shocked, I’ll tell you!

I’ve been LK-ing – that’s what I call  working on the mid gauge LK150…working on a tuck stitch pattern with a metallic-ky yarn for the holiday 2014 (#194) issue of KnitStyle magazine – the yarn is ticking me off! Well, for all of the Back, I was blaming it on the yarn and then I thought, hummmm…maybe something else is happening here. I’ll back up a step – what was frustrating me was the yarn seemed to be grabbing  or sticking at the beginning of the row, especially on the right side and it kept either making a loose stitch or, if I wasn’t really paying attention, actually dropping the stitch – totally frustrating when you have other things to pay attention to, like making sure you are selecting the needles for the tuck stitch, never mind the 'correct' needles…I kept looking at the sides of the carriage, trying to think if I had dropped or bumped the carriage (heaven forbid!). It looked fine and there didn’t seem to be a reason for the problem. Then, before I started on the Front, I figured I should look a little closer. Huh! the brushes underneath – darn if the one on the under side right  (which would be the one at the beginning the row when the carriage is on the right) seems to be kind of stiff.
Do I feel bad! – look at that felted piece of crud that was jammed under the brush – no wonder the poor thing wasn’t working properly! I have no idea how that happened, obviously stuff built up over the years of use - that took some time to accumulate! it wasn't a one time thing – nothing under the other side though…
Just a word of warning, if you're going to screwdriver anything, make sure you have the proper screwdriver - the screws on any knitting machine are way to easy to strip if you aren't careful and know what you are doing... Put it back together and, wow, I owe the yarn (it’s New Smoking from Filatura di Crosa) and whoever else I was cussing out, an apology – everything is working fine!
Don’t let this photo scare you – this is the Front and the garment is an A-line pullover with an elliptical hem, shorter in the front, longer in the back – looks weird here, though!!