I put the card reader lever from I to C, it pushes out the swing lever on the back, which hooks and advances the pattern once, but then the lever is pushed too far into the carriage to catch again. I have tried cleaning, I can't see from the book if something is different, the lever moves fairly stiffly.
I tried to manually advance the card, it still won't create a pattern. :{

Linda, December 2011

Hi Linda,
Sorry my answer did not help.
The bar at the back of the machine should have a type of fabric in the holes.
As the forked piece is not coming out far enough, it might be an idea to remove the carriage from the bed and turn it upside down to find out which bits move when you move the lever. There might be something missing on one side or a spring may have fallen off.
As you are getting a consistent pattern with the needles, have you checked that all the push buttons have been released properly, as if they are still in working position they will override the punchcard.
The other thing to remember is that this is now a very old machine and people have experienced problems with the patterning mechanism. The fact that there are the push buttons and punchcard
seems to affect the reliability of the needle selection.
Kind regards,

Sue, December 2011

I think I am following all the instructions on the page, it seems to consistently move 2 tog and 1 other needle out, I am working over 50 stitches.

On the forked piece that jogs the long metal bar behind the needles which moves the pattern, is it supposed to have a plug of any kind in the hole? The forked piece that comes out when the lever on the right is moved from I to C moves fairly stiffly, but after it catches the jog bar once it is no longer sticking out of the carriage enough to jog the bar on the return pass.
Thanks, Linda

Linda, December 2011

Hi Linda,
Have you pushed in the correct button on the carriage? If you don't set the carriage for colour knitting, you will get plain knitting.
Have you moved the lever next to the card slot to the middle position?
This should make the card rotate on every row. The back position allows the card to rotate every other row and the forward position keeps the card locked on the same row.
Do the needles select for patterning if you use the push buttons? If they do it would suggest that the patterning mechanism is working OK and the punchcards should work.
Hope this gives you a few pointers in the right direction.
Regards,

Sue, December 2011