PurlbedCables and lace › Transfer lace
Transfer lace with lace carriage
Eyelet holes arranged in a net, diamonds, zig-zags or leaves on stockinette. Each hole sits above a stitch with a visible slant (a left- or right-leaning decrease) next to it. Holes come in rows separated by at least 2 plain rows, so the vertical rhythm is even. The K carriage is set to N.L.
- Single bed
- Needle selection
Machine types that can knit it
Demo swatch
Drawn for: Single bed, punch cardApproximate preview worked out from the bed chart, not a photo.
The full card
- What it looks like
- Eyelet holes arranged in a net, diamonds, zig-zags or leaves on stockinette. Each hole sits above a stitch with a visible slant (a left- or right-leaning decrease) next to it. Holes come in rows separated by at least 2 plain rows, so the vertical rhythm is even.
- How it behaves
- Open, drapey and more elastic. It tends to grow wider than stockinette at the same needle count (swatch it). Edges are stable if end needles are kept out of the lace.
- How it works
- The K carriage is set to N.L. (no selection by K). The L carriage reads the card: during one pass it selects needles (punched → D), and on the next pass it moves each selected stitch to the neighbouring needle in the direction of travel. The card is advanced only by the L carriage, not by the K carriage. Then the K carriage knits 2 rows: the empty needles make the yarn-overs and the doubled needles knit the decreases. Left-side card arrows give L-carriage direction; U-turn arrows mean "knit 2 rows with K carriage now". Brother lace cards have many apparently empty rows because each L pass consumes a card row.
- Machines
- KH-821: an L carriage and lace cards (21A–25A on KH-820) are in the KH-820 set and listed among KH-821 accessories [verified KH-820; KH-821 from blog accessory list]. Extension rails required. Brother/KnitKing lace cards are not interchangeable with Silver Reed lace cards (SR uses a different lace system and the cards lack the extra rows).
- Parameters
- Wax the yarn for synthetics/cotton (manual). Moderate, even weights. Move the L carriage slowly and fully past the work before returning. Plain rows between eyelet rows ≥ 2 (machine knits in pairs). 1. Knit a few plain rows; K carriage on the right at N.L. 2. Set the card at the start; lock it. 3. Pass the L carriage left to right once (prep selection, ignore arrows); release the lock. 4. Follow the arrows: L passes as shown, then K carriage right→left→right (2 rows) at each U-arrow. 5. Push any selected end needle back to B. 6. Check each transfer row for dropped stitches. - No two adjacent holes in one row. - Never punch end needles. - Every transfer sequence ends with all needles back, then 2 K rows. - The transfer direction is determined by L-carriage direction, so right-leaning and left-leaning eyelets need different numbers of passes. - Two needles out "at once" requires separate rows. - For partial lace (lace ground + stockinette motif), push needles in the solid area back to B after the selecting pass and before the transferring pass.
- Charting
- Hand-knit-style chart with "O" = eyelet and "/" or "\" = decrease, plus a derived card chart: ■ = needle to transfer on that L pass, with arrow column (→ / ← / ↪) at the left. Card rows ≠ knitted rows; keep a separate row-counter column.
- Limits and common problems
- Card and knitting get out of sync if the L carriage is wiggled. Dropped stitches with wrong weights or humidity. Jams with sticky yarn. Holes at the motif edge in partial lace (wrap the next needle before knitting).
- Combines with
- partial lace with stockinette motifs (manual p.54), weaving + lace, L-point cams on later models.
Written in our own words from machine manuals, knitting references and swatching. Knit a test swatch before a whole piece.