429 WikpepiA SW the Free Encyclope WiKkIPEDIA Knitting Knitting is a method for production of textile fabries by interlacing yarn loops with loops of the same or other yarns. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine. Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row; they can be either on straight flat needles or in the round on needles with (often times plastic) tubes connected to both ends of the needles. There are usually many active stitches on the knitting needle at one time. Knitted fabric consists of a number of consecutive rows of connected loops that intermesh with the next and previous rows. As each row is formed, each newly created loop is pulled through one or more loops from the prior row and placed on the gaining needle so that the loops from the prior row can be pulled off the other needle without unraveling. Woman knitting Differences in yarn (varying in fibre type, weight, uniformity and twist), needle size, and stitch type allow for a variety of knitted fabrics with different properties, Video description of knitting @ sock and the including color, texture, thickness, heat retention, water {Wo basic stitches: knit and purl resistance, and integrity") A small sample of knitwork is known as a swatch. Structure Courses and wales ional fabric made from a one- Like weaving, knitting is a technique for producing a two-dimer dimensional yarn or thread. In weaving, threads are always straight, running parallel either lengthwise (warp threads) or crosswise (weft threads). By contrast, the yarn in knitted fabries follows a meandering path (a course), forming symmetric loops (also called bights) symmetrically above and below the mean path of the yarn. These meandering loops can be easily stretched in different directions giving knit fabries much more elasticity than woven fabrics. Depending on the yarn and knitting pattern, knitted garments can stretch as much as 500%. For this reason, knitting was initially developed for garments that must be elastic or stretch in response to the wearer's socks and hosiery. For comparison, woven garments stretch mainly along one or other of a related pair of directions that lie roughly diagonally between the warp and the weft, while contracting in the other direction of the pair (stretching and contracting with the bias), and are not very elastic, unless they are woven from stretchable material such as spandex. Knitted motions, such- - - ~ garments are often more | |) form-fitting than woven garments, since their clasticity allows them to contour to the body's outline more closely; by i i a \ contrast, curvature is \ |. introduced into most woven Structure of stockinette stich, a garments only with sewn Alternating wales of red and yellow common weave in knitted fabric. darts, flares, gussets and knit stitches. Each stitch in a wale is The meandering red path defines. gores, the seams of which suspended from the one above it one course, the path of the yarn lower the elasticity of the through the fabric. The uppermost woven. fabric still further. white loops are unsecured and "active", but they secure the red loops suspended from them. In turn, the red loops secure the white loops Extra curvature can be introduced into knitted garments without seams, as in the heel of a sock; the effect of darts, flares, ete. can be obtained with short rows or by increasing or just below them, which in turn decreasing the number of stitches. Thread used in weaving is secure the loops below them, and usually mueh finer than the yarn used in knitting, which can soon give the knitted fabric more bulk and less drape than a woven fabric. If they are not secured, the loops of a knitted course will come undone when their yarn is pulle this is known as ripping out, unravelling knitting, or humorously, frogging (because you 'rip it’, this sounds like a frog croaking: 'rib-bit').!2! To secure a stitch, at least one new loop is passed through it. Although the new stitch is itself unsecured (""active" or "live"), it secures the stitch(es) suspended from it. A sequence of stitches in which each stitch is suspended from the next is called a wale.3) To secure the initial stitches of a knitted fabric, a method for casting on is used; to secure the final stitches in a wale, one uses a method of binding/casting off. During knitting, the active stitches are secured mechanically, either from individual hooks (in knitting machines) or from a knitting needle or frame in hand-knitting. Weft and warp knitting There are two major varieties of knitting: weft knitting and warp knitting.'4) In the more common weft knitting, the wales are perpendicular to the course of the yarn. In warp knitting, the wales and courses run roughly parallel. In weft knitting, the entire fabric may be produced from a single yarn, by adding stitches to each wale in turn, moving across the fabric as in a raster sean. By contrast, in warp knitting, one yarn is required for every wale.[5) Since a typical piece of knitted fabric may have hundreds of wales, warp knitting is typically done by machine, whereas weft knitting is done by both hand and machine.') Warp-knitted fabrics such as tricot and milanese are resistant to runs, and are commonly used in lingerie.(7) Weft-knit fabrics may also be knit with multiple yarns, usually to produce interesting color patterns. The two most common approaches are intarsia and stranded colorwork. In intarsia, the yarns are used in well-segregated regions, e.g. a red apple on a field of green; in that case, the yarns are kept on separate spools and only one is knitted at any time. In the more complex stranded approach, two or more yarns alternate repeatedly within one row and all the yarns mustbe carried along the row, as seen in Fair Isle sweaters. Double knitting can produce two separate knitted fabrics simultaneously (e.g, two socks). However, the two fabrics are usually integrated into one, giving it| great warmth and excellent drape. Knit and purl stitches In securing the previous stitch in a wale, the next stitch can pass through the previous loop from either below or above. If the former, the stitch is denoted as a ‘knit stitch’ or a ‘plain stiteh;’ if the latter, as a ‘purl stitch’. The two stitches are related in that a knit stitch seen from one side of the fabric appears as a purl stitch on the other side. ‘Amodern knitting machine in the process of weft knitting In the knit stitch on the left, the next (red) loop passes through the previous (yellow) loop from below, whereas in the purl stitch (right), the next stitch enters from above. Thus, a knit stitch on one side of the fabric appears as a purl stitch on the other, and vice versa. ‘The two types of stitches have a different visual effect; the knit stitches look like 'V's stacked vertically, whereas the purl stitches look like a wavy horizontal line across the fabric. Patterns and pictures can be created in knitted fabrics by using knit and purl stitches as "pixels"; however, such pixels are usually rectangular, rather than square, depending on the gauge/tension of the knitting. Individual stitches, or rows of stitches, may be made taller by drawing more yarn into the new loop (an elongated stitch), which is the basis for uneven knitting: a row of tall stitches may alternate with one or more rows of short stitches for an interesting visual effect. Short and tall stitches may also alternate within a row, forming a fish-like oval pattern. In the simplest of hand-knitted fabrics, every row of stitches are all knit (or all purl); this creates a garter stitch fabric. Alternating rows of all knit stitches and all purl stitches creates Basic pattern of warp knitting. Parallel yarns zigzag lengthwise along the fabric, each loop securing a loop of an adjacent strand from the previous row. Two courses of red yam illustrating two basic fabric types. The lower red course is knit into the white row below it and is itself knit on the next row; this produces 'stockinette' stitch. The upper red course is purled into the row below and then is knit, consistent with ‘garter’ stitch. Adropped stitch, or missed stitch, is a. common error that creates an extra loop to be fixed.