Addi Express King Size Knitting Machine, 46 Needle Round Loom with Row Counter and Hand Crank, Black, 17.7 Inch Flat Panel Width

I am having a lot of fun working with this Addie knitting machine. I have made some very good hats. I have also made some bad hats bc it is part of learning what kind of yarn to use and getting used to the machine. It works well and very predictable. The parts are strong that I never had a touch of breakdown yet. I recommend it bc there is a lot you can do with it and grow into making fancy patterns and it's fun and quick.

I am so in love with this Addi- It works so smoothly. I love that it doesn't tuck or drop stitches. I can quickly complete a project. The leg claps make it very steady. Can't wait to get the 22 pin next.

This machine is an absolutely great tool for making stockinette tubes quickly and easily! I had mixed feelings about whether or not to purchase this thing based on negative reviews I had been reading. I have to say that I am extremely impressed, and it has been worth every dollar spent. They even throw in extra needles in case any break, although I can't even think how you would break one, they're that sturdy. The circumference of a finished beanie in Caron - Simply Soft (doubled for warmth) is big enough to fit a child to medium-sized adult head with a little wiggle room. My boyfriend has a large noggin and he can squeeze into one of the hats, but it isn't very comfortable. A finished tube, laid flat and unstretched, is close to six to eight inches wide, depending on the yarn used. The most important advice I can give you is to choose the RIGHT YARN for the machine. I have used a wide variety of weights and fibers and here is what I think are the best choices: 1. Worsted Weight - Caron Simply Soft. I can't say enough about how great the Addi Express works with this yarn. I've made scarves, hats, and blanket panels and they turn out great. Not a dropped or twisted stitch to be seen with more than 800 rows on the longest piece I've knit. I cast on and just crank the handle, most of the time I just watch TV and mindlessly knit, that's how dependable the combination is! 2. Worsted Weight - Lion Bran Vanna's Choice. Very occasionally the machine doesn't quite catch a full stitch and splits the yarn on a needle, but it has never been a huge problem as long as I keep an eye out and have a crochet hook handy. 3. Worsted Weight - SMOOTH wool yarns. If your yarn is boucle, plied loosely, or splits easily, you will not get a good fabric out of this machine. Wool blends have worked amazing for me, but I have yet to try any of my higher-end wools on it for fear of ruining them. I would stick to acrylics until you're comfortable with how the machine works. Bulky yarn will not work well at all, you'll end up with a stiff chunky fabric that is a pain to keep on the needles. I haven't experimented with smaller weight yarns either, but your fabric will obviously turn out lacier than worsted. I have no idea why, but Red Heart Super Saver absolutely kills this machine. I've tried many combinations, and I am constantly dropping stitches when using this brand, and the machine makes a terrible clicking noise. It's baby melter yarn, so I can't say I'm disappointed, I just would have loved to mindlessly crank out tubes of the stuff for charity scarves since I have a lot of it sitting around. All-in-all, I'm pleased with this purchase, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a solid starter machine with a relatively low cost compared to professional machines of the same size.

Love this item and made many things on it

After some discussion with friends, my curiosity was piqued enough to try knitting machines. I tried a cheaper one & got poor results, so I decided to spend the money on this one. It was easy to set up- just screw the 4 legs in. (The “flip side” of that is that you can easily remove them, to store the machine.) The machine includes what you need (other than the yarn.) to get started- machine, legs, spare needles (in case repairs are needed), a curved needle for finishing, instruction book and clamps to secure it to a table. Though the instructions are pretty clear, I would recommend watching a few videos. Threading correctly is crucial; if you don’t, it will drop stitches constantly. Once set up, it’s pretty easy to knit in the round. Make sure you have zeroed the counter and crank away! It’s not hard to turn the crank, so I didn't find it tiring. In fact, it’s kind of fun to watch the needles bob up & down. I really like the included clamps. The keep the machine from moving around while you work. The only issue I had, was the needle. It’s plastic and likely to warp or break. I’d recommend getting some metal ones. Knitting in the round is pretty easy. I was able to complete a hat on the very first day! Knitting flat panels is harder; I haven’t really mastered that. So my advice is to be patient & start slowly.

I received this knitting machine a couple of weeks ago, and have already knit 60 hats for charity. I did have some minor issues with the digital counter, but only when I tried to crank the handle too quickly. If I kept a reasonable pace and a steady motion, the counter worked perfectly. You'll need to look up start up and use instructions on YouTube, though. The printed materials are not very helpful. I did notice some tension/gauge difference in the knitted fabric, when adding in a new yarn. Nothing I did really made this issue go away, but I was able to limit the difference by always holding the yarn in the same place (down along the side of my hip) throughout each project. I tested the machine with different kinds and weights of yarn--plied worsted, single-ply worsted, single-ply Aran, and plied sport weight. Worsted and sport, both single-ply and plied, worked great. The machine did not perform as well with the single-ply Aran I used. The machine kept skipping stitches, seems the needles didn't catch the yarn very well. I did try two hats in bulky weight, but the heavier yarn caused the machine to perform extra sluggishly, and I fear I may have bent the main red circular piece, just slightly, so there is a clicking noise now. Still works great, but the noise is a little annoying. I do not recommend using bulky weight yarn (even though the two hats I made were amazing). Overall, this purchase was a great value. I used up 60+ skeins of wool in two weeks, which I never would have done by knitting or crocheting by hand. If you are wanting to knit hats or tube scarves for charity, super fast, an Addi Express is a very smart purchase.

Too bad you can't give a zero star review or negative stars. I am SO upset about this, it has caused my blood pressure to go through the roof. A bit of a backstory; I have been contemplating buying this for a little over a year. Did a TON of research, watched countless video and I am a crafter so most crafts are pretty easy for me to pick up. I wanted to add knitted hats and headbands to the inventory I sell at my craft shows. I didn't just blindly jump in when I decided to buy this. Not with that price tag, nope I knew I needed to do a bunch of research before I decided to go for it. I got the machine in but couldn't dig into it right away as I had so many other things I was trying to wrap up for my craft show. I had it for about 3 weeks before I was able to actually sit down and play with this machine. Assembly was simple enough (attach the legs and you are good to go), I read through the user manual like I always do to make sure I was doing everything right. I am not going to get too technical and list all of the plethora of yarns I tried with this machine, but over 20 attempts to make something that didn't skip stitches, break needles because the yarn was bunching up and I still do NOT have a successful piece. Naturally, by the time I discovered what a hunk of expensive junk this is, I am out of my 30 day return policy. SO here I am stuck with this $138 machine that literally has done nothing for me except raise my blood pressure, cause countless hours of headaches and I am so done. I even had someone who has actual experience with these machines sitting here with me to make sure it wasn't me. He is the reason I even started looking at knitting machines because he was able to score a second-hand machine at a thrift store and he was making lots of cool hats. To ensure I was doing everything right, he was there and I was doing everything right from casting, to making sure I was going slow at first he even gave me tips on what to do once you get a good portion of the tube going to make sure it stayed in position and to make things easier when finishing off the hat. He said there is literally no reason this machine should be doing what it is doing (or NOT doing for that matter.) I am unsure if there is a better machine out there, but I am not going to find out because I thought the more $$ you spend, means that it's a better quality machine. Clearly, I was wrong. Save yourself the headache and either go cheaper with a better machine from some other manufacturer or learn to knit by hand. I don't have time to knit by hand because I have too many other things that I do that are time consuming as well. I hope you find this review helpful!!

I was torn about my initial urge to rate 5 stars, but, I am going with it. For the cost of the machine, it's not reasonable to expect it to be perfect with all yarn. If you pick the right yarn - it's flawlessly wonderful. So, for the cost and for what it is capable and compared to competitor machines - I love my Addi. It does have issues with less expensive yarn - but shouldn't that downgraded review go to the yarn? It works perfectly with most yarn. It's fairly well known that the less expensive yarns are problematic for Addi & Sentro machines. I did buy an upgraded part on Etsy to make my Addi work better with cheaper yarn like Red Heart. I prefer the Addi to the Sentro, and I did upgrade the Sentro gear prior to trying the Addi. Also, I did find that the right tension is also a factor in avoiding skipped stitches with both when using less expensive yarn.