Purlbed

Knitting machine type

Single bed (punch card) + ribber

A punch-card machine with a ribber attached as a second bed, which adds ribs, double jersey, tubular knitting and bed-to-bed transfers by hand. A pitch lever switches between pitch (needles opposite, for even ribs and transfers) and half pitch (for full-needle rib and double jersey). The card selects only the main bed; the ribber can only knit, slip or tuck across the whole bed, and hold is a main-bed feature.

Can do: rib and double jersey, transfers between beds, hold (short rows), tuck, slip, two colours in a row, lace carriage
Cannot do: —

  • Needles chosen by a 24-stitch punch card
  • Pattern repeat up to 24 stitches
  • Pitch lever: opposite or half pitch
  • Needle spacing: 3.6 / 4.5 / 9 mm
  • Default 200 needles (up to 250)

Examples: Brother KH-821 / KH-836 / KH-881 + KR-830 or KR-850; Silver Reed SK-280 + SRP60N; Brother KH-260 + KR-260 (bulky)

How to draw for it

  • Label the rows main bed and ribber, and keep selection patterns on the main bed.
  • Set the pitch per section: any row where both beds knit neighbouring needles must be half pitch.
  • On the ribber row, use one action for the whole bed in each pass (knit, slip or tuck).
  • Draw racking and cross-bed transfers as their own step rows, and never rack while needles are in hold.
  • Use hold cells only on the main bed.

105 techniques you can knit on it

Jacquard (Fair Isle)

Tuck and slip

Intarsia

Plating

Rib

Cables and lace

Short rows (partial knitting)

Lifted stitches

Ottoman ridges

Pleats and folds

Stripes and woven-in yarn

Other machine types

Researched from machine manuals, dealer spec sheets and knitting references; a few details are still unconfirmed.