SILVER REED KNITTING MACHINES

The Silver Reed knitting machines use a modular system.  That means the electronics are not "onboard" the machine; they are separate and can be used and interchanged on all Silver Reed electronic knitting machines.  That translates to a lower cost per machine because it becomes necessary to purchase the electronic software only one time, not once for each electronic machine bed.

The software used can be Silver Concept that essentially replaces the EC-1 (Electronic Controller) and PE-1 (Pattern Extender) for design patterns wider than 60 stitches.  It comes with its own cable and costs $499.95.

There is also DesignaKnit software, which will also replace the EC-1 and PE-1, but it does much more than Silver Concept.  It also allows you to make shapes, convert scanned images, use a light tablet and pen to draw your designs freehand, bring in computer images and clip art and convert them to knittable graphs, plus much more.  To do this requires an additional cable.  The software itself is $499.95. 
The USB cable is $399.95.

There is a new patterning device called the PC10 that allows you to make designs up to 200 stitches wide and 1000 rows long that doesn't require a computer.  It is $1095.00.

All software programs require the purchase of a curly cord to connect the cable to the carriage for $60.

There are currently four knitting machine models manufactured by this company. 
Prices are shown below.

LK-150 Home Knitter
Fine-gauge (electronic and punchcard)
Standard-gauge (electronic and punchcard)
Mid-gauge (electronic and manual)
Bulky-gauge (punchcard model only)
Ribber Adjustment
Software Patterning

The Japanese-made Silver Reed machines can be purchased as a punchcard machine or as an electronic machine. Because the distance between the needles varies widely, the number of needles on a normal bed varies widely. These machines may be purchased as fine-gauge machines with 250 needles, 3.6 mm apart, up to bulky machines with 110 needles, 9 mm apart. The farther apart the needles, the thicker the yarn which can be used. The closer the needles, the thinner/finer the yarn which can be used. Standard-gauge machines may accommodate thicker yarns by knitting on every other needle or every third needle. However, as the available number of needles becomes less, the width of the actual knitted piece becomes narrower.

A punchcard machine can produce a pattern which is 24 stitches wide. However, that pattern can be repeated across the width of the knitted piece or positioned in a specific location, which is then called a motif. The pattern MUST be either 12 stitches (chunky machine) or 24 stitches )standard machine) or a number evenly divided into 12 or 24. An electronic machine can produce a pattern from one stitch to as many stitches wide as there are needles on the machine.

Silver Reed knitting machines may produce a wide variety of stitch patterns with little to no effort. You may knit a fairisle pattern; a single or multi-color tuck stitch pattern; a single or multi-color slip/skip stitch pattern; a drop lace, normal lace or fine lace pattern. You may knit weave on the machine. Using an optional ribber attachment, you can do jacquard knitting, which is fairisle knitting with no floats.

Using your IBM-compatible personal computer and knitting machine software, you may scan in patterns to a program, manipulate the pattern in any way you choose, download the pattern and/or the shape, and knit it. Using drawing tablets, you may draw your own pattern into the computer or even have a child draw his/her own original creation which you can then knit.

Additional optional accessories are available, such as a four-color changer, a garter bar, a linker, an intarsia carriage, a transfer carriage. Each has its own function to either assist in the initial knitting or in the finishing process.