If you have a 6.5mm mid-gauge SilverReed LK-150 knitting machine, this accessory is a must-have!
The Needle Beetle Needle Selector by KrisKrafter makes knitting patterned stitches a breeze. Instead of selecting the whole bed of needles by hand or using a needle pusher,
You hand select the first 8 needles into the arrangement you want, then push the Needle Beetle across the needle bed and it will select the rest of the needles lickety split!
KrisKrafter Needle Beetle
I wanted to knit a full bed tuck stitch baby blanket on my SilverReed LK-150 to go along with my Lion Brand Ice Cream yarn review, but I didn’t want to select every other stitch for two out of three rows using only my needle pusher or my hands.
I can be a patient knitter if I try hard enough, but selecting stitches like that is not my idea of a good time.
Needle Beetle to the rescue!
After finding where I had safely stored it after purchasing it in January (I really need to stop rearranging my craft room), I took it for a test knit.
I love tuck stitch patterns, so the majority of my Needle Beetle usage so far has been tuck stitch work.
Since I have a standard gauge punch card knitting machine, I don’t normally do much patterning on my LK-150. I’ll do a bit of cabling or hand-selected lace, but tuck or fair isle? Nah. Why do that on the Lk-150 when I can have my standard machine do it for me?
But talk about fun! I really was missing out on the things the LK-150 can do by ignoring patterned stitches just because I’d have to select by hand or needle pusher.
For the time it saves and the versatility it reminds you the LK-150 already has built in, the Needle Beetle is an amazing and worthwhile addition to your accessory collection.
And for those for those stubborn (ok, I’ll admit it, for me the word is lazy) knitters, you can’t go wrong with the time it will save you for only $89.00.
Troubleshooting User Errors
The Needle Beetle comes with very clear instructions, so I feel like the issues I had with it were entirely my fault.
1. Loose Screw
The Needle Beetle isn’t just for the LK-150 machine. It also works on the LK-140, the GK-370, and the 9mm LK-100/Zippy 90 models. For the KX-350/355/360 machines, KrisKrafter offers the Needle Beetle II, which performs the same as the Needle Beetle but fits those machines.
Since it fits both 6.5mm machine and 9mm machines, the cam inside the Needle Beetle is reversible. You simply flip it over and screw it back in. Since I like seeing how things work, I took mine apart to look at all of the pieces and see how they fit together.
The instructions warn of over-tightening the screw on the cam, but I think I took the warning a little too seriously. At the end of selecting a row of needles, when I picked up the Needle Beetle, the cam, flipper, and other parts kept going!
I ended up having to search my craft room floor for the screw, washer, and cam. And of course my mischievous cat was batting one of the pieces around. (I promise I love her, but she’s about to be barred from the craft room for eternity.)
So do tighten the screw. Don’t over-tighten it. But don’t under-tighten it, either. If it isn’t secure, the motion of the cam selecting the needles will vibrate the screw out of its hole and send you on a quest to find the pieces of this magical accessory.
2. Wrong Track
If you aren’t paying attention and you align your Needle Beetle along the carriage track rather than the track containing the needles, instead of selecting needles from upper working position, it will take out of work needles and push them into work.
Whoopsies!
3. Position Label Sticker
If your LK-150 still has the sticker labeling working positions A, B, C, and D on the right side of the needle bed, you might want to be careful with how you push the Needle Beetle across your machine.
I wasn’t careful, and the Needle Beetle picked up part of the edges of my sticker and eventually took the sticker with it. I don’t need the sticker, so it isn’t a big deal, but if you’d like both ends of your machine bed to look the same, be careful with how you put pressure on the Needle Beetle if you’re using it for full bed patterning and it might come into contact with your position label sticker.
Bonus: Tuck Stitch Baby Blanket Recipe
This tuck stitch baby blanket is a great way to put your Needle Beetle to work!
For this blanket, cast on an odd number of stitches using scrap yarn and ravel cord.
I used 149, nearly the whole bed.
I knitted one row plain and then began my tuck stitch pattern.
This pattern is based off a variation of one of Nancy Marchant’s hand knitting two-color tuck stitches, which I find a bit funny since Marchant herself has mentioned that she once used tuck stitches in machine knitting and developed many of her hand-knitted tuck patterns inspired by machine knitted tuck. We’ve come full circle!
Instead of switching out yarns, I decided to use the multicolor Lion Brand Ice Cream Big Scoop from my earlier yarn review. The yarn is a decent acrylic with fun colors that are perfect for a baby blanket.
Select every second needle of the first eight stitches. Slide the Needle Beetle across the bed to continue the pattern. Every other stitch should be all the way towards you in HOLD position.
** The first and last stitches should not be in hold. They should remain in working position so they are not tucked.
Set Carriage to HOLD.
Knit three rows.
Set Carriage to NORMAL.
Knit one row.
Repeat these four rows until your blanket is your desired size, ending with a plain knit row.
Scrap off or place all needles in HOLD to add edging to live stitches.
I used the “worm” (also called pie crust) edging with six rows knitted on three live stitches before moving to the next three stitches. I skipped rows in between “worms” on the sides of the blanket to mimic the look of the worm edging on live stitches.
Diana Sullivan on YouTube has great edging ideas, so you should definitely go check her out for great how-to videos for edgings.
All opinions are honest and my own. I am not affiliated with any company or individual mentioned or linked unless otherwise noted. I purchased this accessory myself and did not receive compensation for this review.
Do you have a Needle Beetle Needle Selector? What projects have you knitted with it? How do you like it!
Let me know in the comments below!
As always, thank you for coming on this machine knitting journey with me.
ELY Knits 