Knots and Tangles

This is something I did not foresee.

Having used knitting machines previously that came complete with a comb I had not encountered some of the problems that I was to come across once I began knitting. 

The fact I only have basic knowledge of knitting machines probably made these problems harder to solve or understand as I just had to keep taking estimated guesses on how to solve them.

To make it easier to understand I shall firstly explain what the comb is.

The comb is basically exactly what it says on the tin. A large comb that is hung across the entire bed of the machine. The teeth are hooked and fit on to the stitches of wool which are across each individual needle.

Weights are then placed equally across the comb which pull the comb and wool downwards away from the machine bed. 

This is to stop the wool popping off the needles which it tends to do when not enough weight is applied to hold it down.

I have six weights which I apply as I would on a comb but the problem with this is that this does not distribute the weight as evenly as a comb and this is where the problems occur. Certain areas of the wool pop off and become entangled in the bed pins which run in front of the machine's needles. This causes massive knots and tangles which need to repetitively and carefully removed with a tool before more knitting to avoid the wool falling off the bed or the wool getting jammed in the hand piece.

I am also beginning to learn that whoever/whatever rolls the wool in to balls obviously is very bored and complacent when they start as the the closer I get to the centre of a ball of wool the more tangled the wool becomes in it self and I need to stop knitting to untangle it.

All of these things I did not take in to account when I started and each take up a lot of precious time that could be spent knitting!