Customer Reviews

NKOK Singer Knitting Machine

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I'm a grown-up who loves toys and gadgets. Thought this looked interesting. Yeah, I read the "cheap plastic, too small, frustrating, etc), I'm also a "see for myself" type. Glad I am, because I am having an absolute blast.

It is a toy, not made for production. It takes a while to get started and understand what it and you are doing. I ripped it out about 3X before I got successful results.

The directions and pics are not as good as they could be, but you can figure it out after studying the movements-don't worry it's not calculus.

I wouldn't recommend for a child unless an adult goes through the whole thing first, since I could see the frustration it would create, but don't worry adults, you do not NEED any prior knitting knowledge it's that easy.

I would suggest not using the yarn that comes with it until later. Pick up some regular ol yarn and use that first. That way you can see what's going on. The fuzzy stuff will obscure your view and be more difficult to rip out. One other thing, remember, it is plastic, use a light touch or it will break.

For what it's worth, there are similar ones on the market-they're all basically the same. I preffered this one because it felt more substanital and it sits upright. I can set it on my lap while doing it and the results caome out the back. The others were like buckets that need to be used on a flat surface where the knitting comes out the bottom with little clearance so you have to contstantly adjust the tension, not difficult per se, just more to pay attention to.

Give it a try, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I am having a good time turning out swatches.

My mother purchased this for my daughter for her ninth birthday last month. We were initially impressed by the fact that you could actually knit a scarf. By the second little scarf, though, the gears began to slip. By the end of the thrid scarf you had to manually force the mechanism where the yarn is to even get the crank to turn. The plastic gears simply wore out. Why put plastic gears this type of toy/tool?!?

My 11 year old daughter loves using this machine; however, it does take a little more effort and knitting off of the machine to produce most of the items outlined in the instruction book. With a little effort and patience it works out ok.

I have 3 knitting machines the Ultimate Sweater Machine, Innovations, & this Singer. I was able to have experience before buying this one. The instructions are NOT CORRECT! I know that if you feed the yarn in and let it just knit your yarn will UNRAVEL! Take a hint from the Innovations instructions. You need to thread every OTHER one to begin then after one round you can let it take the yarn through the guide on the machine. The other thing is a modification that I did to mine. I didn't like the guide that the yarn had to go through because if there is a mistake it is super hard to get the yarn out without cutting it. I made a small cut (hack saw or dremil tool will do) lengthwise so I can take the yarn out and finish a garment with no problem. I also suggest going on the innovationsknitting yahoo group. There is alot of ideas, tricks & tips for all kinds of circular knitting machines.

we went through two of these machines in one evening attempting to make 3 feet of knitted scarf. My 10 year old very patient daughter wanted very much to hand make a scarf for a friend for Christmas. The gears on this toy seemed to slop themselves out of sync on both units, and subsequently jam, preventing the unit from turning as far as it should to make the smiple scarf. we decided to see if JoAnne Etc has a knitting class for next year, and bought a scarf for the friend. The Singer name dropped a number of points in my book thanks to this toy. This is either poorly designed or terrible quality control. I have had a singer sewing machine for years with few problems.

Yes, it's really that bad. I actually feel sorry for the kids who might receive this thing from a well-meaning gift-giver. If you want to completely turn a child off knitting for life and teach her that Singer is not a name brand to be trusted, go ahead and buy this machine. I find it quite telling that the Singer.com website doesn't even list the thing among its products. Search "knitting" on the website, and you get "No results found." Search "knitting machine," and you get a big list of warranties, none of which have anything do to with this machine. Having bought this machine as an experiment, I now suspect that Singer is so ashamed of it that they just refuse to list it.

Some of the most hate-able things about this machine:

It's cheaply made.
It cannot be used with anything heavier than a light worsted or DK weight yarn.
Even when you follow the instructions to the letter, it drops stitches, snags, and tangles.
The instruction "booklet", which is really just a sheet of paper, completely lies about the projects one can make. (Socks? REALLY? I challenge Singer to show me someone knitting a wearable pair of sock on this POS.)

I'm an experienced knitter. I approached with thing with patience (something children are not known for) and with an open mind. "Surely it can't be that bad," I thought.

I was so wrong.

Using the godsawful 'fun fur' type yarn that came with it, I attempted to make a simple tube. Despite repeated attempts, each time following the instructions to the letter, the end result was a snarled mess. Thinking that the yarn was too light, I pulled some very light, almost DK weight yarn from my stash and began trying to work with that. Try as I might, I could not go more than three full rotations without a dropped stitch. I understand how knitting machines work, and that the project being knitted needs to have some tension to pull it through the machine, so I persevered and kept gentle tension on the knitted tube as it began to emerge from the back of the machine. This helped somewhat -- I was able to go four full rotations before it began dropping stitches.

I will be returning this machine for a refund tomorrow, and I will consider the two hours I wasted to be an educational experience.

I really think that Singer should get nailed for false advertising over this machine, and should pull it from the market. It's funny that there is just one glowing review of this product on every site where it is sold. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but I'm starting to suspect that some idiot who works for Singer has seeded websites with happy reviews of this thing in a desperate attempt to convince people that it's really not as bad as the overwhelming majority says.

We love this toy! We got it for Christmas for my 7 year old daughter - one of the needles was broken on the machine, but NKOK sent us a new one very quickly and soon we had miles and miles of knitted tubes! The thing that it is picky about is the weight of the yarn that you use. Regular old worsted weight yarn (the stuff that is readily available and what you usually think of as yarn) is too bulky for this machine, so you have to look for something lighter, like sportweight or fingering weight yarn. You have to read the yarn labels and look for it or the size 3 or smaller. Once you have the right size yarn it works just like it should! The most interesting piece she has made has been from some of the fluffy thin polyamide stuff from Hobby Lobby. It made a terrific scarflet, although finding the loops to bind of the beginning and end was a little more difficult. She followed the instructions carefully, though, and has made some great things with only a little help from mommy!

I recently bought this gadget/toy and it is a pathetic investment. i have tried numerous yarns from just a basic light weight to the fun yarns even the ones that come with the machine and the end results were all the same BAD. i have experienced drop stiches leaving big holes or the yarn getting hung up. i have tried to remove hang ups by hand but once the holes occur you cant do anything project is shot. it is made of plastic and yes it wont last long in a childs hands~the gears will be stripped in no time. the feeder in which the yarn threads is very poorly designed: the yarn gets caught in it thus as you turn the handle the unit doesnt move causing the gears to strip or if you have to attempt to correct a problem the yarn is right in the way in order to get it out of the way you end up cutting the yarn its self. I myself am a type of person whom doesnt solely rely on personal reviews as i realize some may not be operating correctly or on occassion there is a possible defective item. in this case most of the reviews all state the same JUNK and seem to be right on track. the reviews where they state projects turn out good yes perhaps for a young child whom is developing skills thus dropped stitches are expected but not for an adult whom wants to be able to wear that scraf and not tell people that thier young child/grandchild made it for them. any machine where you end up doing half the work by hand like trying to fix the hang ups isnt worth the money. in this case either spend the money and buy a higher quality machine or sit back relax and do it by hand. this machine by no means teaches a child or adult how to knit. there are kits out on the market i myself have purchased to teach you how to knit. those by far would be a better invetment than this piece of junk. dont waste your money and fill our land fills some more by purchasing this unit.

Beware before you buy this machine. Back in the day, they used to work great. Now, they are made very cheap and the yarn gets stuck, breaks and skips sections and leaves holes. Not good for adults or kids. Don't buy it!

This product is not durable. After fiddling with it for 1 hour and 3 tries, I was ready to ditch it. The gear is not turning anymore. I"m taking it back to the store. If anybody knows a better machine, pls. write me back. Thanks.