Prym624145 Knitting mill, blue, purple

I already had one of these which didn't seem to be working and I thought was broken so I bought a second one. It also didn't seem to work and by this time I was thinking this is a dud product. I had the first one for weeks and no joy. Followed the instructions to the letter, watched instructional videos online, and still it would not work, always dropped stitches, jammed etc. I even watched a video of someone using it with a power drill and going a gazillion miles an hour with it, and still mine wouldn't work using the hand crank very slowly. So I gave up on it deciding it must be a dud and bought this one. The same thing happened. I gave up on both of them. It was too late to do anything about the first one but the second one that I bought from amazon I thought I would return since it obviously didn't work. I left it a few days and then before starting the returns process I thought I would give it one last try - and it worked!! I didn't do anything different but it worked. I even plugged it into a drill and it whizzed off really fast. Then I got the first one out and it worked too!!! So now I have two functioning knitting mills, and I have tried them with various yarns and cords and they now work every single time without fail. I didn't do anything magical to them (I read somewhere about lubricating them but I didn't try that) and they are both working perfectly. So I would say, if you are having trouble, don't give up, or at least maybe put it aside for a few days and then give it another try. I can only think that maybe it does just need to loosen up a bit. It's a great little machine.

I thought I would give this knitting mill a go given it’s mixed reviews. After carefully reading the instructions and watching a few video I gave it a go. Worked brilliantly for about 10cm of cord and then the handle became hard to turn and stitches started to drop. After unraveling the cord and trying a number of times and with different wool, still couldn’t get past 10-15cm. Even with no cord in the mill the handle still stuck. Not sure if mill was faulty but returned

This is fairly easy to use once you get it started...There are 4 hooks inside the plastic tube at the top ( the plastic tube does not come off.)These hooks have a tiny flap underneath them which catches the yarn so you must ensure the flaps are open before adding the yarn at the beginning, this is super fiddly due to the tube not coming off.The beginning is frustrating and the instructions are really useless.I will try to provide instructions from my own experience below, if I knew how to add photos or video I would as I think that would help tremendously...1. attach the handle into the square hole on the side of the blue part of the mechainsm and make a note of which way the arrow points - it is very hard to see but is located around that handle hole, and make sure you only ever turn the handle in the direction of that arrow.2. select your yarn - you can only use maximum dk thickness yarn, I used scheepjes catone and that is probably as thick as you can go.you cannot use any kind of fluffy yarn as this fouls the mechanism ( I tried kidsilk haze and then spent an hour cleaning the thing out - do not use fluffy yarn)3.take the yarn directly off the ball - you will need to feed about 40cm length through the hole on the side of the clear plastic tube, feed it under the upside down u shaped clear hole and back out again so that it comes out on the outside of the clear plastic tube.4. feed the yarn along the outside of the plastic tube and then through the small cut out lip at the top of the clear plastic tube so that it heads inside the tube towards the hooks...here comes the frustratingly tricky part...5. feed the yarn into the middle hole of the mechainsm inside the tube and then make sure you have rotated the handle so that one of the hooks lines up with the cut out lip that your yarn is resting on.6. Make sure the flap is open - you can do this by running your finger doen the hook shaft and it should op out without resistance, of course it is tricky to get your finger in there - a little paintbrush helps with this.7. lift the yarn that should be laying to the left of this one hook and nudge it into the hook, hold it there ( again little paintbrush helps with this) and turn the handle in the correct direction - the hook should move to the left and go down at the same time and the flap should start to lift to catch the yarn.8. as th next hook lines up with the cut out lip on the clear tube, again ensure the flap is open, very carefully nudge the yarn under the hook - WITHOUT popping it out of the half closed hook you just moved tothe left. again rotate the handle in the correct direction. hook 1 should now be down with the yarn in place, hook 2 should have moved tot he left, slightly down, flap moving upwards.9. repeat step 8 until you have hook 4 loaded....be careful not to pop the yarn off the previous hooks - this is super fiddly and may take several attempts to get all 4 hooks loaded. If it all goes pearshaped simply put tension on the yarn outside the mechanism near the ball and reverse the handle - pulling hte yarn back out and start from the beggining. It took me 8 goes before it worked and I was rather frustrated by all of this.10. Once all 4 hoos are loaded, carefully rotate the handle in the correct directions, keeping your trusty paintbrush to hand as you will need to nudge the flaps open and the yarn under until you have completed at least 10 rounds.11. after sucessfully faffling about to complete 10 rounds the mechanism takes over and you can then stop holding your breath, and just slowly and evenly turn the handle. I reccomend not adding the weight until the first 10 rounds are completed - it is a really stupid design -- it is a hook, if it were a circle on top you could easily knot the tail of your yarn onto it and it would stay put until you were finished, but they put a hook on, which means that as the mechanism turns and the yarn bobs about, the thing falls off!.12. Be prepared - you will need to figure out how long you want the finished product to be and place your machine at the correct height and make sure the bottom of hte machine is free as that is where the finished cord comes out, or be prepared to keep moving the weight up your work - I tried that and did not like the way it snagged and mishaped the cord at the attachment points. In the end I used a soft close clothes peg and attached the weight to that so it did not ruin my work.Once you get it going, it is really easy to keep going - I promise, it is the set up rows that are unnecessarily fiddly and unrelaible and just plain annoying.The way the machine is constructed interferes with getting it going and I expected more for the money in that respect. Once it gets going, the mechanism is robust enough too keep going and going which is good.I am concerned about the fact that you cannot take it apart, as even mercercized cotton gives of a slight amount of yarn debris over time, and not being able to clean it will probably mean it is a buy , use, throw away item, which I dislike intensely especially as it is , apart from the metal hooks, plastic and not good for the environment.Hence - not getting 5 stars.I am sorry I could not show pictures or video, but hoep these instructions based on my use of the machine help others.

Great little item, very sturdy and easy to use, just be careful of the yarn you use as there are some not suitable.

Really confusing at first, not best quality item because it does sometimes loose stitches and not grab them the best so does a decent job.

Nice sturdy little circular knitting machine. Makes metres of i-cord swiftly. I have tried it with 4ply and dk yarn. Knits well with both. The trick is to read the instructions carefully and take your time. As a knitting machine owner I guess I have the advantage of understanding the mechanism. The set up instructions are important to cast on the knitting onto the needles. I used a darning needle threaded onto my yarn to drop the tail through the machine. I used a crochet yarn tension hold to apply a light tension to the yarn. It is important to allow the yarn to feed in continuously. Do not hold the yarn too tightly. Use a crochet hook to manipulate the yarn around the needles. Slowly turn the handle checking the loops are popping over the top of the needles to form a stitch. When happy you can speed up. I notice it is possible to crash the gears if you try to go too fast though. I used a balloon safety pin to attach to the cord and move the weight further up.Make sure your weight doesn't rest on the floor and relax the tension as if this happens the cord will pop off the needles. When stopping I advise using an elastic band or hair bobble to anchor the yarn to the body of the mill so that the knitting does not come adrift. That being said, lovely little bit of kit!