Because of renewed Machine knitting interest, we wanted you to know some things TKGA offers machine knitters.

Are you a New Machine Knitter – Maybe a Little Timid About Twisting Knobs?

If you’re new to your machine and a little afraid to try your wings, you’re welcome to enroll in Jennie Merritt’s "Machine Knitting – Getting Started” correspondence course. This is a low-key course for those who are timid about trying the knobs and exploring various needle positions. Jennie takes the "scary” out of the equation and gets you engaged in some of the "find out what this thing can do” fun. Because it is a correspondence course, you’ll receive some written material and contact information from your instructor. (This course is primarily for non-Passap machines.) Try it, you’ll like it!

Want a Little Machine Knitting News?

The e-newsletter that each TKGA member receives once a quarter is going to start featuring a "Machine Knitting News” section. You can contribute! If you see or hear or discover something you’re sure other machine knitters will enjoy, pass it along to djohnston@offinger.com and we’ll consider publishing or linking or posting it on the TKGA Web site.

Connect with other machine knitters on the TKGA Message Board. You’ll see a forum called "Master MACHINE Knitting Program”. Besides those in the Masters Program, others are welcome to exchange thoughts in this space. Let others know you’re out there creating beautiful things!

There are also ravelry machine knitters out there!

Share Your Creations

If you have a machine-knit creation, you can submit your pattern to Cast On magazine for publication either in the magazine itself or as a Cast On online bonus pattern for TKGA members to download. All submitted machine knit patterns are juried, just like the hand knit patterns that go into the magazine. Payments vary according to such things as the complexity of the pattern. How do you go about submitting a pattern? Simply visit http://www.tkga.com/?page=SubmitDesign and check out the "Design Submission Form” and the "Checklist for Designers”.

Not a designer, but want some machine patterns and articles?

Go to the TKGA Site Search page, and enter "machine” as the search criteria to find articles and patterns for machine knitters.

Note that TKGA also posts machine knitting patterns from time to time on the Member Login area of www.TKGA.com. If you’re a member, you can check them out at any time.

The TKGA Master Machine Knitting Committee will also be adding to the online archive of "On Your Way to the Masters” articles for machine knitters. These will be helpful for you to reference when expanding your machine "knitabilities”.

Are you Interested in Earning a Masters Program Certificate and Pin?

Why not get a reward for your machine knitting? TKGA offers a Master of Machine Knitting Program where you can earn a Master Knitter title, certificate and an invitation to a pinning ceremony at the TKGA Conference. The current TKGA Master Machine Knitting Committee members look forward to reviewing your submissions. Read more about the program and sign up online in the TKGA Online Store.

Passap Knitters

Yes, there are still a lot of Passap machines out there! And TKGA is pleased to be able to offer its Master of Machine Knitting for Passap Knitters once again. The Passap Program currently has two levels, after which you receive your Master Knitter certificate and pin.

Questions? Write us at TKGA@TKGA.com.

More Notes about Machine Knitting and Cast On Magazine

Cast On magazine (the member magazine and educational journal of The Knitting Guild Association) started years ago (1984) when machine knitting was widely popular and many machines were being manufactured. The magazine's pages at that time featured nearly all patterns in both hand and machine knitting formats. As the years went by, machine knitting went by the wayside and hand knitting was virtually the only interest. Patterns and articles for hand knitting are still 90% of what is being produced in the knitting world.

In the last few years, however, machine knitting has started to come out of the woodwork - people are buying the new Bond machines, for example. And some are inheriting machines from family members, while others are simply finding time now to play with the knobs and work out things on machines they've had for years. In reflecting on this rising interest, you will find that Cast On magazine is beginning to include a few machine knit patterns, or to offer machine knit versions of patterns as TKGA-member online "bonus" patterns. To give you an example, here are the machine knit offerings from a recent year of Cast On magazines:

***Cast On Summer 2010 (May 2010 - July 2010)

Article: "Machine Knitting & TKGA" by TKGA Staff

***Cast On Fall 2010 TKGA 25th Anniversary Issue (August 2010 - October 2010)

"Red Sweater - Machine Knit Version * [TKGA Member Online Bonus Pattern]” by Lorraine Ehrlinger

***Cast On Winter 2010-2011 (November 2010 - January 2011)

"Aspen Aran Cardigan (Machine Knit Pattern published in magazine)" by Karen Hoover

***Cast On Winter 2010-2011 (November 2010 - January 2011) "Ruched and Ready Child's Vest* - Machine Knit Pattern [TKGA Member Online Bonus Pattern]” by Kathy Perry

While we cannot guarantee that every issue of Cast On will contain something for machine knitters, many times we will include material for machine knitters. Even so, the teaching articles in the magazine are designed to help ALL knitters, machine or hand -- with information on where to place increases and decreases, or what makes a good glove or a good cardigan, etc.