Brother Profile 550, also often called Brother KH550, is a standard-gauge knitting machine with 200 needles, located 4.5 mm apart. This machine can only pattern if knitters hand-manipulate stitches. Thus, it is considered a basic model.

This machine is strikingly similar to another manual/basic Brother knitting machine – Brother KH500. Everything is identical with a couple of exceptions: Brother KH550 has a vintage (with one slide-in stand) while KH500 has a standard (more modern) row counter with two pegs.

Additionally, Brother Profile 550 has a sliding tool holder while KH500 does not have one.

However, the carriage for the KH550 is more advanced than for the KH500: there are three positions (I, II, and III) for the Russell levers in KH550 (similarly to its more advanced counterpart with pushbuttons, KH551) while the KH500 only has two positions, I and II.

The areas of the features, including minor and major accessories are the same.

Read more details posts on Brother KH500 and KH551 about other compatible add-on accessories as well as pros and cons (they are all the same and similar to those for KH550 model).