Introduction

 Made by interloping of yarns.

More stretchable and comfortable than the wovens.

Loops are called stitches, created by needles.

Warp knit and weft knit.

Wales and courses.

 latch needle, spring beard, compound needle.

 Cut and gauge

 Machine related informations.

 Used in case of weft knitting machines.

 Number of needles in one inch of the machine.

 Cut of a machine can not be increased.

 Determine the fineness or coarseness of the fabric.

 A ten cut fabric has 10 wales per inch and a 20 cut fabric has 20 wales per inch

 Gauge refers to warp knitting as well as weft knitting machines.

 Wales per inch also depends on the thickness of the yarn, type of stitch, stretched fabric after knitting.

 Cut and gauge refers to the relative tightness of the fabric.

 Knitting stitches
• Plain stitch

• Purl stitch

• Miss stitch

• Tuck stitch
Plain stitch Purl stitch

Miss stitch Tuck stitch

 Flat and circular knit
• Flat knitting – produces knit fabric in flat form

• Circular knitting – produces knitted fabric in circular/ tubular form.

 Basic weft knit fabrics

 Jersey knit --- all loops are drawn in one direction and the face and back is easily
recognizable. Other characteristics are:
• Tendency to curl at the edges which can be removed with finishing.
• Face and back is easily recognizable due to different hand feel.
• Stretch equally in both the directions.
• All the wales are created by plain stitches only.
• Can be produced on flat as well as circular knitting machines.
• Only one set of needle is required.
• If one yarn breakes, the entire fabric unravels. Unraveling is called RUN.
 Rib Knit – made by alternative wales of plain and purl stitch. A 2 by 2 rib means
two wales of plain stitch and two alternate wales of purl stitch.

 Two sets of needles are required

 Operates slower than the jersey knits.

 Produced on flat and circular knitting machines

 Rib knit stretches more in width direction.

 Do not curl at the edges.

 Used for collar and cuff.

• Purl knits – contains plain and purl stitch in each alternate course.

• Produced in special purl knitting machines.

• Each wale contains both plain and purl stitch.

• 1 by 1 purl is when one course of plain and one course of purl stitch and so on.

• Knitting machines are also called links and links.

• Rate of production is lowest of all.

• Two set of needles are used or one double headed latch needles are used.

• Links to links machines are capable of producing all three types of basic knits.

• Has more stretch lengthwise.

• Used in infant wear or fancy garments.

• Interlock knits – made on special machines called interlock machines.
• These are a variation of the rib knit.
• Both face and back has the same knitting.
• More smooth in handfeel .
• More expensive.

• Double knits – another variation of the rib knit. These have plain sticth on both
side.
• Produced on rib or interlock machine.
• Yarns used are thick
• More dimensional stability.
 Full- fashion knits -- produced on flat knitting machines.
 Not just cut and sew but are garments.
 Seams of the garments are joined during knitting.
 Characterized by raised holes or knots called fashion marks.
 Expensive.

 High pile knits – single jersey knits

 Sliver is fed in the knitting machine
 Thick sliver are then brushed
 Resembles that of a natural animal fur
 Needs extra care
• Terry knit – made by putting two yarns. One form the ground and the other forms
the pile. This is called plating. The yarns are then pulled out to form loops.

• Knitted velour – the loops of the knitted terry are cut and the surface becomes. It
is called knitted velour.
 Warp knitting
– Produced on flat knitting machines.
– Stitch run zig zag along the length of the fabric.
– The back of the fabric has longer floats called laps.
– main varieties are: Tricot knit and raschel knit.

 Tricot knits --- fine smooth filament yarns are used.

 rate of production is very fast.
 Fabric produced are smooth
Weft Knit Structure
 Elements of Knitting Machine

Latch needle Spring beard

Knitting Mechanism
Weft Knit Structure
Weft Knitted fabrics
 Examples of weft Knitted fabrics

• Tricot knit and raschel knit