Knitting machines · Santagostino Esperia Finezza 7

Moving stitches

Taking a stitch off its needle and putting it somewhere else: on the needle next to it, on a needle on the other bed, or a few needles in from the edge. It is the most frequent thing hands do on a machine after knitting, and every change of stitch pattern goes through it.

On the Santagostino Esperia Finezza 7.

Written from the manual of the Brother KH-860. The steps below have not been checked against this machine — read them as a guide, not as its manual.

Before you start

The knitting hangs straight, with the comb and the weights on. A piece that is not pulled down drops stitches the moment you push a needle back.
The carriage is parked at one side and not over the needles you are about to move.
You can tell the needle positions apart: an emptied needle goes back to A, out of work, or it will pick up yarn on the next row and make a hole you did not want.

The ways to do it

Open the one you need. Which one is right depends on the edge the garment wants at this point — inside a pattern, Tricotta picks it for you.

Onto the next needle, with the transfer tool finished edge not recorded yet

One stitch moves onto its neighbour: this both decreases by one and, when the emptied needle is left in work, opens the hole of an eyelet. It is the move behind lace, cables and every shaping done inside the piece.

Two stitches now sit on one needle. On the next row they knit together — that is the decrease. If you meant an eyelet instead, leave the emptied needle in work so it takes yarn and makes the hole.

We have not recorded whether this machine has: transfer_tool — check on the machine before you rely on it.

Hook the eye of the transfer tool onto the hook of the needle and pull it towards you.

transfer tool
Hold your other hand flat against the knitting so the piece is not pulled forward with the needle. The stitch slides behind the latch and onto the stem of the needle.

If the knitting comes forward with the needle the stitch stays in the hook, and it will not pass onto the tool.
Hold the tool parallel with the needle and push it all the way back, until the stitch is on the tool.

transfer tool
Lift the tool off the needle hook, taking care not to let the stitch slip off the tool.
Hook the tool onto the hook of the needle you are moving to, and let the stitch run down onto that needle.

transfer tool
Take the tool away and put the emptied needle back to position A, out of work — unless you want an eyelet there, in which case leave it in work.

An empty needle left in work takes yarn on the next row: that is exactly how a yarn-over is made, and exactly what you do not want on a plain decrease.

needle position A

Do not pull the tool towards you while the stitch is still in the needle hook: that drops it.

From 9-1-1, 9-2-2-1 · pages 83, 86

A band in from the edge (full fashioned) finished edge not recorded yet

Use it when the decrease has to be visible and tidy on a shoulder, an armhole or a raglan: instead of losing the edge stitch, you move a group of stitches in from the edge, so the edge column runs on unbroken and the decrease shows as a slanted line a few stitches inside.

We have not recorded whether this machine has: transfer_tool — check on the machine before you rely on it.

Take the multi-eye transfer tool — the 1x2 moves two stitches at a time, the 1x3 three.

1x2 transfer tool
Hook it over the two end stitches, pull towards you and push back until both stitches are on the tool, exactly as for a single stitch.

transfer tool
Move them one needle in towards the middle of the piece and let them down onto those needles.
Put the emptied end needle back to position A, out of work.

needle position A

From 9-2-2-2 · pages 87

From one bed to the other finished edge not recorded yet

This is the passage at the end of a rib: the ribber holds half the stitches, and to go on in plain knitting they all have to end up on one bed. It is also how a purl column goes back to knit, and how a cable group is parked while it crosses.

Count first. A rib on alternate needles has as many stitches as it has needles and passes over one to one; a structure worked on EVERY needle of both beds (English rib, milano, interlock) has twice the stitches of one bed, and something has to give — see below.

We have not recorded whether this machine has: transfer_tool — check on the machine before you rely on it.

Knit the last row of the rib and stop with the carriage clear of the needles.
Bring every needle of both beds forward, so that all the stitches are visible and none is hidden behind a latch.

The founder's rule: you raise all the needles, so the needle count after the passage is the same as before. If it cannot be, the count is telling you something — see step 5.
Take the stitches off one bed with the transfer tool and put each one onto the needle facing it on the other bed. Working onto the back bed is easier and you see better — but either direction gives the same fabric.

Founder, 2026-07-22: «si possono trasferire sull'anteriore o sulla posteriore, non dipende dal verso, ma posteriore e' piu' comoda e vedi meglio». ⭐ CONFERMA INDIPENDENTE, a sessant'anni di distanza: il libretto Dubied («Transfers», p.34) scrive che i disegni su una fontura si fanno «by preference on the rear needlebed so that when the front bed is lowered the knitter can verify the work and remedy any mistake immediately» — la stessa ragione, la vista sul lavoro.

transfer tool
Put the emptied bed's needles back out of work, and check that every needle you are keeping has exactly one stitch on it.

needle position A
If the rib was worked on every needle, two stitches will land on one needle. That is not a mistake: it is a decrease, and it happens on the whole row. Decide it before you start, because it changes the width of the piece.

Founder, 2026-07-22: «devi alzare tutti gli aghi, quindi il numero di aghi finale resta lo stesso nel passaggio. Se cosi' non e' — perche' scaricando gli anteriori ce n'erano di piu' — bisogna accavallare dei cappi su un ago solo».
Reset the carriage for plain knitting and knit one row slowly, watching that every needle takes the yarn.

Do not transfer with the carriage sitting over the needles.
Do not leave an emptied needle in work: it will pick up yarn and make a hole along the whole passage line.

From

Making a rib by hand, with the latch tool finished edge not recorded yet

Use it on a single-bed machine with no ribber: the fabric comes off the machine as plain knitting, and you turn chosen columns to the purl side by hand, afterwards. It is how you get a ribbed look on a machine that cannot make a rib.

It is slow — one column at a time, the whole height of the band — and it is done on the knitting, not on the needles. Most of the fabric is already made when you do it.

We have not recorded whether this machine has: bed_single, latch_tool — check on the machine before you rely on it.

Bring one needle forward to position E by hand and return it to A, so its stitch drops off.

needle position E · needle position A
With the tip of the latch tool, unravel that column down to the row where the rib is to start.

latch tool
Put the latch tool into the stitch at the row where you want the rib to begin.

latch tool
Hold the knitting firmly and push the latch tool away from you until the stitch on it is behind the latch.
Catch the next loose horizontal strand with the hook and pull the tool towards you: the latch closes over the new yarn and pulls it through the stitch on the stem, making one new stitch.

Working from the other face is what turns the column: the same loop, pulled through from behind, reads as a purl.
Do not pull the latch tool hard. Repeat up the column until you reach the top, then hook the last stitch back onto its needle.

latch tool

Do not drop more than one column at a time: a dropped column that is not immediately picked back up runs to the bottom of the piece.

From 9-1-2 · pages 84

When it goes wrong

The stitch stays in the needle hook and will not pass onto the tool.

Is the knitting being pulled forward with the needle?
Are the weights on?

From · pages

After the passage there is a line of holes across the whole row.

Were the emptied needles left in work?

From · pages

The first row after the transfer is tight, or the carriage jams on it.

Are there needles carrying two stitches?

From · pages

The yarn breaks while you are transferring, or the stitches feel hard to move.

Are the stitch indicators (the tension setting) tight?

From · pages

The parts by name

transfer tool: The eyed tool that lifts stitches off needles. It comes with one, two or three eyes (1x2, 2x3, 1x3): the number of eyes is how many stitches it moves at once.
1x2 transfer tool: The transfer tool with two eyes: it lifts two neighbouring stitches at once, which is what a full-fashioned decrease moves.
latch tool: A hook with a hinged latch, like a single machine needle on a handle. It makes stitches one at a time, by hand, on knitting that is already made.
needle position A: Out of work. Where an emptied needle goes, so it does not take yarn on the next row.
needle position E: Holding. The stitch stays on the needle until it is let go.

What we do not know yet

A manual states; it does not always prove. These are the places where we would be making it up, so we say so instead.

Quando la costa e' lavorata a TUTTI gli aghi delle due fonture (inglese, milano, interlock), il passaggio a una fontura sola impone davvero un 2:1?
DEDOTTO, NON CONFERMATO. La frase del fondatore («bisogna accavallare dei cappi su un ago solo») dice che quando gli aghi non bastano si accavalla; che questo diventi un rapporto 2:1 su TUTTA la riga per le strutture a tutti gli aghi e' una deduzione nostra (memoria `tricotta-machine-model`, 22 lug), non una sua parola. `s4_superficie/accoppiamenti.py` tiene il rapporto dichiarato 1:1 e lo dice nella nota.
Di quanto va allentata la tensione sul ferro che segue un passaggio in cui alcuni aghi portano due cappi?
NON RISOLTO. Che vada allentata e' meccanico (piu' filo nello stesso cappio); di quanto, dipende dal filato e dalla macchina, e nessuna delle nostre fonti da' un numero.
Quante maglie dal bordo deve stare la fascia di sagomatura, punto per punto?
PARZIALE. `s4_superficie/vincoli_forma.json` porta i numeri di Stoll per k2p2 e k2p1 (min 5, passo 3; default di fabbrica 6 in calo e 1 in aumento); per gli altri punti non li abbiamo, e il manuale KH-860 mostra solo il gesto con l'attrezzo 1x2.

Bron: BROTHER KH-860 KNITTING MACHINE INSTRUCTION MANUAL. The procedure is retold in our own words; the drawings are our own.Bron: Il fondatore, sulla sua Dubied NHF5 g.12. The procedure is retold in our own words; the drawings are our own.Bron: DUBIED PATTERN BOOK — chapter «Transfers». The procedure is retold in our own words; the drawings are our own.