Episode 07: The Bond

We reveal our ultimate destashing tip--the Bond sweater machine, Jenny mines the internet for resources to use the Bond, and we daydream about what we wish we were knitting.

Episode 7: The Bond (33:10)

The Bond
We confess, the Bond is just something we need to get through our stash!

• Nicole's scarves: in alpaca and in Wool of the Andes
• Knitpicks Wool of the Andes (not so much fun on the Bond)
• Knitpicks Crayon (great on the Bond)
• Knitpicks Shine (also great on the Bond)
• Jenny's baby blanket
• Nicole's baby blanket
• The sweater Jenny made for Nicole (by hand, not by Bond)
  
• Some sweaters knit on the machine in: Kyoto, Pakucho, Merino Style, Silkroad Aran
• Peace Fleece is nice on the Bond
• Tulips
• Guido, It's a Purl Man
• David Demchuk's article on Knitty
• Manda, Knitting Psychos

Bond Resources
Jenny shares her research on the Bond.

• Debby Decker's list of bond links
• Heidi's Knitting Room
• Charlotte's Yarn Barn
• Steph's Bond List thoughts
• Machine Knitting Webring
• Patterns from the Bond site
• Bond ISW Web Ring
• Warm Wishes Knitting    
• Chicknits machine knitting page
• Hair Pin Lace Knit Cardi Wrap (a.k.a. Stitch Diva shawl with sleeves)
• Machine Knitting books (not too helpful for the bond)
  
  • Machine Knitting
  • Creative Machine Knitting
• The Cat Sweater

Knitting Fantasy Lives
We eschew our old projects for the fantasy of another (or several others as the case may be).

• Jenny used yarn from Stitches!
  
  
• Concentric circle decrease instructions
• Sienna sweater by Ann Smith from IK
• 24 Karat Shell
• Our Flickr group!

The Contests

• Enter a destash tip and win some Knitpicks Shadow in Vineyard by April 10th.
• Hill Country Yarns contest!

Thanks for listening! Thanks Danny Plotnick, host of Nest of Vipers podcast! Thanks to Harold!

Comments

[Melissa]

I just finished the episode. Great job! :) I'm now off to join the flickr group!

[Joy]

I have a bond too. I have not used it much lately, but I love to do scarves on it for Christmas. Good job on the baby blankets, they look really nice.
Joy
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JNLANG

[Manda]

LOL!! Most of my yarn is sock yarn, though... how's the Bond work with sock yarn? ;)

[Jill]

Two lovely things happened today: James Bond came out on DVD, and I got to hear your podcast :) Great show ladies!

[Laura]

Thanks for the Bond Episode.
I demo bonds for Bond America and love them.
One thing of interest there is a lady on the internet that actually hooked 3 bonds together and her husband made her a table for it. She knits queen size afghans.
Thanks for another great episode :)

[chris]

LOVE the podcast! Keep it up! I listen on my commute to work here in Portland, Oregon(50minutes!!! ugh). when will stitches west be next year? After hearing you talk about it I may need to come down there and go to it!

[Sharon]

Hi there! I just wanted to say I am enjoying your podcast. I have just finished episode 3!

[jeanmarie]

Keep up the great work...

[Deborah]

Thanks for another great show! I enjoyed it even though I have no interest in machine knitting (then again, I swore I would never want to knit socks and now I'm on my fifth pair in four months!)

[Kathy]

Enjoyed listening to your podcast today. I've often wondered about knitting machines, but have never seen one in person. I remember back in the 70's my cousin had one and used to make sweaters for everyone like crazy. I had to comment when I saw the picture of the Abby on the blanket! I used to breed them back in the 80's and lived with many of them. We're Abbyless at the moment, we lost our last one at 18 back in 2002. Tell us about him/her!

[Adrienne]

What a timely topic! I just snagged a brand new (open box) USM at a Joann's store for $40! Woo!

It'll see a LOT of Red Heart supersaver for the charities I like to knit for. :D

[s t a c i]

You know, I never even considered getting a knitting machine for myself...that is, until I listened to this podcast. You two are right - when machine knitting is combined with hand knitting, the process of creation is still there! (Gotta go see what knitting machines are available on eBay now...)

[zoe]

Hi - I'm a big fan of your podcast, though I can't say it has inspired me to destash ;) I just can't help myself.

Anyway - I wanted to ask a few questions about the bond, but can't get your email address to work. help!

zoe
zoezrATaolDOTcom

[Charity]

Another great episode, guys! I'm like Nicole - I don't feel like I can start a new project I'm longing to get on the needles, until I finish up some things already there. :0)

[Kathy]

Love the podcast! I've made two Sienna sweaters, photos of which are on my Flickr page. I can't figure out how to transfer them to the group, but you can check them out at www.flickr.com/photos/knitloon

[chris]

ok...so I did the deed and inventoried my stash this weekend....I have 11,000 yards of sock yarn and stopped counting at 50,000 yds of other stuff as I was getting nauseous! The good news is : I buy good stuff; quality brands. The bad news is : I have a hellavua lot of pinks/purples....no more of those colors in my future purchases! I also spent the weekend dyeing 4 pounds of irish wool (that's not even counted in my stash!)
I did finish a pair of socks for my hubby with peace signs on the heels!!

I think i'm in the denial and depression phase....

[Tasha]

I love you ladies so much. I think I got caught up on all podcasts this week & I finally added up my yardage. Not nearly as devastating at 41,915 yards. But still hella lotta yarn. :D

[Lisa S]

Heyyyyyyy, I am so proud that Jenny cracked open that skein of angora/lurex and made such a cool hat. I am seriously tired of people buying The Good Stuff and then just fondling it...knit with it, darn it, I'll make MORE! :o) No, really...the hat is great and will be lovely in Greenland OR SF in the summer. :o)

[Jeri]

Love love love your podcasts. I'm new to the whole ipod/podcasting-listening thing but yours is one I will definitely try to keep up with.

[Janice]

Hello from the South Bay! It's really nice to have a knitting podcast from the SF Bay Area. I enjoy your topics quite a bit and this episode is near and dear to my heart because I've owned a Bond for years (it's so old, it's an ISM, not a USM) but haven't knit that many things with it. I think I made more stuff when I first got it, but it got stuffed in a closet for years and got resurrected when I started my blog about 3 years ago. Since then I made 2 baby blankets (one shown here http://knitflix.blogspot.com/2004/08/fo-19-ism-baby-blanket.html) and some other items. Then I got the idea that I needed a "better" machine and purchased an LK-150 last year. With it, I made a baby sweater inspired by EZ's baby surprise jacket (http://knitflix.blogspot.com/2006/10/2006-16-mk-ez-surprise-jacket.html) I'd like to do more machine knitting but it's set up in a room upstairs and I really enjoy the hand knitting that is so completely portable and can be worked on in the family room in front of the TV. Same thing with the spinning wheel--it's easily carried from room to room. The knitting machine, well, it doesn't lend itself easily to a social situation.

Thanks for the links, I wasn't aware of a number of those sites. But, here's one that you might enjoy--a site with instructional videos available for download. http://knitfits.theotherbell.com/bond-video-club.htm

--Janice

[Janice]

Sorry about the links in the previous comment. Here they are again for easy click-thru:
http://knitflix.blogspot.com/2004/08/fo-19-ism-baby-blanket.html
http://knitflix.blogspot.com/2006/10/2006-16-mk-ez-surprise-jacket.html

[Heather]

Another great resource is www.knittingtoday.com. Lee-Ann's business has a lot of machine knit accessories and has a great forum for asking question. She runs a machine knit and hand knit camp every June.

[Lisa]

Love your podcast! I'm catching up on all the previous episodes and was excited to hear you talk about the Bond. I love to hand knit, but also have a Bond that I've made a couple of sweaters on. The hardest part for me is trying to find patterns. You mentioned in the podcast making a couple of raglan sweaters on the Bond. Do you have a source for the pattern? I've been trying forever to find one with no luck.

[Trish in MD]

Hi Guys!

Sorry for commenting on such an old episode, but I only started listening a few weeks ago. Currently up to episode 13, but I wanted to comment on this one about the Bond.

I am a former Bond owner. I got it in 1999. You guys made the comment that most of the Bond user sites seem very old. There's a reason for that. They are! Back in the late 90s (before the hand knitting revolution) Bond ran a bunch of TV infomercials demonstrating the machine. You could get it from the infomercial, which was frequently sold out, or you could get it from a hobby store, also frequently sold out. There were TONS of people using the Bond then who had never hand knit and would not have considered hand knitting. Then came along SnB and Julia Roberts and all of those things that lead to the resurgence of hand knitting.

I was someone who spent literally hundreds of dollars on my bond and all of its stuff. I made a huge cabled baby blanket in one week. Yes, cables were a pain to do but it did go a lot faster than hand knitting all of those stitches.

I loved my bond but found out quickly that I hate seaming and finishing. So I only ever made two sweaters. But the thing found out that I really really wanted to knit was hats, which were a royal paininthebutt on the bond since you can't knit in the round. Thank goodness I discovered hand knitting in 2004 and Magic Loop. I packed up my bond, all of my books, videos, tools, you name it, and gave it all away. Now I wish I hadn't, because maybe someday I would like to try it again. But, for now, I am contented with hand knitting.

More than you wanted to know?

Trish

[Gloria]

I've been using my Bond since forever, and it is absolutely the best way to do intarsia, even complex ones a la Kaffe Fassett. You don't have to worry about the yarns tangling as in hand knitting because the work isn't turned back and forth. I've done entrelac and cables but don't bother with fair isle unless it's an accent.
The reason you don't find patterns for it is that you don't need to - most of us just adapt hand-knitting patterns - you might need to do the math to adapt to a slightly different gauge but that's it.