Knitting Machines

O Pushpa Kumari
O KD III

Definition
o

Knit: needlework created by interlacing yarn in a series of

connected loops using straight eyeless needles or by machine .
o Knitting is a method by which thread or yarn may be turned into
cloth. Knitting consists of consecutive loops, called stitches. As
each row progresses, a new loop is pulled through an existing
loop. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop
can be passed through them. ...

Parts Of Knitting Machine

Machine Frame :It is the frame which holds various

parts. It provides support for majority of machines.

Knitting elements
Needles
Gauge
Sinker
Cam

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NEEDLES
O There are three types of needles in common use today in

knitting industries:O BEARDED NEEDLE

O LATCH NEEDLE
O COMPOUND NEEDLE

BEARDED NEEDLE
O Bearded needle is the cheapest and simplest type to

manufacture.
O It is made from a single piece of metal.
There are five main parts:O The stem around which the needle loop is formed.
O The head where the stem is turned into a hook to

draw the new loop through the old loop.

O The beard which is the curved downwards
continuation of the hook that is used to separate the
trapped new loop inside from the old loop as it slides
off the needle beard.
O The eye or groove cut in the stem to receive the
pointed tip the beard when it is passed, thus
enclosing the new loop.
O The shank which may be bent for individual
location in the machine or cast with others in a
metal lead.

Knitting Cycle of Beard Needle

O Running Position
O Feeding Position
O Clearing Position
O Needle Closing
O Knocking Position

LATCH NEEDLE
O The latch needle was developed in the mid 19th

century (1849) and compared with the bearded

needle.
The needle consists of six main parts:
O Stem Used to hold the course of old loops
O Hook The hook is used to catch a thread and
form loops.
O Rivet Holds the latch in place and allows it to
pivot.
O Latch The latch combines the task performed
by the presser bar and the beard of the bearded
needle.
O Butt The butt enables the movement of the
needle to be controlled by a cam mechanism. A
track raises and lowers the needle.
O Tail Used to provide support to the needle

Knitting Cycle of Latch Needle

O Running position
O Latch opening
O Clearing height

Yarn feeding and latch closing

O Knocking over
O

COMPOUND NEEDLE
O Compound needle consists of two separately control parts i.e,

the hook and closing element.

O This needle is more complicated than other needles.
O The two parts rise and full as a single unit but at the top of the
rise the hook moves faster to open and at the start of the fall
hook decants.

Machine gauge
O Gauge is the term used to describe the needle spacing, which can

be defined as the number of needles per unit length.

O If two sets of needles are used (double jersey machines) the
second set is not taken into consideration in determining the
gauge of the machine.
O There are three chief systems for representing the machine gauge:
Needles/inch, Needles/1.5 inch and Needles/2 inch.
O The gauge is the major factor in determining the fabric density and
appearance. Finer gauge machine, knits wider fabrics as more
wales are available. There is a direct relationship between the
gauge and yarn count to be used on that machine.

SINKER
O The sinker is the second primary knitting

element. It is a thin metal plate placed

between the two adjoining needles and has
a collective edge.
O The sinker is placed at 90 degree to the
needle.
O The main function of sinker is loop formation

CAM
O The upward movement of the needle is

obtained by the rising cams.

O Cams controlling the downward

movement of the needles are called

stitch cams.
O Guard cams keep the needle butts in

their race way.

O Running cam up throw cam keep the

needle butts at a low level until they

meet the next rising cam.

Two Types of Knitting Machine

O Weft Knitting Machine

O Warp Knitting Machine

Weft knitting machine

O Flat Knitting Machine
O Circular Knitting Machine

1. Single Jersey
2. Double Jersey

Flat Knitting Machines

O Sometimes referred to as Flatbeds or V-

beds due to the nature and arrangements of

the knitting beds where two opposing needle
beds are positioned so that the upper ends
form an inverted V.
O Needles slide up and down the beds in slots
known as tricks and in this case the gauge
refers to the number of needles per 1 inch.
O The carriage or cam box traverses across
the needle beds and selects needles to be
knitted as it reciprocates side to side.
O stitches can be passed from one bed to the
other and the beds can be moved linearly in
relation to each other. This not only allows
panels to be shaped, but it also opens up
extensive patterning possibilities using stitch
transfer,.

Special Features
O Machine gauge : normally 5-15 needles per 1.5 inch
O Machine width : up to 78.7 inches
O Needle type : Latch
O Needle bed type : single, rib and interlock
O End- products : jumpers, pullovers, cardigans, dressed,

suits, hats,

Circular Knitting Machines

O There are many types of circular knitting

machines which produce long lengths of

tubular fabric and quite often they are
manufactured with very specific end uses in
mind.
O Two types of machine
O Single Jersey Machine
O Double Jersey Machines

Single Jersey Machines

O Single Jersey machines are equipped with a single

cylinder, about 30 inch diameter, of needles

that produce plain fabrics (single thickness). .
O single jersey based machines include:
O Terry loop machines; the basis for fleece fabrics
which are produced by knitting two yarns into the
same stitch, one ground yarn and one loop yarn.
These protruding loops are then brushed or raised
during finishing creating a fleece fabric.
O Sliver knitting machines are single jersey
machines that have been adapted to trap a sliver
of staple wool fibre in to the knit structure.

Double Jersey Machine

O Double jersey machines are single jersey

machines with a dial which houses an

extra set of needles positioned horizontally
adjacent to the vertical cylinder needles.
O This extra set of needles allows the
production of fabrics that are twice as thick
as single jersey fabrics.
O Typical examples include interlock based
structures for underwear/base layer
garments and 1 x 1 rib fabrics for leggings
and outerwear products.

Warp Knitting Machine

O Warp knitting machines were invented in 1775, some 200 years

after the first knitting machines.

O There was extraordinary growth in the warp knitting industry
between 1950 and 1970 due to development in yarns
O After 1970, warp knitting declined with the reduction in sales of
nylon shirts and sheets which were the major products of warp
knitting at that time.
Types of machines areO Tricot machine
O Raschel machine

Tricot Machine
O In tricot machines the needles mainly used are
O
O

O
O
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beared needle with a pressure bar tricot machine.

It has one or more than one warp beams mounted
above the machine.
the machine and is controlled by yarn guides, set in a
guide bar. One guide bar is used for one set of warp
yarns.
The greater number of bars, the greater the design
flexibility.
Movements of guide bar is controlled by chains with
links.
As the guide bar is raised and moves side ways it
plays the warp yarn in their respected needle hooks
to form a coarse of loops. Simultaneously when the
loops of proceding.

Tricot Knit
o Tricot fabric is soft, wrinkle resistant and has good
drapability. Tricot knits are used for a wide variety of
fabric weights and designs. Some examples of tricot
fabric are lingerie, loungewear, sleepwear, blouses,
shirts, dresses, slacks etc.

Raschel Machine
O Reschel machines are different from tricot

machines as rashel fabrics are made with

heavy yarns
O they usually have an implicate lace like
pattern where as tricot fabrics are made
with five yarns and flat or have simple
geometric fabrics.
O The gauge of reschel machine is measured
in term of the number of needles per two
inches.
O Reschel fabrics are knitted on machine
having 2-40 guide bars,

Raschel Knit
The raschel knit ranks in importance of production with
tricot but it make varieties of products ranging from
veilings, laces, power nets for foundation garments, to
carpets. Raschel knitting is done with heavy yarns and
usually has an intricate lace-like pattern

Weft knitting techniques

O Drop-Stitch Knitting
O Fair Isle
O Intarsia
O Slip-Stitch Knitting
O Mosaic Knitting
O Shadow Knitting
O Cable Knitting
O Lace Knitting

Drop-Stitch Knitting
O Drop-stitch knitting is a knitting

technique for producing open,

vertical stripes in a garment. The
basic idea is to knit a solid fabric,
then drop one or more stitches
producing a run in the fabric. The run
will continue to the bottom edge of
the garment, or until it encounters an
increase, at which it stops.
O Drop-stich runs are an easy way to

get the "see-through" effect of lace,

but with a much more casual look.
O Drop-stitch stripes are usually

vertical, since they follow the grain of

the knitting, i.e., the wales, the
columns of dependent loops.

Fair Isle
Fair Isle is a traditional knitting technique used
to create patterns with multiple colours.
Technique:
o Basic two-colour Fair Isle requires no new
techniques beyond the basic knit stitch.
o At each knit stitch, there are two available
"active" colours of yarn; one is drawn through
to make the knit stitch, and the other is simply
held behind the piece, carried as a loose strand
of yarn behind the just-made stitch.
o The simplest Fair Isle pattern is as follows:
using circular or double pointed needles, cast
on any number of stitches.
o Then, just keep knitting round and round,
always alternating colours every stitch.
o If started with an even number of stitches,
vertically striped tube of fabric is formed, and if
started with an odd number of stitches, it will
be a diagonal grid that appears to mix the two
colours.
O

Intarsia
Intarsia is a knitting technique used to
create patterns with multiple colors. As with
the woodworking technique of the same
name, fields of different colors and materials
appear to be inlaid in one another, but are in
fact all separate pieces, fit together like a
jigsaw puzzle.
O Knitting in intarsia theoretically requires no
additional skills beyond being generally
comfortable with the basic knit and purl
stitches. Materials required include multiple
colours of yarn, standard needles, and
bobbins.
O After winding a few yards of each colour
onto its own bobbin, the knitter simply
begins knitting their pattern. When they
arrive at a point where the colour changes,
the knitter brings the new colour up
underneath the old one and starts knitting
with it. If flat knitting, at the end of the row,
the piece is turned round just as with regular
knitting,
O

Slip-Stitch Knitting
Slip-stitch knitting is a family of knitting
techniques that use slip stitches to make
multiple fabrics simultaneously, to make
extra-long stitches, and/or to carry over colors
from an earlier row.
O In the basic slip stitch, the stitch is passed
from the left needle to the right needle
without being knitted. The yarn may be
passed invisibly behind the slipped stitch or in
front of the slipped stitch ,where it produces a
small horizontal "bar". Alternatively, the yarn
can be "tucked", i.e., made into a yarn-over
that is knitted together with the slipped stitch
on the next row.
O If knitted on the next row, the wyib slipped
stitch is twice as tall as its neighboring
stitches. A vertical column of such "doubleheight" stitches is a nice accent, e.g., on a
scarf or in a sweater, particularly in a
contrasting color.
O

Mosaic Knitting
Mosaic knitting uses two colors (usually
both held at one side), but only one yarn is
handled at one time. Let the first and
second yarns be called "black" and "white"
for specificity, although any two colors may
be used.
O The knitter casts on an entirely white row.
The knitter then introduces the black yarn
and knits two rows, across and back. If a
white stitch is desired at a given position,
the stitch (from the white row below) is
slipped wyib; by contrast, if a black stitch is
desired, the stitch is knitted using the black
yarn.
O Mosaic knitting can produce many beautiful
patterns, particularly geometrical or
Grecian designs.
O A simple extension of mosaic knitting is to
use multiple colors, rather than just two,
although the limitations on the pattern
become even more severe. Another variant
is to hold the yarns on opposite edges (or to
knit circularly), which allows the knitter to
knit only one row per color
O

Shadow Knitting
Shadow knitting also called "illusion
knitting" is a knitting technique that
produces patterns that vary with the
direction of viewing.
O The visual effect of shadow knitting is
due to the different height of the knit
stitches on the wrong side rows.
O A knit stitch is flat, while a purl stitch is
raised. Therefore, one can change
which color (dark or light) stands out
by changing from knit to purl.
O So the basic idea is to create a pattern
in knit stitches in the colors one wants
and purl stitches in the background
color. When looking straight at the
knitted piece, the stitches look
approximately the same, but from an
angle, only the raised purl stitches are
visible.
O

Cable Knitting
Cable knitting is a style of knitting in which the
order of stitches is permuted.
O For example, let there be four stitches on the
needle in the order ABCD. The first two may be
crossed in front of the next two, forming the order
CDAB
O Cable knitting is usually less flexible and more
dense than typical knitting, having a much more
narrow gauge. This narrow gauge should be
considered when changing from the cable stitch to
another type of knitted fabric.
Cable Braids
O Cables are often used to make braid patterns.
Usually, the cables themselves are with a knit
stitch while the background is done in purl.
O As the number of cables increases, the number of
crossing patterns increases, as described by the
braid group.
O Various visual effects are also possible by shifting
the center lines of the undulating cables, or by
changing the space between the cables, making
them denser or more open.
O

Lace Knitting
Lace knitting is a style of knitting
characterized by stable "holes" in the
fabric arranged with consideration of
aesthetic value.
O Lace is sometimes considered the
pinnacle of knitting, because of its
complexity and because woven
fabrics cannot easily be made to have
holes.
O True knitted lace has pattern stitches
on both the right and wrong sides;
knitting with pattern stitches on only
one side of the fabric, so that holes
are separated by at least two threads,
is technically not lace, but often
called "lacy knitting".
O