KNITTING

REPORTER:
MARIFEL A. SANOPAO
KNITTING
Knitting is a method
for production of
textile fabrics by
interlacing yarn loops
with loops of the same
or other yarns.
Is it use to create many
types of garments.
Knitting may be done
by hand or by machine.
HISTORY AND CULTURE
 HISTORY AND CULTURE
• The word is derived from knot and ultimately
from the Old English cnyttan, to knot.
• The exact origins of knitting are unknown, the
earliest known examples being cotton socks
found in the remains of the city of Fustat, now
part of Cairo.
• Nålebinding (Danish: literally "binding with a
needle" or "needle-binding") is a fabric creation
technique predating both knitting and crochet.
 HISTORY AND CULTURE

• The first commercial knitting guilds

appear in Western Europe in the early
fifteenth century (Tournai in 1429,
Barcelona in 1496). The Guild of Saint
Fiacre was founded in Paris in 1527 but
the archives mention an organization (not
necessarily a guild) of knitters from 1268.
The occupation: "cap knitter" describes
Margaret Yeo, of London, in 1473.
HISTORY AND CULTURE
• With the invention in 1589 of
the stocking frame, an early form
of knitting machine , knitting "by hand"
became a craft used by country people
with easy access to fiber. Similar
to quilting, spinning,
and needlepoint, hand knitting became
a leisure activity for the wealthy.
English Roman Catholic priest and a
former Anglican bishop Richard Rutt,
authored a history of the craft in A
History of Hand Knitting (Batsford,
1987). His collection of books about
knitting is now housed at the
Winchester School of Art (University
of Southampton).
PROPERTIES OF FABRIC
TEXTURE
The most common texture
for a knitted 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. 
 COLOR

Plenty of finished knitting projects never use more than a

single color of yarn, but there are many ways to work in
multiple colors. Some yarns are dyed to be
either variegated (changing color every few stitches in a
random fashion) or self-striping (changing every few rows).
 COLOR

ombre Hethered yarns

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, for
example. Heathered yarns contain small amounts of fibre of different colours,
while tweed yarns may have greater amounts of different colored fibres.
STRUCTURE
 STRUCTURE
Like weaving, knitting is a technique for
producing a two-dimensional fabric made
from a one-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 fabrics
follows a meandering path (a course),
forming symmetric loops (also called
bights) symmetrically above and below the
mean path of the yarn. 
 TWO MAJOR VARIETIES OF
KNITTING
There are two major varieties of knitting:
weft knitting and warp knitting.
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 scan.
Warp knitting Weft knitting
 SEE VIDEO FOR
WRAP AND WEFT KNITTING
By contrast, in warp knitting, one yarn
is required for every wale. 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.
 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.
 INTARSIA
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. 
 STRANDED COLORWORK
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.
 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 stitch;' 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.
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.
KNIT STITCH PURL
STITCH
 RIGHT- AND LEFT-
PLAITED STITCHES
By contrast, the left-plaited stitch is generally formed by
hand-knitters by wrapping the yarn in the opposite way,
rather than by any change in the needle.
 EDGES AND JOINS BETWEEN FABRICS

The side edges are known as the 

selvages; the word derives from
"self-edges", meaning that the
stitches do not need to be
secured by anything else.
 EDGES AND JOINS BETWEEN FABRICS

New wales can be begun from any of the edges of a knitted

fabric; this is known as picking up stitches and is the basis
for entrelac, in which the wales run perpendicular to one
another in a checkerboard pattern.
 CABLES, INCREASES, AND LACE

• Ordinarily, stitches are knitted in the same

order in every row, and the wales of the
fabric run parallel and vertically along the
fabric. However, this need not be so, since
the order in which stitches are knitted may
be permuted so that wales cross over one
another, forming a cable pattern. Cables
patterns tend to draw the fabric together,
making it denser and less elastic;
 HAND KNITTING PROCESS
There are many hundreds of different knitting stitches
 used by hand knitters. A piece of hand knitting begins
with the process of casting on, which involves the initial
creation of the stitches on the needle. 
 VARIOUS METHOD
There are various methods employed to cast on, such as the
"thumb method" (also known as "slingshot" or "long-tail"
cast-ons), where the stitches are created by a series of
loops that will, when knitted, give a very loose edge ideal
for "picking up stitches" and knitting a border;
 VARIOUS METHOD
The "double needle method" (also known as "knit-on" or
"cable cast-on"), whereby each loop placed on the needle is
then "knitted on", which produces a firmer edge ideal on its
own as a border; and many more.
 VARIOUS METHOD

Most Western-style hand knitters follow

either the English style (in which the yarn
is held in the right hand) or the 
Continental style (in which the yarn is
held in the left hand).
 VARIOUS METHOD
There are also different ways to insert
the needle into the stitch. Knitting
through the front of a stitch is called
Western knitting. Going through the back
of a stitch is called Eastern knitting. A
third method, called combination knitting,
goes through the front of a knit stitch
and the back of a purl stitch.
 MATERIALS
Yarn
Yarn for hand-knitting is usually sold as balls or skeins
(hanks), and it may also be wound on spools or cones.
METAL WIRE
There are multiple 
commercial applications for
knit fabric made of metal
wire by knitting machines.
Steel wire of various sizes
may be used for electric
and magnetic shielding due
to its conductivity.
Stainless steel may be used
in a coffee press for its
rust resistance.
GLASS AND WAX
• Knitted glass combines knitting, 
lost-wax casting, mold-making,
and kiln-casting. The process
involves:
 knitting with wax strands.
 surrounding the knitted
wax piece with a heat-tolerant
refractory material
 removing the wax by
melting it out, thus creating a
mold
 placing the mold in a kiln
where lead crystal glass melts
into the mold
 after the mold cools, the
mold material is removed to
reveal the knitted glass piece.
TOOLS
There are three basic types of knitting
needles (also called "knitting pins"). The
first and most common type consists of
two slender, straight sticks tapered to a
point at one end, and with a knob at the
other end to prevent stitches from
slipping off.
DOUBLE-POINTED KNITTING
NEEDLE
The second type of knitting
needles are straight, double-
pointed knitting needles (also
called "DPNs"). Double-pointed
needles are tapered at both
ends, which allows them to be
knit from either end. DPNs are
typically used for 
circular knitting, especially
smaller tube-shaped pieces such
as sleeves, collars, and socks;
usually one needle is active while
the others hold the remaining
active stitches. 
 CIRCULAR NEEDLE
The third needle type consists of circular needles, which are long,
flexible double-pointed needles. The two tapered ends (typically 5
inches (130 mm) long) are rigid and straight, allowing for easy
knitting; however, the two ends are connected by a flexible strand
(usually nylon) that allows the two ends to be brought together.
 CABLE NEEDLE
Cable needles are a special case of DPNs, although they are usually not straight,
but dimpled in the middle. Often, they have the form of a hook. When cabling a
knitted piece, a hook is easier to grab and hold the yarn. Cable needles are
typically very short (a few inches), and are used to hold stitches temporarily
while others are being knitted. 
KNITTING STYLES/HOLD
 CONTINENTAL/GERMAN STYLE

Continental knitting is achieved by holding the

yarn in your left hand for both knitting and
purling. Patterns are created on the outside
(public-facing) side of the piece.

PLEASE SEE VIDEO

 NORWEGIAN STYLE

While knit stitches are worked as in the

classic Continental style, the purl is
worked by leaving the yarn at back and
moving the needle .
 RUSSIAN STYLE

Another variation on Continental knitting, this

style is achieved by "picking" up the yarn by
moving the needle head into it. Now wrap the
yarn around the index finger on that left hand,
so it is coming over the top of your finger and
back around underneath it and on top of your
middle finger. You will wind up with your index
finger very close to the back of your left-hand
needle. In Russian knitting, it is common to slip
the first stitch of every row.
 ENGLISH STYLE

English-style knitting is achieved by

holding the yarn in your right hand.
Patterns are created on the outside
(public-facing) side of the piece.
 PORTUGUESE/GREEK/INCAN/
TURKISH STYLE

This style is achieved by carrying the

yarn around the neck or from a necklace-
style hook, allowing the knitter to knit on
the reverse (purl) side, e.g. "inside out"
compared to Western knitting techniques.
 KNITTING
TECHNIQUES
 ARMENIAN
The Armenian knitting technique tacks
the non-working yarn to the piece
regularly to limit floats. You will tack your
non-working yarn down approximately
every 3 stitches.
 DOUBLE KNITTING

A technique used to create a flat, smooth,

reversible fabric that looks like
stockinette or jersey on both sides,
rather than having a knit face and a purl
reverse side.
 Fair Isle
A method by which many different yarns
are used throughout the row and when not
being used are floated on the wrong side
of the piece.
 MEGA KNITTING

Mega knitting uses the same stitches and

techniques as conventional knitting, except that
hooks are carved into the ends of the needles.
The hooked needles greatly enhance control of
the work, catching the stitches and preventing
them from slipping off.
 MICRO KNITTING

Micro knitting or miniature knitting uses

extremely fine threads and needles.
Anthea Crome created 14 tiny sweaters
used in the stop motion animated film 
Coraline and has made objects at 60 or 80
stitches per inch, making her own needles
from fine surgical steel wire.
 SHORT ROW

• In short row knitting, the work is

turned before a row is fully knitted
 WRAP AND TURN

• Just before the work is turned, the

working yarn is passed around the next
unknitted stitch, forming a “wrap.”
Later, this “wrap” is picked up and
knitted into a stitch, concealing it from
view.
 GERMAN SHORT ROW

In German short rows, the work is turned

and the last stitch worked is slipped
purlwise with yarn in front to the right
needle. Finally, the working yarn is pulled
over the top of the needle to the back,
which rotates the stitch on the needle so
that it tips backwards, forming what
appears to be a double-stitch, sometimes
referred to as a “German double stitch”.
 JAPANESE SHORT ROW

In Japanese short rows, a locking stitch

marker is used to hold the loop of the
working yarn at the turning point.
Eventually, the loop is picked up (and
stitch marker removed) and worked
together with the stitch on the other
side of the gap.
 TWINED KNITTING

• It refers to knitting where two strands

of yarn are knitted into the fabric
alternatively and twisted once and
always in the same direction before
every stitch. This produces a firmer and
more durable fabric with greater
thermal insulation than conventional
one-end knitting.
THANK YOU!