An ancient craft used for making fabric by linking together loops of yarn using two, three, or four hand-held needles. The first knitting machine was invented in England by William Lee (c.1550c.1610). Machines are now used to produce complex knitted garments and fabrics of many kinds, but they cannot create all the intricate designs that are commonly produced by skilled hand knitters. The manufacture of knitted fabrics in tubular form is known as circular knitting; such fabrics are often used in underwear and sportswear.
Knitting is one of several ways to turn thread or yarn into cloth (compare to weaving, crochet). Similar to crochet, knitting consists of loops pulled through other loops; knitting differs from crochet in that multiple loops are "active". The active loops are held on a knitting needle until another loop can be passed through them.
There are two varieties of knitting, weft knitting (the usual kind) and warp knitting. By contrast, warp knitting requires one yarn for every stitch in the row (course); Warp knitting is generally done by machine, whereas weft knitting may be done by machine or by hand.
Hand knitted fabrics are usually begun by forming a base series of twisted loops of yarn on a knitting needle ("cast on"). To form a new stitch, a second knitting needle is used to reach through each loop (or stitch) in succession to pull a loop of yarn back through the loop. Work can proceed in the round (circular knitting) or by going back and forth in rows (flat knitting).
History and culture
The earliest definite examples of knitting date from Europe and Egypt in the 14th century, although some claim that the technology dates back into centuries BCE. The verb "to knit" often meant to bring two things together, as when we talk about a close-knit community, the healing of a wound or one's brows knitting together.
The first knitting trade guild was started in Paris in 1527, establishing the occupation as male-dominated for centuries to come. Knitting became a household occupation with the growing popularity of knitted stockings and by the end of the 1600s, one to two million pairs of stockings per year were exported from Britain to other parts of Europe.
With the invention of the knitting machine, knitting "by hand" became a useful but nonessential craft, and its practitioners increasingly female.
Properties of knit fabrics
The topology of a knit fabric is relatively complex. Unlike woven fabrics, where strands usually run straight horizontally and vertically, yarn that has been knit follows a loopy path along its row, as with the red strand in this diagram:
Schematic of stockinette stitch, the most basic weft-knit fabricThe loops of one row have all been pulled through the loops of the row below it.
Because there is no single straight line of yarn anywhere in the pattern, a knit piece will be stretchy in all directions (some more than others, depending on the yarn fiber and the specific pattern used). Many modern stretchy garments, even as they rely on elastic synthetic materials for some stretch, also achieve at least some of their stretch through knit patterns.
The basic knit fabric (as in the diagram, and usually called a stocking or stockinette pattern) has a definite right side and wrong side. Because the yarn holding rows together is all on the front, and the yarn holding side-by-side stitches together is all on the back, stockinette fabric has a strong tendency to curl toward the front on the top and bottom, and toward the back on the left and right side.
Stitches can be worked from either side, and many patterns are created by mixing regular knit stitches with the "wrong side" stitches, known as purl stitches, either in columns (ribbing), rows (garter or welting), or more complex patterns.
Different combinations of knit and purl stitches, along with more advanced techniques, generate fabrics of considerably variable consistency, from gauzy to very dense, from highly stretchy to relatively stiff, from flat to tightly curled, and so on.
Texture
The canonical default texture for a knit garment is that generated by the flat stockinette stitch—as seen, though very small, in machine-made stockings and t-shirts—which is worked in the round as nothing but knit stitches, and worked flat as alternating rows of knit and purl. Other simple textures can be made with nothing but knit and purl stitches, including garter stitch, ribbing, and moss and seed stitches.
Some more advanced knitting techniques create a surprising variety of complex textures. by knitting two stitches together) is key to lace knitting, a very open fabric resembling lace. Changing the order of stitches from one row to the next, usually with the help of a cable needle or stitch holder, is key to cable knitting, producing an endless variety of cables, honeycombs, ropes, and other Aran sweater patterning. Entrelac forms a rich checkerboard texture by knitting small squares, picking up their side edges, and knitting more squares to continue the piece.
Colour
Plenty of finished knitting projects never use more than a single colour of yarn, but there are many ways to work in multiple colours. When knitting with yarns whose colours change, it is best to alternate between two different skeins of yarn, usually alternating every other row. Even with solid-colour yarn, the knitter can easily create horizontal stripes by changing yarn at the end of a row. They may appear identical on the skein, but when knit into a solid field of colour, the subtle change when the knitter switched skeins will become much more apparent.
Yarn with multiple shades of the same hue are called ombre, while a yarn with multiple hues may be known as a given colorway -- a green, red and yellow yarn might be dubbed the "Parrot Colorway" by its manufacturer.
Style
There are many regional styles of knitted garments with long histories, such as Guernsey sweaters, jerseys, and the already-mentioned aran sweaters and Fair Isle patterning.
Process
A piece of knitting begins with the process of casting on (also known as "binding on"), which involves the initial creation of the stitches on the needle.
The body of a knitted piece may include plain stitches or a number of colour and textured patterns.
It is sometimes claimed that there are as many methods of knitting as there are knitters, but most Western-style knitters follow either the English style or the Continental style.
Once the knitted piece is finished, the remaining live stitches are cast off.
In typical sweater making, the final knitted garment will be made of several knitted pieces, with individual sections of the garment knit separately and then sewn together once all the pieces have been completed. Seamless knitting, where a whole garment is knit as a single piece is also possible. Smaller items, such as socks and hats are usually knit in one piece on double pointed needles or circular needles.
Ultimately, however, there is no restriction as to what materials can be used to knit; anything that can be viewed as a long strand of something can be used as a sort of knitting yarn.
Animal and plant fibres
The classic knitting material is spun from the wool of a sheep, although goat's fibre (e.g. Although more commonly used to manufacture knitting needles, bamboo is also spun into fibres. Acrylic yarn for a long time completely dominated the knitting market, and is still frequently the only available option at craft stores and other stores that do not specialise in knitting supplies. While many knitters are partial to the low cost of acrylic yarns, many others prefer the feel of natural fibers, both during the knitting process and in the final product.
Novelty
A relatively recent trend in knitting yarn is the novelty yarn. Novelty yarns have been on the market for a long time, but have enjoyed a revival as many new knitters learn to knit, and expect fun and dazzling materials to knit with. Novelty yarns, especially eyelash yarns, are also popular with new knitters because they can help cover uneven stitches and tension, and general bad knitting. for example, some yarns are a bit fuzzy or hairy, but a novelty yarn might take that to an extreme, with yarns that have long hairs or metallic fuzz.
Industrial applications
Industrially, metal wire is also knitted into a metal fabric for a wide range of uses including the filter material in cafetieres, catalytic converters for cars and many other uses. These fabrics are usually manufactured on circular knitting machines that would be recognised by conventional knitters as sock machines.
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