Knitting elements and loop formation

There are a number of steps involved in the latch knitting cycle. To start of with the yarn is in the hook of the needle. As the needle ascends the old loop opens the latch and continues over and past the latch to the stem of the needle and stops at what is known as the clearing position. Then a new yarn is fed through the hook of the needle. As the needle begins to descend the old loop activates the latch to close forming a bridge from the stem to the hook of the needle. The old loop travels over the newly formed bridge to a point known as knock over, where the old loop drops of the hook.

There are four types of needle beds. They are cylinder, cylinder and dial, double cylinder and flat v bed. A needle beds function is to hold particular knitting elements at exact defined distances and to guide them during the stitch formation process.

Gauge is the number of needles in 1 inch of the machine. The higher the number of the gauge the tighter and finer the fabric will be. The Camber has a gauge of 7 and the Stoll CMS200 has a gauge of 12. Here we can see the Stoll CMS200 would have a finer and tighter fabric.

This is the pathway of the yarn to the needle for a circular knitting machine. The yarn goes starts of at the creel and then it goes to the tube and from the tube it goes to the positive feed and finally from here it goes to the needle. For a flat bed knitting machine the yarn on the stand goes to a guide which then goes to tension symbols through a tension arm and then finally to the needle.

There are many factors, which would influence the quality of knitted fabrics. These include the tension on the yarn, yarn count, arrangement of needles, gauge, take down (as the weights will stretch the fabric), the loop size and the size of the hook.