Addi Express King Size Knitting Machine, Black, 890-2

Absolutely brilliant to use.Made loads of hats with ease.While it is brilliant for hats and scarfs, you need to understand that, that is it’s primary focus but it excels at it.Some basic knitting knowledge helpful.

I deliberated for such a long time as to whether to buy this or not. I read so many reviews over time for this and other makes.I have a friend who bought one of these quite a while ago, so it came highly recommended.However, I still wasn't persuaded enough due to the difference in cost.I almost bought a different one but decided to just go for this in the end.I obviously can't do a comparison, but what I can do is tell you how I'm loving this Addi Express. It is so easy to use. It feels sturdy and comes with optional clamps to temporarily secure it to the table during use.I leave it out secured to one of the tables in my craft room, so can easily use it whenever.What I would say is that not all yarn is equal and will not behave in the same way even if it's the same weight. Take your time, especially 'casting on' and for first couple rows. Make sure there are no missed stitches and then you're good to go.Some yarn just does what it's supposed to do straight away, but others need an eye on them to begin with.One tip I can give you is, if you find that the yarn is bouncing off during cast on, put a clothes peg on the long cast on tail to give it a bit of weight to hold it down gently to help keep it in place.The machine is a work horse and so far, I've tried DK, Aran and Chunky weight.Although pricey compared with others, I think I'm going to work it hard and hopefully it will last a long time.It's definitely helping to get a lot more charity knits out in super quick time.

I already own a couple of flatbed knitting machines and had thought about getting a circular knitting machine for a while but they had been out of stock from Amazon for ages too. Now the price has come down to a sensible one it was worth getting one. This arrived quickly and safely via Amazon UK and it’s very simple to use. Everything is made of plastic which surprised me, it’s very lightweight. But it does the job well. It comes with 2 metal clamps and spare needles, 2 stoppers in a box for flat panel knitting and a plastic needle for casting off (there’s a hole on the top of the machine for storing this little red needle). I’d recommend taking your time and hold your yarn softly as it knits, there is no tension device just your fingers. It does have an essential row counter mine is mechanical and easy to reset by turning it back to zero. It does clank and you will feel resistance as it goes over the counter mechanism inside as you crank the handle, but this is normal. Watch some YouTube videos to help you get started, it’s a great design though I’ve found some yarns are easier to knit with than others (I’ve found DK yarns seem to knit easily where thicker yarns like chunky could easily drop a stitch, just watch the needles at the front to see it’s got the yarn, if it slips over it that’s when you drop a stitch) dropped stitches can be rescued though, see YouTube videos on this, you’ll need a crochet hook to reknit it back up. I’m still learning with it and I’ve also purchased the smaller Addi 22 to make smaller items like socks, this one is great for hats and scarves made quickly. Changing the yarn colour is easy too. It comes with instructions but no patterns to get you started but look on YouTube for inspiration. For a woman’s lined beanie hat I knitted 140 rows, no shaping needed, knitted in 30 minutes. I made a long tube scarf too in no time from one ball of yarn. Take your time, don’t ever force the crank to turn if the yarn feels too tight or turn the crank backwards in circular mode (there’s a switch on the side) and enjoy.

When I received my Addi express king size, it was well packaged to be dispatched, but I was disappointed to find the main box inside that contained my Addi machine in a terrible state.I initially bought it to make mens hats, as I’m asked to make them a lot, and find knitting them by hand so boring, but was disappointed at first to find I could knit them neater and tighter by hand, but through constant practice, my tension is getting tighter.Don’t be put off it, when you first try it, keep practicing and you will find it quite a handy little machine.I managed to make a cowl and baby blanket in just a few hours.Only really bad thing about the design I feel, is the handle, for something you use a lot, you would expect it to be a lot stronger than what it is, it’s a pity the cogs and handle are not metal

Well made but still all plastic, legs are stronger than cheaper ones. So how long it will last we will see. My wife has had some of the cheaper types at around £35 - £50. These have worn out (she does use them a lot), replaced by the 'Addi Express King Size' three months ago. I have made a new handle, not because it broke but just easier to use, they have tried to design an 'ergonomic' handle it seems but have come up with a bit of a turkey!. Also this machine lacks a tensioner for the wool which will affect the quality of the end product, this is poor as some of the other machines half the price do have tensioners so I made one.An advantageous thing to with any other these machines is to mount on a base board, it is much more stable. if it lasts longer or shorter I will edit this review.