Lately I have been seeing a lot of interest in circular knitting machines and knitting patterns to use with the Addi and Sentro circular knitting machines. Whether you have one of these machines or are just thinking about getting one, I thought it might be useful to pull together some circular knitting machine FAQs. Please add your questions in the comments and I’ll keep building on the post as we go.
What is a circular knitting machine?
Circular knitting machines are circular, plastic machines with a set of pegs around the inside of the circle. The machine has a yarn feeder and tension guide, a crank and (on some models) a round counter.
To make knit tubes you cast on your yarn to every other peg, the use the crank to knit every stitch. Each machine can make stockinette stitch tubes of a single size depending on the number of pegs.
You can also make flat panels on a circular knitting machine by working back and forth in rows. Again the size will be limited by the number of pegs on the machine.
What kinds of circular knitting machines are there?
The main brands are Sentro and Addi, and both machines come in a few different sizes. I have a Sentro 40 pin as well as a Sentro 22 pin. There’s also a 48-pin Sentro for slightly larger projects. Sometimes you will find machines that look just like Sentros but have a different brand name; they are all the same machine.
Addi machines have a higher price point (which is why I don’t have one yet). They come in a 22-pin and a 46-pin version, which is known as the Addi King.
From what I have heard it seems like the Addis are made a little better. Sentro machines were originally made as toys but have been embraced by people who want to knit faster, or to make a knit-like fabric without having to know how to knit.
What are the benefits of using a knitting machine?
As mentioned above, knitting machines allow you to make a lot of fabric much more quickly than you could if you were knitting by hand. They offer a way for you to express your creativity quickly and you can make a lot of different things with them.
They are easy to use (though there is a learning curve) and people of all ages can use them. People who may have trouble holding knitting needles or doing the repetitive motions of knitting will find using a knitting machine much easier.
What are the cons of circular knitting machines?
Because the number of pegs is fixed, you can only make tubes of one size with each machine, which means you may need to buy several machines if you want to make different kinds of projects, which can be expensive and they also take up a lot of space. There’s also an upper limit to the size of flat panels you can make on each machine, though you can make them as small as you like.
Some knitters have problems with different kinds of yarn in their machines causing skipped stitches or dropped stitches. (I’ve written about some of my favorite yarns for the Sentro.) In general yarns in the DK/worsted (size 3 or 4) are best, but they don’t all work as well, which can be frustrating and makes projects take longer when you need to fix mistakes.
What kinds of projects can you make on circular knitting machines?
Most people start their journey with a circular knitting machine by making hats. I love making headbands on the Sentro, and you can use the different sizes of machines to make different widths of headbands.
I also love making loop scarves because they’re quick and easy and you can use lots of yarn leftovers this way.
But really you can make a wide variety of things with these machines. Smaller machines can be used to make socks. You can join tubes or flat panels to make sweaters and blankets. They are often used for home decor and toys, like my snowman I knit on the circular knitting machine.
Once you start using one of these machines you’ll start thinking of ways to make different projects on them, which can be a lot of fun. It definitely won’t replace knitting with needles for people who love knitting with needles, but it is really satisfying to be able to finish a project in a couple of hours that would take days to knit by hand.
What questions do you have that I can add to my circular knitting machine FAQs?
