knitwork result!

Ok, it took me a while to finish this sweater. I had all the knitting finished before my holiday but there were a lot of pieces to sew together. And then, there were the usual issues with E being busy and the weather turning first too warm for wool and then so rainy that it got dark early.

But, here we are. Knitted from a pattern from a Passap breigids booklet from the 1950's (which I wrote about here). These knitting books don't contain sizing charts but in other Dutch magazines from the same era, I'm between sizes 38 and 40. This pattern was in 40, 42 and 44, so I made the size 40.
And by the look of it, my guess about the size was spot on.

I knitted the body in sand coloured wool and the facings in ocher yellow. I had used the yellow yarn to set up the stitches and I really liked how the two looked together, so I used a contrast colour, as the pattern  describes.
And in the end, I rather like the bow.

One annoying thing though: Judging from the photograph in the booklet, you'd expect the sweater to be shaped at the waist... In fact, it isn't. If you follow the pattern, you start at the waistband and then add stitches every few rows. It's only getting wider. 

I consider sewing some elastic at the back to pull in the waist but I'm not sure yet. I think I'll see how the top works in normal wear first.

Vintage sweater in progress

I've finished knitting the pieces for this sweater from my new vintage patterns. It's sleeveless so the main pieces are simple enough: just front and back. And I've finally mastered the trick for making a scooped neckline on the knitting machine, so that went well. It was interesting to find out that this top is knitted with a bust dart. I've never seen that in a knitting pattern before (not that I'm an expert on knitting patterns, of course).
What surprised me is the number of detail and finishing pieces. I expected a collar piece, but facings?

Have you ever seen a knitting pattern with facings? 

The original pattern is described for grey and white yarn, with the white used for the facings, one side of the bow (which is also a double layer) and inside collar. I chose this mixed, sand coloured yarn because it was the only thing in my stash that seemed to have the right gauge. I used the ocher to set up for the bottom edges and I really liked how the two colours looked together. So, even though yellow is not a good colour for me, I decided to use it for the 'white' pieces.
For the sleeve bands, you were supposed to pick up stitches but I couldn't make that work. This is a pattern for a thin yarn, so the stitches are close together. And the needles on a knitting machine are in a fixed position. Picking up those stitches at the armholes would pull them all out of alignment. So, I knitted separate bands and sewed them on. 

You are actually supposed to have the purl side showing on all the detail pieces but I think I won't do that. 
As you can see, the sleeve bands and facings are on. Now, I only have the collar, bow and sides to go... I hope all the pieces will fit.

Vintage (machine) knitting (again)

First of all, thank you all so much for your kind comments on my previous post. Those mean a lot to me.
For now, I'm working on to finish those final weeks and after that, I have a holiday planned. After that week away, I hope to be ready for a fresh start. 
I'll let you know when there is news.

For now, I thought I'd return to regular posting. I've done some sewing but I don't have any pictures yet.
Instead, I thought I'd share a new vintage find of mine which I'm quite excited about: 

These little knitting magazines. When I found them on Marktplaats (the Dutch Ebay offshoot), I recognized the name "Passap". That's a brand of knitting machines. So, I emailed the seller to ask if that was what those magazines were for and she wrote back that they were. Obviously, I then bought them straight away.

They are small, thin booklets which were published jointly by Passap and yarn manufacturer "Scheepjeswol". They were real magazines though, 11 were published each year and you could subscribe to them. The text suggests a clear attempt to create a community of Passap knitters through these (which is really interesting because that's exactly what crafting websites, whether or not they are connected to brands, are doing today). There is regular mention of meetings and contests and many magazines contain a feature on how to make special stitches, many of which are suggested by readers.
The ones I bought are from 1955 to 1960.

At first, I was a bit disappointed about the selection of patterns. The members of the Passap knitting community were certainly knitting for the whole family. 

There are lots of children's patterns. 

And the men are not forgotten either. In fact, there are, on average, only one or two ladies' patterns per magazine.

However, I've got over 50 magazines and (after the mysterious breast growth of 12/13) I now fit into normal Dutch 1950's and 60's ladies' sizes. 
And there is some great stuff in there. Oh, and how great is it that they use photographs to show each and every design?

Of course, my knitting machine is a "Brother" not a "Passap". From what I've seen in vintage machines, it looks like the Passap had some special features which make it work differently from other brands and of course you need a double bed/ribber for many patterns. However, I think I'm 'experienced' enough to recognize those issues (and there are some 'single bed' patterns) and work around them. 
It will be nice to work with patterns designed for the knitting machine. Of course you can use normal patterns, but it can take quite a bit of 'translating'. Some things which are easy when knitting by hand, are difficult on a machine and vice versa. Whatever the differences between the brands, these patterns were made with the logic of machine knitting in mind.

I think it will be best to start fairly simple. I've picked this lovely top. It doesn't have ribbed edges so it can all be knitted on my machine and I should be able to wear it straight away (except on really warm days of course). I may leave the bow off though.

A simple thing

All my sewing/crafting time this past week was spent on this rather modest project: It's an infinity scarf.

It took that long because I kind of made the fabric. Rather than using jersey, I knitted using the full width of my knitting machine and some of the very thin yarns in my stash. Because I bought some cones of yarn before I really knew anything about machine knitting, I've got quite a few of this super thin stuff. I made a loop scarf before, sewing three strands together which worked well. This time, I decided to try and see if it was even possible to knit properly with a single strand (I've been kind of worried those cones were actually some kind of weaving thread).
As it turns out, it is possible to knit this stuff although I would like the knitting to be a bit more dense and stable for clothing. For a scarf, this loosely knitted 'fabric' is just fine.

My decision to try the thin yarn allowed me to knit with some of the brightest colours in my yarn stash. I'm quite happy with the combination of the turquoise and red. 
Even with the speed of machine knitting (and no shaping to worry about), it took me a while finish this thing. There are 1320 rows of knitting in that scarf...

Soon, I'll be back to sewing and to experimenting with knitting cables.

Designing knitwear is different

Regular readers of this blog will know that I usually design everything I sew myself and draft all the patterns. So, for me it was obvious to try and do the same thing with machine knitting…

I wrote about this before. I wouldn't have tried this without a book. It outlined the basics of muslining in jersey and then converting that pattern to one for knitting. As mentioned before, I decided on a simple fitted sweater with stripes as a first project. Not a difficult thing, but not the easiest either (the easiest thing would be a wide, un-shaped sweater in a solid colour).

Of course, knitting stripes is easy, both by machine and by hand. It's just a matter of keeping count. The problem with designing a knitting pattern with stripes, is matching them, especially at the armscyes. I spent quite a bit of time on that in the drawing-on-paper stage.

During knitting, I discovered several errors, both in counting (in my instruction, the point where you have to bind off the first stitches for the sleeve head didn't line up with the correct stripe, which I just altered while knitting) and in knitting machine logic (you can only bind off multiple stitches at the side where the sled is… I remembered that when writing the armscye instructions, but not when I got to the neckline). Then, I tried a new-to-me method of finishing the neckline (detail picture in the previous post about this project). It looked good but wasn't very stretchy. Less stretchy than the stockinette stitching it bordered, in fact. So, I had to re-think the neckline.

The piece I had started with, was originally supposed to be the front but its tight neckline meant that now became the back. Then, I knitted the other body piece with a deeper neckline. I considered making a V-neck but I learned that the neckline binding I used is only possible on round necklines. 

Even with the alteration, I still wasn't sure the neckline was going to be wide enough.

The sleeves were comparatively easy, apart from the counting error I already mentioned. 

Blocking was a bit tricky because of that neckline and I realized I might have over-stretched the stitch swatch just a little bit. When assembling the sweater, I learned something else which experienced knitter have probably known for a long time: Stitches which are tied off to create a diagonal edge form a rather un-stretchy edge. This made my sleeve heads smaller than expected. I was able to make them fit (by committing the 'sin' of easing the armscye into the sleevehead) but I know now that I should add some more rows in those bits next time.

All in all, I managed to put the whole thing together, it fit over my head and although it turned out bit more fitted than I had expected, that didn't make it unwearable.

I should learn not to take pictures on a bad-hair-day though. And E might have mentioned that…

Although I'm sewing again at the moment, I will try and design for the knitting machine again. I feel like I've learned things from this project and I consider buying another book to get some more information on the subject.

And back to knitting...

I've finished my jeans and I'd love to do a bit of show-and-tell but it's been one of those very cloudy days on which there's just no normal amount of daylight to be had.
Instead, I thought I'd show you another thing I've just started on. I'm knitting on the machine again. 
This time round, I decided to try and make my own design, using what little experience I have by now and the instructions in this book:

I bought it cheaply a discount book store years ago (when I had just started to knit by hand) but it's still in print and this Dutch version is translated from English. The book may not look particularly attractive, I bought it for one very important reason: In it, the authors explain (among other things) how you can make a knitting pattern by starting with a sewn jersey sloper… Which, obviously is perfect for me!

I decided to start simple a made this pattern which is basically a simplified (not quite as many flowing curves) and slightly straightened out version of my jersey sloper. I've drawn it on grid paper to make all the measuring and calculating a bit easier.

First, I made that jersey muslin to check that the garment still worked with those changes and to decide on things like the neckline.

Then, I started drawing in the stripes I wanted on the paper pattern. 
After that, it was time to knit a test square and find out how many stitches and rows went into a centimeter (of course you count them for 10 cm, just to be safe). With that knowledge, it was time to convert the patterns' centimeters and write knitting instructions in rows and stitches.

I've already knitted one of the body pieces. It was supposed to be the front but I found one little flaw in my pattern: Something was not quite right in the description for the neckline. This has made it a bit narrower. It was supposed to be a bit boatneck-like so it's not a huge problem.

I also tried the knitting machine manual's instruction for making a knitted-on binding to the neckline. It looks quite good (at least, I'm sure it will after pressing) but it's not very stretchy. 
In order to make a sweater which I can pull over my head, I think I had better call this body piece the back and make a different, deeper neckline at the front. What do you think: V or scoop?

My holiday sweater...

Wow, how time can fly…
A couple of weeks ago, I started seeing the first on-blogging-vacation-for-the-holidays notifications and year-round-up posts on other blogs. And I thought there was no need for me to make either of those. Obviously, I would first finish my sweater, somewhere before Christmas, post about it and then get on to other stuff… Famous last words…

I mentioned before (previous post) how much work went into making those fair isle sections. Fortunately, when I was about half-way through, I got the hang of it. Stupid mistakes (which means in this case: forgetting to push a button before knitting a certain row) became rare and I could usually correct them. I also learned which steps in this design came with a risk of dropping stitches and managed to prevent some of those.
After that, I finished the plain knit front, back and sleeves in a single evening. I used the 'fake rib' from the manual for the bottom band and sleeve cuffs. 
At that point, just before Christmas, I thought I'd finish this thing rather quickly.
All I had left to knit was the collar, which starts with knit 2 purl 1 and then puts all the knit stitches together to form a knit 1 purl 1 rib for the top bit. Because I was a bit worried about the fake rib and the collar would be rather eye-catching, I decided to do that in a proper rib stitch, which can be made on my single bed machine by knitting the knit stitches by machine and then, by hand using a separate machine needle, creating the purl stitches in the spaces you've left open. But before I could even get to that, I already hit a snag: To combine two stitches into one over the entire length of the work, I had to take all of them off the machine, onto a normal knitting needle and then put them back on with two stitches on one needle (the purl-stitches-to-be are needles in 'rest' position and open spaces in the knit work at this point). And I only happened to have one set of knitting needles in my house: size 5, way too thick.
Fortunately, my parents were coming over on Christmas Day, so I called them and asked my mother for some thin ones. She brought me a set of size two needles which she doesn't need again any time soon.

Then, of course, social obligations took over and then a minor cold. And that making-real-rib-stitch-by-hand thing turned out to be very well possible, but really time-consuming. And when it was finally done, the resulting piece of knitted material was way too small. I had knitted the knit stitches on a higher tension than the rest of the sweater, like I was told to do for the fake rib. It looks like I should have used the same tension, or a slightly lower one. I might have been able to attach the finished thing to the yoke but it would never have fitted over my head. 
So, after hours and hours of hand-purling, it was back to the drawing board, or, in this case, the knitting machine. 
I had, by then, sewn up the sleeves to get a better look at that fake rib and I wasn't disappointed. The size was certainly good. So, I would have to try and make the collar in that way. 
It worked, even though the part I put on the inside (for fake rib, you knit just the knit stitches you need for the rib, for double the amount of rows and then you hang to first stitches on the last ones, doubling the whole thing), where I had to go from knit 1 purl 1 to knit 2 purl 1 isn't pretty. I had to pull on the work to get that done and add quite a lot of stitches in the middle so there are holes. But they are on the inside…

After that, A LOT of time went into sewing this thing together. All those yoke pieces had to be matched up with great care and sewing the yoke to the body pieces was no walk in the park either. Oh, and attaching the collar was rather fiddly as well.

I finally finished the sweater on 1 January, but at such a time that there wasn't enough daylight left to take pictures. On 2 January, I had to go to work, so really, today was the first opportunity I had to take pictures. Fortunately, E was willing to help me with that.

The sweater turned out a bit wider in the body than I had expected ( based on the pictures with the pattern. My stitch swatch was a good match, so this should be how it's supposed to fit) but fits well. I was a little worried about the less stretchy horizontal seam where the body and sleeve pieces are connected to the yoke but even though they are there, they aren't that obvious after pressing and they don't bother me when wearing the sweater. It's actually really comfortable and, because of that thin yarn, not too warm either.
And I'm really, really pleased with my fair isle design for that yoke.
I'm not sure how much use it would be to anyone, but if you like, I could share it.

Right now, I think it's time to go back to sewing for while, even though I'm already thinking about other knitting projects. I might try and do a round-up post for 2013 after all, but really, if I don't get to that in the next week, it's not going to happen.

Happy 2014 everyone!

More knitting

Yes, I'm still knitting. Cheating on my sewing… Should I feel bad about that?

There are some peculiarities about knitting machines that I didn't discuss yet: 

First and most importantly, the normal knitting action, which I showed you in the previous post, results in flat knit work. The kind for which you would need to knit one row and purl the next when knitting by hand. Which is really convenient because that's the stitch you need most often. What's less convenient is that alteration between knitting and purling isn't really possible on a single bed machine (yes, there should be a trick which somehow involves turn stitches, but I don't quite understand that yet).
So, you can't make a regular rib or any of the many effect stitches using knit/purl variation. 
My manual shows a kind of mock-rib which I want to try, but haven't tried yet. What is odd though, is the fact that my 1957 Libelle magazines include the occasional pattern designed especially for knitting machines and those often have ribbed bands. Could those simple machines back then do something mine can't? Was there a trick everyone knew so they didn't need to explain it? Or were you supposed to knit those bits by hand? I just don't know.

Another issue is gauge. You can't just knit any thickness of yarn with any knitting machine. And the terms used for the size of the yarn is different too. My manual just speaks of one, two and three strands in the yarn… Apparently it means I can knit with yarn for normal needle sizes (European ones) 1 to 5. Or 2 to 7, depending on your source. I tried super thin yarn and it works, but the resulting fabric is so thin it's transparent. I haven't dared to try my thickest yarn yet (which should be for about a 7 needle) because I'm afraid it might damage the needles.
Anyway, there are knitting machines especially for bulkier yarns. And I'm sure there may also be some with their needles closer together so you can knit that superfine yarn into something non-transparant. Which really would be like making your own jersey fabric.
I'm happy with the gauge on my machine. As I've mentioned before, garments from bulky yarn may look nice but for me, they're just to warm for regular wear.

And about yarn, you really have to use yarn on cones for a knitting machine. You can get a wool winder and put yarn from balls on cones but you have to use cones when knitting. Because you knit a row at a time, the yarn has to be pulled up quite quickly. With a cone, which is just a giant spool, that's no problem. A ball of wool would get all tangled up.

And then we come to tho issue of patterns. 
Patterns especially for knitting machines are few and far between. I googled for them, both in Dutch and in English, and in both cases I was taken to Ebay listings for knitting machines and to normal knitting patterns on the first page. 

Of course, you can use some normal knitting patterns. I made my cardigan using one of those. But then, you have to deal with the knit/purl issue. And the fact that it's kind of impossible to measure your work while it's one the machine. And occasionally, you'll have to re-think to order of construction (like whether to knit from the top down or from the bottom up).
Oh, and a lot of modern knitting patterns are for (fairly) bulky yarns, so they may be no good on a regular knitting machine. Luckily, I like vintage patterns. 

Considering the pattern-situation, I was really surprised to find that, in 1957, Libelle printed a pattern for knitting machines in each issue (and this was a weekly magazine…). Knitting machines must have been really popular back then.
I have most of the issues from that year and there are a few project I like.

Right now, I'm working on this one, but with a difference.

You see, I like the sort of semi-fitted shape with the round yoke. They cleverly constructed the yoke from 10 separate pieces, negating both the need for more needles than there are on most machines and the tedious task of endlessly having to decrease stitches in the middle of your work.
But I don't like how blocky the yoke looks in that contrast colour and with that check pattern… 
In fact, I thought this might be a good opportunity to try out some of my machine's special effect stitches.

It will do several of those. That's what the buttons and handle are for.

Use them with one strand of yarn and the "N" setting and you get these kind of lacey things…

And switch to "MC" and introduce a second strand of yarn and you can do fair isle!

After these successful swatches, I decided to make a fair isle yoke. And with those small pieces, I'd limit the risk of messing it all up at the last moment. You know, by dropping a stitch in the second-to-last row, or something like that (you can pick up dropped stitches, but if they unravel far down, it gets difficult and in fair isle it's really hard because the extra hreads at the back make things really confusing).

I knew how many stitches and how many rows went into those yoke pieces, so I cut those on paper. I also knew that my machine has eight buttons which means it can only control the needles in sets of eight. 

When I was happy with the design, I drew out a chart, to tell my self when to press which buttons.

The good news is, it works. The bad news is it takes a lot of attention and effort. Forget to change one setting and you have to unravel a row, lose tension on one thread and stitches fall off. Drop a stitch and you can't put it back on because you can't see whether loose threads at the back are just that, or belong to the stitch.
In flat knitting, I could have an entire back or sleeve done in two hours. These things take that long each. If they work out at all. And they never do in the evening. Even if I think I'm not tired, apparently I'm too tired for fair isle knitting my own design.
Four down, six more to go...

The knitted thing

It's finished! The combination of me and the knitting machine really did it this time!

As I told you in the previous post, I set out to knit this cardi from the Margriet Knitting Show magazine (a yearly knitting special from the makers of Dutch women's magazine Margriet) from 1956. 

I should mention that technically, this is not a cardigan. In the pattern description, Margriet calls it a "dressy knitted blouse" and in the commentary next to the photograph they refer to it as an "elegant evening sweater". They also mention that it's best made in black. 

My version is altogether more casual. Although I have half a cone of black yarn in the same gauge, I decided to use this beautiful deep burnt orange.
I also didn't put the bias cut woven hem and neckline on. Those are supposed to go over the knitted edges but I didn't have any matching fabric. And I decided against the hem band at the very start because I thought fabric might not be as stretchy as the knit.

This is a rather shapely cardigan/blouse/sweater which made me worry about the fit. My bust-waist-hip ratio is fairly close to that of the Dutch 1950's sizing tables, but from my experience with a Marion sewing pattern, I learned that I may be a bit taller. 

And then there was the pattern description which didn't include a test for vertical size and described a lot of the knitting in centimeters rather than in rows (and you can't really measure the length of your work on a knitting machine because it is stretched out by the needles, which makes is look shorter). So, when I started knitting, I counted on my test square how many rows went into a centimeter and went from there.
And obviously, I couldn't really test the whole thing until I had knitted everything, blocked the pieces and sewed them together.

And I was not disappointed. In fact, the fit is rather close to what you can see in the original picture. The sleeves could have looked better if the sleeve heads were just a little higher and more shaped, but that's the pattern's fault. I made one real mistake while knitting, which was making the buttonholes half the described size. Which just meant I had to find small buttons. 

To keep the front opening straight in the fitted bodice, you have to attach a length of 4 cm wide grosgrain ribbon along the front edge. And then cut the buttonholes in it and finish them by hand. It doesn't look very neat on the inside but it works. 

This is not a very typical 1950's garment but it doesn't look 'standard' either. And I think it suits me.

Oh, and I noticed while knitting and looking at other 1950's knitting patterns, that the front and back of this garment, and indeed of almost all the other ones as well, are shaped in exactly the same way (apart from the neckline, that is). That may be normal to experienced knitters, but to me, a knitting newbie and experienced seamstress, it was a bit odd. 

And it means this thing can also be worn back to front. Which I kind of like as well.
I'm very happy with this first real knitting project and I'm already eyeing up potential next projects. 
And I will do a post about the technicalities of machine knitting as I know them next week. For the benefit of those of you who are (like I've been for a long time) interested in, but ignorant about knitting machines.

P.S. My apologies for the big pictures which don't fit in the template. Blogger has weird issues with uploading pictures right now, so they only look right in the original size.

Knitting

I don't knit. Not really. I have knitted a cardigan and a short sleeved sweater a couple of years ago. Both from modern patterns, using the exact yarn they were designed for. Both took me a very long time to finish. And they made me decide knitting just wasn't for me. Several intricate movements just to shape one stitch… I don't have the patience for that. I know the work goes faster if you use chunky yarn but those are expensive and their thickness means you end up with a seriously warm finished product. Too warm for my normal use.

Then, over a year ago, I bought a second hand knitting machine. It's seriously vintage. This Brother 710 is (at least) more than 30 years old. 
With quite a bit of fussing around, and the aid of the manual, I managed to get it to work. Sort of. I made a thing. Then, I bought some second hand cones of yarn for it. I tried knitting with some of those, and it didn't work. The thread kept breaking.
After that, I gave up for a while. The only place I had for the knitting machine was on my sewing table. So, trying to knit meant I couldn't sew. So, it was no contest really.

Now, that has changed. I bought a laptop a few months ago which means I can (partially) clear my desk. Which means I could put the knitting machine there.

So, last week, I took the old thing to a store (one of only two in the Netherlands) where they sell and repair knitting machines. Considering how busy they were while I was there, the good people of ABS don't need my recommendations, but they definitely deserve them. They didn't have a problem with servicing such an old machine, were really knowledgable and very helpful. The machine got a new sponge bar and some new needles and I got some valuable snippets of instruction (it's a 1,5 hour drive from my home to that store, so taking one of their courses is not really an option. If I lived closer, I'd do that). 
I also got some tips of how to deal with that breaking yarn. Apperently, old yarn gets too dry which makes it break easily. You can make it useable again by spraying some water over it in a fine mist (just with the yarn on the cone. And then you let it dry of course).

Now, I'm really knitting. 

I am trying to make this lovely cardigan from 1955. It's a lovely design and according to the test square, my yarn has the right gauge for it. However, the pattern doesn't make things easy with the way it alternates between talking about centimeters and rows. 

I had some weird accident (user error, no doubt) when trying to knit the back neckline which means I'll have to re-do the entire back. But the fronts (here pinned together to check their sizes) are finished. I think I'm getting the hang it and I'm looking forward to the finished item.

More from Libelle

Thank you for all the nice comments on my dress!
At the moment, I'm working on another pair of trousers for E. I'm not going to blog about those because I'm using the exact same pattern I used for the last  pair. Just different fabric. The dark blue/black cotton/linen I used for his trousers and my jumpsuit last year...
It's not a very exciting project but he would really like some more thin trousers in the warm weather (he can't always wear bermuda shorts to work, after all). And it's nice he likes my sewing so well.

Today, I wanted to show you another little gem from Libelle nr.10 from 1956:

Did I mention I love those old colour photographs? Without them, you never quite realize how much colour their was in a lot of vintage fashion.

This is actually a knitting pattern.... 
And it is in my size. Well, it is in my size now, but as I would (optimistically) estimate the time it would take me to knit something this big and complicated at about half a centure, I doubt it would fit me when it's done. 
It's knitted on nr.3 needles (mainland Europe 3, I think the English and the Americans each have their own systems of numbering knitting needles, but I'm no expert). Normal ones for the front and back bodice and four double tip ones for the skirt. Which makes me suspect the entire, nicely flared, skirt is to be knitted in the round. Which would makes sense because that would be the only way one could get both the length and the fair isle/jacquard design right. 

Ehm... wow. Did anyone actually ever knit that?

Knitting time!

Last month, I told you about my first efforts with my new-to-me (but very likely older than me...) knitting machine.
After making the little sleeveless top, I had to stop for a very silly reason: I had used all the yarn I had which was thin enough.
When using a knitting machine, you have to use yarn on cones. Even with a simple hand-operated machine like mine, machine-knitting is fast and the thread from a normal ball of yarn would get tangled up as a result. You can, of course, spool yarn from a ball onto a cone but, when done by hand, that is tedious work and you're bound to get the tension wrong. There are wool-winders for sale for that very purpose, but so far, I've only found those for sale (second-hand) with knitting machines. 
I have yet to find a local store which stocks yarn in cones, but I did find some sellers on a Dutch auction site (the same one on which I found the machine itself) who were selling them. Usually, such cones vary in weight and style and they seem to be either old stock or left-overs from an abandoned hobby. 
To limit shipping cost, I decided to bid on cones from one seller only (the link goes to her page on the auction site but I don't know whether it will keep working if the listings are changed). Of course, if you live near a seller, you can usually make an appointment to go and pick out the cones you want at their place. 
When I exchanged emails with her about the yarn I had been bidding on, she told me she had many more cones, not yet listed, and offered to send me some little balls of yarn in colours I was interested in, so I could pick which ones I wanted to buy. Free of charge. I think that's great service.
It turned out she had quite a lot of yarn I would like and we agreed on eleven cones which would put the shipment just in a higher weight-range. She offered to fill the box up with some other colours close to the ones I'd ordered. Of course, I agreed to that. 

I had expected little left-over bits, but in fact there were some full-size cones there and good colours. In the picture, the cones in the line at the top were the ones I ordered, having seen the swatches. There's a big black cone in the group below which I had asked for. The rest of the group below are the cones she added. Three nice shades of blue, little bits of red and white and a pale beige.  
Now, I not only have a whole lot of sewing waiting for me, but knitting as wel!...

Thank you for the question AllisonMM! How silly of me not to mention that. 
All this yarn, except that extra cone in black, is rather thin. For normal needles 1 to 3 (continental European sizes) I'd guess. This is perfect for the knitting machine but a lot thinner than what you'd use for a modern knitting pattern. I've got a lot of vintage (mostly 1950's) knitting patterns in old magazines which do use such gauges. The ladies' patterns usually call for anywhere between 400 and 650 gram of yarn, depending on the style and desired gauge. The average weight of these cones is 800 gram, so there should be plenty for a sweater in each of these colours. With yarn left over for combinations.

For granny

Last winter, my grandmother knitted a sweater for me. Since then, she's made garments for my mother, my father, my aunt, a niece and a nephew. And then I'm probably skipping a few projects of hers... She really enjoys her knitting and especially if one of her relatives will enjoy the result. 

Although my brother and sister are still without granny-made clothes, I'm all set to get another one.

This lovely sweater was published in Dutch women's magazine Margriet in the autumn of 1950. It is sort of in my size (and described as being for 'the eldest daughter. They mean to say it's for a teenager, but hey, I'm the eldest daughter of gran's eldest daughter...). At first, my mom was going to knit it for me but since she's only knitting to fill the time until she can go back to doing all the other things she likes better, she has passed it on to her mom. 

So, my lovely grandmother has agreed to knit a sweater for me which was sort of designed for her. After all, she was a young woman in 1950...

I hope she'll like it.

Like nearly all 1950's knitting patterns, this one asks for rather thin yarn. So thin, in fact, that most yarns avaible in the desired thickness are intended either for baby clothing or for socks. I picked this one, which is ever so slightly thicker but gran said that shouldn't be a problem. At least in this stuff, I could get a really nice colour.

I think it's so sweet she wants to knit this for me, and I'm so curious to see how it turns out!

I did not make this

But I want to show it to you anyway.

I have been known to knit (I've got two perfectly wearable items in my wardrobe to proove that point. One of them, a little black cardigan, I wear quite often) but I'm slow. I didn't learn until my late twenties, so if I ever want to use knitting as one of my major methods of garment construction, I'll have rather a lot of practise ahead of me. Which doesn't appeal that much, I must confess.

This lovely turtleneck sweater was made by my grandmother. She's in het eighties now and obviously belongs to a generation in which girls were taught how to knit from the age of four. Needless to say, she's very good at it.

She's taken on a big project now: She is going to knit an item of clothing of their choice for each of her children (4), grandchildren (8) and children's spouses (2) (not sure about grandchildren's significant others yet, I guess she'll see about them when she gets through the rest of us ;). She did tell us not to pick any very fussy designs like cable knit or multi-coloured intarsia, but that still leaves a lot.

I picked this sweater from a Phildar brand knitting magazine which I bought last year. It was written for, and executed in, their 'tweed' yarn. My grandma said (confirming my earlier experience) that using the yarn the pattern was written for, the first stitch sample was perfect and the whole thing was easy to knit. And, as you can see, the fit is spot on as well.

Obviously, I offered her to let the other female grandchildren (so far, I've only bought ladies' patterns, of course I would be more than willing to pick up one which includes men's patterns for her) pick patterns from my (rather modest selection of) knitting magazines as well. That way, I can find her the right yarn for them and help her, in that little way, with her project.