Weft Knitting

Weft knitting is accomplished by loops formed in a horizontal manner by adjacent needles. The most common machine used for weft knitting is the circular knitting machine. The circular knitting machine creates a tube of fabric in a spiral configuration around a cylinder. The width of the fabric is determined by the number of needles on the machine. One revolution of the machine completes one coarse for each yarn fed. The second type of machine is a flat bed machine. With a flat bed machine, the needles arranged in a straight line on a flat plate called the bed. These machines may have only one bed of needles or two beds opposite each other. Commonly used to produce sweaters, trim, scarves, and similar fabrics. Regardless of the type of machine used, in weft knitting, needles placed next to each other knit one after another in sequence to produce one row of loops from the same yarn. Here is an illustration of how loops of yarn are created by a weft knitting machine that knits yarn in a horizontal manner so that the loops are formed from right to left. If you analyze the structure, you see a pattern of loops arranged in rows and columns. The horizontal row of loops produced by adjacent needles in the same knitting cycle is known as a course. The course count is measured by the number of courses per linear unit, expressed by inches or centimeters. If this drawing represents a one-inch by one-inch area, you would identify this as 5 courses per inch. The vertical column of loops produced by the same needle knitting at successive knitting cycles is referred to as a wale. The wale count is measured by the number of wales per linear length. In this same drawing, there are 5 wales per inch.