "Seen on TV"?
Hmmm... What could be inside this mysterious box?
Parts and Yummy Acrylic Test Yarn
Interesting metal pieces and another mysterious box of goodies.
Lots of Little Things for My Cats to Run Off With
Now, this leads me to a way for you to be able to tell that I am not a real engineer, in spite of my genetics. You'll notice that this machine comes with a handy dandy video tape with instructions you can watch. So far so good. But someone's house is just a little too high tech to actually have a VCR that is plugged in and usable. Now, I could have gone downstairs, tried to figure out where our VCR is and tried to get it plugged in and working. A real engineer, in fact, would not have been able to go to sleep at night knowing that they had been thwarted by outdated technology. Instead, I pulled out the tape, and waited for John to get home. "Do you know how I could watch this?"
My dad would tell you that this behaviour demonstrates clearly what I really am -- the antithesis of all that is engineering orientied -- management. (This is a long running joke in my family...so don't take it as an offense. Besides, in real life I actually am in management...)
Hopefully over the weekend I will convince my engineer to reinstate an ancient piece of equipment. In the meantime, I will probably go pull all the pieces out and sit behind my husband in our office and make interesting noises. Because if there is one thing an engineer can't resist it's a new machine.
(If anyone has any experience with this machine and would like to share it, I would love to hear any tips and tricks!)
An engineer would decide they could figure it out and start fitting pieces together and playing with it. They wouldn't even bother with instructions. :)
I have a Bond but prefer handknitting. It's good for stockinette but I find it a bit tedious for ribbing or any other sort of pattern stitch.
As an engineer's granddaughter, daughter, wife and in all probability mother of two more (and short that career path myself only because of teenage rebellion and detestation of calculus); I hear you, and can probably match you story for story. It's genetic. There's no doubt.
And you're absolutely right about the video viewing. No engineers in my family would stoop to viewing the video or reading the manual before tinkering with the machine's guts. They would plunge right on in, and only refer to assistance documentation if an absolute roadblock was reached. [grin]
Best of luck with the thing! I tried one out once, and found that after the initial thrill with the mechanics and speed of production, actual knitting was too much like ironing for true enjoyment. Of course, YMMV - people tend to either love the things or feel ho-hum about them. There's no way to know unless you try. Keep us updated on your progress. It will be fun to watch you discover this new world.
I've had my USM (that's Ultimate by the way, not universal) for 2.5 years and can't decide how I feel about it. First of all, Join the bond list from lea-ann at knittingtoday.com - it's invaluable. You need to have a place to set it up. A lot of people clamp it to a piece of laminated shelving and then clamp that to an ironing board. If you only intend to have one machine, I'd suggest buying a knitting table made to hold the machine (lea-ann sells them) - the ironing board tends to lean from the weight. I'm hoping to one day have my Super Bond (2 machines put together) on a shelf mounted on the wall. It takes a lot of getting used to when you're first learning. It took me 2 days to make the practice square! Once you get the hang of things, accessories will make all the difference. Weights, Weights, Weights! Get the claw ones - they're great. Some people try to use fishing sinkers - they are no substitute (I tried). Silicon spray is the other thing that should come with the machine - wax just doesn't cut it, and a bit of the spray on the bed of the machine and the bottom of the knitting plate makes a huge difference. I've made a few sweaters and a praywer shawl, but that's about it. I want to get it out of storage to use to make felted bags - worsted weight yarn and a #4 plate works well for felting.
Oh, the other thing is that Knitware is awesome for USM knitting. I bought that program after hearing so much about it on the bond list. I'm finally getting around to using it on a handknit sweater after 2 1/2 years.
Good Luck! I can't wait to be inspired by whatever you make on it! :)
The Father's Day card I sent to my Dad said "I am my father's daughter" and inside something like "and I thank you for it." I truly am my father's daughter in so many ways, though I get all my creative ability from my mother.
Neither my dad or I are engineers though. ;-)
I've got an early version of the USM. Mine's called the ISM (International Sweater Machine??). I've made a few things with it and have to agree with Shannon's comments esp. about the weights and spray. I've got some pattern books but sadly they are all fairly dismal. I've always felt it must be possible to sit down and do some maths and come up with something good - I look forward to seeing what you can do with it. Excellent at stocking stitch as I recall....
First - I'm an engineer - daughter of an engineer and pilot - and I love knitting. I have two knitting machines and used to own another one - mine are single bed Japanese-Toshiba and Brother -I did have a double bed Passap.
It is true that knitting machines are great for stockinette and some intarsia - however, I almost exclusively knit by hand now as I like to do more complex patterns which would take forever on the machine. Weights are important....also patience as it is very easy to undo the whole sweater and have a mess - especially if you don't catch the first needle right.
I actually took lessons and that made a huge difference - there are also some good books out on machine knitting - The Tap Dancing Lizard and its accompaniment come to mind.
Have a good time and look at it as another tool, just not the only tool (as in the old adage when one has only a hammer everything starts to look like a nail!)
Bridget
Oh Theresa - who's the engineer who lives in your neighborhood and has had a Bond for a few years? Come out and plaaaaayyyyyaeeeeee...
Fun! I've always been intrigued by knitting machines, esp. as I'm snoozing my way through a long stockinette portion. My knitting guru (the owner of my LYS) uses hers to experiment with putting different yarns together in big swatches. Came up with some amazing combinations.
That's so very, very true. My dad's an engineer...his newest hobby is converting an old car into an electric car... This past Christmas, we (engineer dad, engineer hubby and wannabe engineer me) had to put my spinning wheel together without watching the video, because we didn't have a VCR hooked up at the time. We do now, but that's only because the ultrasound labs don't record to DVD, and, well, the baby's already got her daddy wrapped around her little finger! (I love how he'll hook it up for her, but for me and my spinning wheel? Nope.)
As for the knitting machine, my mom bought me a cheap one several years ago for Christmas, but it was too fiddly for me. It took a very specific range of yarn weights only (I think maybe DK and worsted) and it kept jamming even with those. I don't even remember what kind it was. I wish you *much* better luck with your new toy! (Is there anything better than new toys?)
Your post made me laugh out loud (and it was my wicked laugh) when I read the part about you being management because you are the antithesis....when I taught, we didn't make programmers, we made managers (MIS). It was a howl.........
Happy weekend!
my husband is a machinist -- a precursor to an engineer and it wouldn't even occur to him to look at the video. by the way, i'm the one who hooked up the vcr.
I'm the daughter of a guy who should have been an engineer, and married to a software engineer. I love gadgets (wanna compare histories of Palm devices and laptops? I have a feeling you're one of the few who could trump me)
I've got a USM - I bought the exetention kit. I think I'd like it better if it was permanently mounted somewhere.... and I agree its a bit fiddly for pattern work.
(btw - ISM is Incredible Sweater Machine)
There's the Ultimate Knitting magazine as well - has both hand knitting and machine knitting patterns, and the machine knit are specifically for the USM.
You so hit it with the engineering gene! Both granddads were master-machinists, Dad is an electrical AND civil engineer, I'm now a Biotech Engineer (the biology probably came in through my mum, an RN). And there was nothing better for me as a kid than to take this apart; Dad had a stock of old wind-up alarm clocks for me to do so with; springs, cogs and wheels everywhere.
As for knitting machine I look forward to reading your posts about yours. I have tried but prefer handknitting.
Chuckle. Leave it to me to not notice the business about reading instructions! I missed the one classic hallmark of engineers: "Instructions!" my dad would say "We don't need no stinking instructions!"
I'm looking forward to playing with the machine. I see it mostly being useful for flat stockinette pieces (i.e the back of a sweater) or maybe things that get seamed together into an afghan. I was hoping it could do large expanses of ribbing, but that doesn't seem to be a reasonable expectation from this machine.
I fell for the Jo_ann deal last summer, at 50% off. It took until winter for me to get MY engineer brother (OK, he's a videographer, but his degree's engineering, and he's all gadgety) to come help me set it up. I watched the video before he arrived; he had no interest! I've only used it for blanket squares, but I'm still intrigued. I just don't have anywhere to leave it set up ~
I have one of these machines (although from a.c. moore) and I use it mostly for long stretches of stockinette stitch...because I haven't taken the time to learn anything else. Well, I've learned cabling, but that's it. Hell, I think the thing can do 600 stitches per minute...which is something I'm quite fond of.
I wanted to throw the damned thing at the wall when i first got it. The carriage kept getting stuck, stitches kept getting dropped. But I must say that it was because of my own inexperience. Once I calmed down and went back to it, I got the thing to work like a charm. I guess I'im telling you this so that you will not get discouraged if you hit a few snags along the way. The machine is nice to have, once you get over the learning curve. I especially like the 'seam as you go' techniques you can do. priceless.
Enjoy it. I can't wait to see your first creation.
Obviously no engineering genes at all here -- all I kept thinking about your post was, "Stealing someone's title is at best a misdemeanor, not a felony." ;-) AND we have a VCR that I don't know how to RECORD on. AND we have a new DVD downstairs for a month, still in its box. We are the almost-antithesis, I guess, of your household. But still, I doubt I'd watch the video until a last resort, so in that respect I guess there's "engineering hope" for me!
LOL! I can't wait to see what you cook up. I personally vote for a nice long stretch of garter stitch for a wrap. Having just finished one, I can tell you there were twenty times when I thought, You know, a machine could do this, and better.
Have fun. Keep us posted.
I haven't had luck with mine
though, they are offering classes at JoAnne's and i'm contemplating taking them
in all of my spare time!
What you say is SO TRUE. I'm as far from being an engineer as they come, but I married a computer engineer who loves all things techie, and who loves to see how things work. It's definitely in the genes. I think my son was born one, too. I was hoping he'd go the legal way (like his mamma), but whenever he rides the carrousel or any other type of similar ride, he's not giggling and waving like the other kids, he's looking at the parts that make it move, trying to figure out what makes the thing work. He's been doing that since he was one! Definitely in the genes :-)
Daughter of a rocket scientist here... You are right that it's good for stockinette, and get yourself a good table and chair or you'll end up with a sore back! I would never attempt Garter stitch on the thing; too much work to reverse every stitch. Something like the Shapely Tank would work well though, something simple with minimal shaping. Have fun!
It's good for scarves. I have one and my son and husband are the only ones who use it. Must have been designed by a man. I'm glad I learned of the limitations on something so low cost (I'm a member of the Joann coupon club!). I have a friend who has a computerized knitting machine and has produced one sweater a.k.a. the $3500 sweater. Our scarves are probably down to $35.
Li in Vancouver
Nice post...the weird thing is, I think you could also be MY father's daughter!
I'm an English major married to an electrical engineer (the worst kind!). I hope our children have a chance at a normal life!!
Joke: What do engineers use for birth control?
Answer: Their personalities!!
I just got the USM today with my Joann coupon and after about four hours of messing around with the thing and watching that blast from the past video I was about to take it back. FINALLY I figured the thing out and was able to crank out a five foot long piece of fabric on the number four plate with worsted weight. It was a big wool enchilada when I took it off the machine--I decided to slip it onto a circular needle to bind it off. I felted it into a little rug and it turned out okay. Personally, I don't think this machine is gonna do anything for me but straight stockinette. I think if I can figure out exactly how the plate guage corresponds to my knitting I might just use is as a "filler" for those endless expanses of stockinette. The little tools they give you are silly--the "rug latch hook thingie" is lame and I think a regular ol' crochet hook works much better. Ribbing involves dropping stitches all the way down and then picking them back up--not too efficient. And I don't know how the heck they want you to get that wax donut into the areas you are supposed to lube. I guess I will invest in some silicone spray like someone else suggested. I am jealous of your "San Antone" trip. I was born and raised in Austin (left after finishing up at UT) and remember those trips to the River Walk, eating at Mi Tierras and roaming through the Mexican Market. A lot of my family used to live in Corpus too. Now if only I could find some decent Mexican food and legit brisket up here in Washington (big fat Texas-sized sigh).
I am the daughter of an engineer, married to an engineer, and mother of at least one engineer so far (I have 5 kids!). I *love* my Bonds, regular and Super, and I wouldn't trade them for the world!
I just returned from Uganda in September, where I taught 21 women to use the Bond as a source of self sufficiency. In 10 days they were knitting sweaters. The key is sticking with it and getting around other knitters, if only on the Bond List. It is like anything else worthwhile, it takes a lot of practice and an openess to learn. If you are gentle with yourself and lose the "perfection the first time" attitude, you will go far, IMHO.
Happy Knitting!