I recently purchased a Silver Reed 860 knitting machine with ribber and the Silver Link 4 to work with DAK. I've been knitting simple things just so I can get used to the machine and we can make friends. I've gone through the manual and tried almost all of the stitches. So far, my assessment is that it's more fiddly than the Brother machines, knits nice ribbing, the gauge has a nice hand knit look, the link to DAK is touchy, and good or bad I'm glad I bought it.
Thought I'd share a simple fingerless mitt pattern that I came up with. It knits up in short order. Might make a good gift for someone for Christmas. If you don't have a ribber and have to latch up the ribbing by hand it won't go quite as fast. One size fits most adult women. If you need a smaller size, you could tighten the tension. Left and right mitts are identical. I keep typing "mtits" instead of "mitts". Wonder what that is all about! Anyway, here's the pattern:
Machine: 6.5 or 7 mm midgauge. Ribber for bands or latch by hand
Yarn: Lion Brand worsted wt wool, Ocean Prints, 1 skein (2 1/4 ounce) 143 yards
Tension: 3.5 st x 5 r =1”
Directions:
Cuff--Cast on as per your manual over 34 needles. RC 000. Rib for 20 rows at T 7/7.
Hand--Change to main carriage if using a ribber. T 8 (knit 5 rows, increase one stitch both sides). Repeat from parenthesis one more time. Knit plain to RC 35.
Shape thumb opening: Carriage side bind off 5 st, K1 row 2 X.
Ewrap cast on 5 stitches at beginning of next 2 rows. Hang a claw wt on the ewrapped stitches. Knit to RC 44.
Change to ribber carriage, T 7/7 knit 6 rows. Knit one loose row at T 10/10 (or knit a loose row by hand). Transfer stitches from ribber to main bed. Chain cast off from right to left. Leave a 12” yarn tail for sewing up side seam.
Finishing: Make the purl side be the public side. Sew side seam leaving the opening for the thumb. Fold the cuffs down at the tops. If you start the yarn in the same spot for the second mitt, they should look the same. If you don't care, start anywhere!