I got a deal on this cute little circular knitting machine. I am testing it to see if it is a useful tool for my needlework arsenal. I had already joined some facebook groups for machine knitting so I could learn from others' struggles and tips.
Once the initial round is cast on, one need only turn a crank to produce round after round of stitches. The yarn goes through a tension device before it is fed to the hooks. The yarn needs to feed freely from the ball or be pulled from the skein so that there is no tension from anything other than the small tension device. In mere minutes I had a doll hat, double layered, with no dropped stitches.
While I could have made a much neater hat at a tighter gauge on my needles, I can see how a larger circular machine is a blessing to knotters who want to produce many hays quickly for sale or for charity.
I plan to try a heavier yarn for my next sample and keep experimenting and keeping records so I know how best to utilize this new tool.