Basic Textiles II: Knitting
Reader Knitting and General Properties
Chapter 1 General information on knitting
There are different fabric construction technologies:
Kinking: bending of threads, width-wise, for the purpose of forming a loop.
1.1 The knitting machine
Manual knitting machine:
- Feeding system (FB front needle bed and BB back needle bed)
- Cam system
- Stitch formation system
- Take-down system
There are 2 types of spacings:
1. English pitch “E” ‘Gauge’ Gauge’ amount of needles per inch
2. Swiss pitch or ‘Gauge’ Jouge’ distance between two needles in 10ths of mm
, 1.2 The knitting needle
The longer the shank, the better it will slide in the groove of the needlebed.
1.3 The Cam System
The cam system is placed inside the carrier, slides over 2 needlebeds, responsible for up-
down movements of the needles.
Up raising cam 1
Down stitch-size adjustment cam 2
Cam box (3)
Cam track (4) is the space between the cams determines the path the needles go through
during knitting.
When the machine has 2 cam boxes connected by a bridge = carriage so you can operate
on 2 needlebeds at the same time.
Some raising cams have an additional part for tucking. If it is turned off, all needles go up
halfway. needle will have 2 loops when going down (old stitch, new tuck). The lower the
cam, the higher the stitch size and larger the size of the actual stitch.
1.4 Stitch formation process
A stitch contains of:
Reader Knitting and General Properties
Chapter 1 General information on knitting
There are different fabric construction technologies:
Kinking: bending of threads, width-wise, for the purpose of forming a loop.
1.1 The knitting machine
Manual knitting machine:
- Feeding system (FB front needle bed and BB back needle bed)
- Cam system
- Stitch formation system
- Take-down system
There are 2 types of spacings:
1. English pitch “E” ‘Gauge’ Gauge’ amount of needles per inch
2. Swiss pitch or ‘Gauge’ Jouge’ distance between two needles in 10ths of mm
, 1.2 The knitting needle
The longer the shank, the better it will slide in the groove of the needlebed.
1.3 The Cam System
The cam system is placed inside the carrier, slides over 2 needlebeds, responsible for up-
down movements of the needles.
Up raising cam 1
Down stitch-size adjustment cam 2
Cam box (3)
Cam track (4) is the space between the cams determines the path the needles go through
during knitting.
When the machine has 2 cam boxes connected by a bridge = carriage so you can operate
on 2 needlebeds at the same time.
Some raising cams have an additional part for tucking. If it is turned off, all needles go up
halfway. needle will have 2 loops when going down (old stitch, new tuck). The lower the
cam, the higher the stitch size and larger the size of the actual stitch.
1.4 Stitch formation process
A stitch contains of:
