Spring Clean Your Knitting Machine will be happening at the Musquodoboit Harbour Public Library on Thursday, April 26, from 5 to 8 PM. Here is the description from Lynne:
We
plan to start at 5pm and finish at 8pm but if you are interested but can’t make
it that early just come when you can.
We will show you how to take the needles and sponge bar out of your machine,
what supplies you need and how to clean and lubricate the machine, and how to
put it back together again.
We’ll
bring a vacuum cleaner, brush, fine steel wool, paper towels, and machine oil
(I have a small amount of oil for sale if you don’t have any - but I need
to know well in advance if you need to purchase this).
You
need to bring your machine; two wide mouth jars suitable for holding 100
needles each (pickle jars work great); soft rags (t-shirts are perfect);
an old toothbrush; a small container of oil (usually comes with your machine);
and two bottles of rubbing alcohol (available at most Dollar Stores).
We
need you to pre-register (just send me a quick e-mail) so we know what supplies
to bring and how many tables to set up. And we’ll have a Toonie Jar to help
cover supplies.
We
promise your knitting machine will sing when you take it home.
Leave a comment below if you are interested in attending, or check out the Sheep's Clothing Facebook page to find the event.
All this talk of knitting and spring and cleaning inspired me to pull out a new-to-me machine that I bought about a year ago and give it a good cleaning and inspection. The machine is a Singer MK70, purchased so that I can have a machine that is portable for just these types of events. If you're not familiar with this machine, it's a 6.0 mm punch card machine that folds up to about the size of a portable sewing machine. Here is what it looks like in its case.
One of the side buckles that holds the case to the bottom of the machine bed is broken, hence the patriotic luggage strap on the left side. Here is what it looks like with the cover off.
Pretty nifty isn't it? The two ends of the bed fold down and slide/click in place. The clear plastic "bucket" holds accessories and tools, and the carriage sinker plate folds down and locks into place. The yarn tension mast unfolds. If you're interested here is a YouTube video from the Woolen Diva showing the unpacking of this machine.
Since I bought this knitting machine specifically so that I would have a portable option for group get-togethers, I decided that it would be quite helpful to purchase a small hand truck as well that could hold yarn, projects, books and more accessories as well as carry the machine easily for me. Here is what I purchased - all I need is another luggage strap to secure the machine to the handle and I'm fully mobile!
Back to the cleaning, however. I assembled my supplies as pictured below.
More supplies than necessary as it turned out, but here's the list:
- Coffee
- foam tipped cleaning swabs, and smaller foam tipped cosmetic applicators
- Lori-Lin knitting machine lube spray (apparently no longer available?)
- Unique sewing machine oil
- mason jar
- isopropyl alcohol
- dollar store plastic table cloth in a fashionable floral print
- paper towel
- shark hand held vacuum
- soft rags/cloths
I have to say, when I unpacked this machine I was surprised at how clean it was already. I don't think it was ever used much.
No yarn entwined under the brushes, everything moving that should be and not moving if it shouldn't. So really all the carriage required was a wipe off and fresh application of oil.
Another thing worth noting about this machine is that there is no sponge bar (presumably because the bed folds), so instead there are little plastic pieces in the needle track that serve to tension the needles as they move back and forth.
So I proceeded to remove and inspect the needles and set them up for a good day's soak in the mason jar in a bath of isopropyl alcohol and a few drops of sewing machine oil, like so:
It's hard to see in the picture above, but the alcohol mixture is a couple of inches deep, so the needles aren't fully immersed, but every time I walked by the jar throughout the day I gave it a shake and a roll. After a day in the bath, the grime was evident in the alcohol solution so I knew it was doing its job!
I used the foam tipped swabs to clean out the needle channels and other hard to get places on the machine bed and carriage, and my cloth rag to give everything a good all over wipe down.
And that's really all that needed to be done. I'm looking forward to using this machine and learning about knitting with a punch card - I've never done that before.
Hopefully you're able to take in the machine cleaning event on the 26th! And at least some of the other events listed in the last post.
Nancy
