I wasn't bothering with Kenmore's either until I got my first one....now I'm hooked on them, too...lol
! The first one was an ugly, avocado green Kenmore that I got on CL for $10.00. When I cleaned it up, oiled it and then put her needle in
correctly it ran like a charm. I even like the color now that it got washed. I don't have a manual but I know that it can do more than just zig zag because I saw a video on Youtube by NiftyThriftyGirl get all kinds of awesome stitches on the very same machine.