machine knitting

Method of knitting using a machine to loop and knot yarn, rather than doing so by hand, using knitting needles. Machine knitting is used for a high proportion of fabrics, especially for clothing such as sportswear, T-shirts, underwear, jumpers, and sweatshirts.

There are two main types of machine knitting, known as weft and warp knitting. The weft knitting process is similar to that of hand knitting, but the needles on a knitting machine have hooks on the end. Both domestic and industrial weft knitting machines are available. The fabric is produced by passing one row of loops through the next. The main drawback to this type of knitting is that a break in the thread on any of the loops means there is nothing to hold in place the loop below, and so this also comes undone, forming a ‘run’ or ‘ladder’ in the fabric. Warp knitting machines also use needles with hooks, but the threads run vertically and lock into the stitches on either side. This produces a fabric which is less elastic, and which does not ‘run’ when a stitch breaks, but is more expensive to produce than weft-knitted fabric.

The first knitting machine was invented by English clergyman William Lee in 1589. It was made up of a flat bed of tiny needles, with hooks on the end, following the principles of hand knitting. Each needle had a loop of thread or yarn around it, each row being formed when a length of yarn (laid across the top of the needles) was held in place by the hooks, while the loops were passed over the top, forming a new row by pulling the length of yarn into loops over the needles. The result was a weft-knitted fabric, initially used for knitting wool and silk stockings. A warp knitting machine was invented in 1775. Until the 1800s, knitting machines created only flat pieces of fabric, but the development of circular knitting machines meant that stockings and socks no longer had to be sewn together.