I have somewhat happy memories of using the brown Mattel (70's) version of this knitter as a child, and thought it might be fun to start my daughter out on a similar machine. JoAnn's also had a 40% off any item coupon, so you know where this is going.

This knitter is all wrong and I'm extremely happy I didn't pay full price for it. The lump on the left side is a handle, the placement of which is really useless. To get the best leverage you'll need to keep your left hand on top of the machine. The button which controls round or flat knitting will shift on it's own, which creates a jam, which in turn is not only noisy but pretty much ensures that the gears are eating themselves when this happens.

Unlike the Mattel knitter, this one has the worst instructions in the world for casting on, the unwritten expectation being that you'll just knit the beginning in some waste yarn until the knitting takes and unravel the waste yarn when you're ready to finish the beginning. Which you could do, but it's far less frustrating to skip every other needle on the first round or e-wrap (with the yarn overlaps behind the needle) each stitch for an open tube or on the flat knitting. The project portion of the instructions are equally stupid.

Worsted weight yarn doesn't work well in this machine at all. If you already own one or if my review so far hasn't convinced you that this is not worth it for some reason, you're not completely out of luck: This machine does knit sock yarn, sport weight and fun-fur or eyelash yarns pretty well. Still, be prepared for the occasional jam and understand that this is a toy and not a long term knitting empire investment. You can make a beanie bear sized hat in the round (use the every other needle cast on, and knit about 10 inches, run the needle through the open loops to cast off and fold one half inside the other pull both sides tight and tie off), lots and lots of funfur or eyelash yarn scarves until the plastic gears give out.
I have somewhat happy memories of using the brown Mattel (70's) version of this knitter as a child, and thought it might be fun to start my daughter out on a similar machine. JoAnn's also had a 40% off any item coupon, so you know where this is going. This knitter is all wrong and I'm extremely happy I didn't pay full price for it. The lump on the left side is a handle, the placement of which is really useless. To get the best leverage you'll need to keep your left hand on top of the machine. The button which controls round or flat knitting will shift on it's own, which creates a jam, which in turn is not only noisy but pretty much ensures that the gears are eating themselves when this happens. Unlike the Mattel knitter, this one has the worst instructions in the world for casting on, the unwritten expectation being that you'll just knit the beginning in some waste yarn until the knitting takes and unravel the waste yarn when you're ready to finish the beginning. Which you could do, but it's far less frustrating to skip every other needle on the first round or e-wrap (with the yarn overlaps behind the needle) each stitch for an open tube or on the flat knitting. The project portion of the instructions are equally stupid. Worsted weight yarn doesn't work well in this machine at all. If you already own one or if my review so far hasn't convinced you that this is not worth it for some reason, you're not completely out of luck: This machine does knit sock yarn, sport weight and fun-fur or eyelash yarns pretty well. Still, be prepared for the occasional jam and understand that this is a toy and not a long term knitting empire investment. You can make a beanie bear sized hat in the round (use the every other needle cast on, and knit about 10 inches, run the needle through the open loops to cast off and fold one half inside the other pull both sides tight and tie off), lots and lots of funfur or eyelash yarn scarves until the plastic gears give out.