No one.
The rise of cheap and abundant clothing basically finished the production of domestic knitting machines.
Toyota stopped production around 1990, Brother’s last machine was produced in ~1997, and Pfaff closed their business in 2001.
Just like the Juki, Brother, and Toyota, Silver Reed was a Japanese company (known primarily for their typewriters). They moved their knitting machine business in the early 1990s to China, just around the time the SK840 model was released. No newer Silver Reed models were designed since then. Silver Reed (the Japanese one) itself is defunct since the Fukushima earthquake, I believe.
The only new model of knitting machine that can be slightly considered “domestic” is Kniterate (https://www.kniterate.com/). However, at this size and price (€16k) it’s more of a machine for fashion designers, dressmaking studios, and the like.
Personally, this makes me very sad. There was a time when hand-knitting offered endless possibilities and machine-knitting sorta like a fast, by very limited shortcut.
With the arrival of industrial machines like the Shima Seiki MACH2X not only it is possible to knit the whole garment without seams (as compared to already good circular hand-knitting), it’s possible to have some texture, too. All thanks to four needle beds instead of the traditional two. “Traditional” for industrial machines and some domestic ones like Pfaff Duomatic — most domestic machines typically had only one bed.
Unfortunately, with the death of domestic knitting machines, such technology would never be available for the regular people.
The rise of cheap and abundant clothing basically finished the production of domestic knitting machines.
Toyota stopped production around 1990, Brother’s last machine was produced in ~1997, and Pfaff closed their business in 2001.
Just like the Juki, Brother, and Toyota, Silver Reed was a Japanese company (known primarily for their typewriters). They moved their knitting machine business in the early 1990s to China, just around the time the SK840 model was released. No newer Silver Reed models were designed since then. Silver Reed (the Japanese one) itself is defunct since the Fukushima earthquake, I believe.
The only new model of knitting machine that can be slightly considered “domestic” is Kniterate (https://www.kniterate.com/). However, at this size and price (€16k) it’s more of a machine for fashion designers, dressmaking studios, and the like.
Personally, this makes me very sad. There was a time when hand-knitting offered endless possibilities and machine-knitting sorta like a fast, by very limited shortcut.
With the arrival of industrial machines like the Shima Seiki MACH2X not only it is possible to knit the whole garment without seams (as compared to already good circular hand-knitting), it’s possible to have some texture, too. All thanks to four needle beds instead of the traditional two. “Traditional” for industrial machines and some domestic ones like Pfaff Duomatic — most domestic machines typically had only one bed.
Unfortunately, with the death of domestic knitting machines, such technology would never be available for the regular people.