Customer Reviews

Girlz The Real Knit And Gem Machine by Mega Brands

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

I'm an adult knitter who bought this toy as a novelty. I had no major problems with it, and any small problems I had I could use my knitter skills to fix. Personally, I hate eyelash yarn (two small skeins included in the box), so I used sock yarn instead. The self-patterning/self-striping sock yarns yield cool results.

Things I encountered:

1. The first three inches or so of knitting is terrible. Stitches are dropped and it looks like a tangled mess of fishing line. However, if you keep it up, by the fourth or fifth inch you'll notice that it becomes even. TIP: Go slowly at first. Once you see that the knitting has become even, you can speed up.

2. The tensioning device isn't great. I wonder if people who had problems with this machine ended up knitting too tightly and breaking the machine? TIP: Don't rely on the machine to pull yarn out of your center-pull skein or ball. Pull the yarn out yourself.

3. Your tube of knitted material will twist and affect your tension. TIP: Stop every now and then to lift the machine off the table and let the tube untwist.

4. You can't use regular (worsted weight) or thick (bulky) yarns, you have to use thin yarn. TIP: Use sock yarn, fingering weight yarn, or sport weight yarn.

Okay, so as a mom to a 7 year old who crochets, I thought this might be beneath my daughter. Fact is, she loved the machine when it worked, which for TWO of them TOTALLED about an hour. The concept is there, but the plastic must break inside is all I can figure...We returned the first one after about 15 minutes. The second one lasted long enough to make two long tubes, then it, too, jammed the SAME way....I would love to find one that actually lasts beyond an hour, since as I said, the concept is good!

We've had a great time with this little machine. My 8 yr old twins have had to share it with the neighbors! We are buying a second one, due to popular demand. There is a button for flat versus tube knitting - if this button is in the flat position (up) it is possible to break the internal gears. The flat is too complicated for the younger children - they get confused when the machine "jams" and don't understand to reverse direction. So keep the button down!

When I bought this machine, I thought that this was the coolest thing ever! And I was right, but not at first. At first it caused me lots of frustration, but after i learned its "glitch" and fixed it, it worked like a charm. I made a scarf in no time, with barely an effort. You see when the yarn goes on the hokk, it sometime slides over and gets stuck/caught, all i had to do was to use some tweezers and put it back over. Simple! So yeah, it was defintely worth buying this toy, but u definetly need PATIENCE!! DONT GIVE UP!!

I should have read the reviews before I bought this toy. I returned it after one day. It is a cheap piece of plastic which breaks easily. A child cannot get the knitted tube off the hooks like the instructions tell you to do it, nor could my husband or myself. Not a fun toy.

We got this toy for my daughter (8yrs) she loves it. It does take patience and some grown up help at first. Also it can jam easily, we went through a whole skein of yarn before finally figuring out how to keep it from jamming. Overall I think this toy is okay for an older child.

I gave it 1 star (lowest possible rating) because the frustration makes it NO FUN; I gave it 5 stars for educational value because it was an education for my daughter that not all toys are quality, that there is junk out there, and that she had a new toy fit only for the trash - so she learned how to let go and put garbage where it belongs; I gave it 2 stars for durability because in spite of our frustrated "forcing" of the handle when it seemed to jam, and angry banging it on the table, it didn't break - but can see how it easily would with more attempts to make it work; I gave it 1 star overall (again, the lowest possible rating) because it just doesn't work: it jams, drops stitches, picks up more than the last row when in progress, etc. and on top of that, the instructions were terrible - they were very confusing, and not very specific (i.e. when "loading" the machine, you are supposed to turn the handle slowly, until the yarn is caught on every other needle; what they don't tell you is that YOU have to make it pick up every other needle, it doesn't do it by itself. So, to summarize, the tubes that it knits end up with giant holes and unravel, and the flat panels end up with giant holes and unravel, and the edges unravel because it is inconsistent in ending the "rows" sometimes it picks up the yarn on the last needle, sometimes on the 2nd or 3rd to last...JUNK JUNK JUNK!!! We hate it.

This was the only thing my daughter wanted for her 9th birthday. I read the reviews and decided to try it anyway. The directions were terrible, but we finally got it to work (somewhat) and she made her "scarf". So, I went off the store to get more yarn. I started to load the machine and it wouldn't turn. I couldn't believe that it was THAT bad! What a disappointment. I guess now I will have to learn how to knit for real to use all this yarn.

I purchased this machine to make scarves, as the box stated it would. I did not even get a single row knitted before the thing tore up. It jammed, then it quit moving altogether. It was not due to the button being up, I made sure it was down. This is about the worst piece of crap I have ever purchased in my life.

When my teen daughter got this, it was a bit confusing at first, but she stuck with it and now has it working like a charm. Some of the tricks that you need to know are:
1. Use thin-ish yarn, too big and it will not work
2. Go slowly, if you go too fast it drops the stitches
3. Make sure to unravel the yarn first so that it doesn't have to work to get the yarn
4. Sometime the stitch stays on the hook, when it should have gone over it, just use a pair of tweexers and guide it over
Basically you need patiece, and you need to pay attention you what you are doing. It is for older girls that know what to do, but if you know how to use it, then everyone can enjoy it. Just because it takes a bit of time to know how to use this toy, doesn't mean it's not good! Dont gibe up on learning how to use it. And please don't be discouraged from other reviews but use them to find help.