By
Michelle Powell-Smith, eHow Contributor
Knitting machines use latch hooks set into the machine to produce knit stitches. The
placement of these hooks and the size cannot be changed. Knitting machines are
primarily differentiated by yarn weights, with some machines able to handle heavier yarns
than others. Knitting machines allow you to quickly and efficiently produce a variety of
knitted fabrics. Choosing the right machine can be a challenge, and you should make the
decision based on your own knitting preferences and what you hope to produce.
Standard Bed Models
1. A standard bed model knitting machine, or a 4.5 millimeter knitting machine, can
knit lace weight and fingering weight yarns. It may also be able to handle light sport or
DK weight yarns. These can be electronic or mechanical and may have setting
programmed into the machine to produce lace, fair isle and other knitting patterns. This
size of knitting machine is ideal if you wish to make fine sweaters, knitted suits, twin sets
or knitted lace.
Bulky 9 Millimeter Knitting Machines
2. Bulky weight knitting machines can knit yarns ranging from a sport or DK weight
to chunky. The hooks are set every 9 millimeter on this machine, allowing a stitch
spacing suitable for heavier yarns and sweater styles. Both computerized and punch card
machines are available. You may find used Brother Machines or currently manufactured
Silver Reed knitting machines.
Mid Gauge 6.5 Millimeter Machines
3. If you are looking for a machine that provides versatility and will most closely
replicate hand knitting, a mid gauge knitting machine is ideal. The hooks are large
enough to easily manage worsted weight yarns and some chunkier yarns as well. Yarns
as fine as a baby or fingering weight can be knitted with a mid gauge machine, but the
gauge will be quite loose.
Brother Knitting Machines
4. For many years, Brother produced several models of knitting machines, including
both computerized and punch card options. Brother no longer manufactures knitting
machines; however, you may still be able to find Brother knitting machines second hand.
The Brother KH970 4.5 millimeter knitting machine was the most popular on the market
in the United States for many years, featuring more than 600 built-in lace, fair isle and
weaving patterns.
Silver Reed Brand
5. Silver Reed offers 4.5 millimeter, 6.5 millimeter, 9 millimeter and 3.7 millimeter
knitting machines. Computer interfaced and punch card driven machines are available. Be
sure that computer driven machines are compatible with your computer, especially if
buying a used knitting machine. Silver Reed produces both metal and plastic knitting
machines in a variety of price ranges and the only bulky knitting machine available for
home machine knitters.
Artisan Knitting
6. Artisan offers both standard bed and mid gauge knitting machines for the home
market. The Artisan GE63-70 mid gauge machine handles sport through heavy worsted
weight yarns. It was first designed for commercial use, but is an excellent choice for the
home machine knitter. This machine is an especially good choice for ribbing, fisherman's
rib and similar patterns, and it includes its own stand.
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Knitting Throughout the World: A Brief History
Murky Origins of a Young Craft
Knitting is a young craft, in comparison to spinning and weaving, but fixing a date for its
origin is complicated by the perishability of natural fibers. Some sources, without offering
any evidence, claim that knitting predates the time of Christ. Fragments of fabric with the
appearance of knitting, excavated from third century AD Doura Europos, in the Middle
East, turn out to be nålbinding. Nålbinding creates a fabric that looks very much like
twisted stockinette stitch, but is formed using a single eyed needle and short lengths of
yarn. Additional samples of toed anklet socks from fifth and sixth century AD Egypt are
also examples of nålbinding, previously misidentified as knitting.
The English language offers no clues to knitting's age. The word "knit", meaning to tie or
join, clearly predates knitting as a craft. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the
earliest literary reference in English to the primary modern meaning of "knit" is from 1530.
The oldest positively identified pieces of knitting are blue and white cotton socks and fabric
fragments, dating from approximately 1200-1500 AD Islamic Egypt. The socks and other
fragments show complex two-color patterning in combination with simple stripes. Several
display Arabic script.
Knitting Spreads through Mediaeval Europe
The oldest reliable samples of knitting from medieval Europe are two beautiful and finely
knit cushions, from the 13th century tombs of a Castilian Prince and Princess. The cushions
are knit at a very fine gauge with complex overall two-color patterning and
an Arabic inscription on one. This suggests that knitting may have been transmitted from
the Middle East to Europe through Spain, by Moors. Certainly this is the most
popular theory today for the dissemination of knitting, although the evidence is not
conclusive.
Several paintings by 14th century Italian and German artists show the Virgin Mary knitting
in adomestic setting. She is shown working on four or five needles in the round, and using
multiple threads of different colors. This indicates that knitting was at least known as a
woman's occupation in medieval Europe. However, since the Virgin is portrayed in both
exalted and humble positions, we cannot draw any solid conclusions about the place of
knitting in the social and economic life of the time.
Throughout the Middle Ages, knitted hose and stockings, of both silk and wool, gradually
replaced bias-cut cloth hose among the upper classes. Samples from the period show knit
and purl patterning, as well as eyelet patterning. Literary references satirize the many
bright colors of hose worn by fashion conscious young men of the upper classes.
Stocking knitting grew rapidly among the English populace during reign of Queen Elizabeth
I, likely aided by advances in metal working technology that made steel needles more
readily available. Knitting was seen by the legal authority of the time as a suitable
occupation for the poor, both to provide income and as alternative to activity that would
otherwise bring them to the attention of the same legal authority. Schools for knitting
were established, with varying degrees of success. Knitting spread throughout the English
countryside as a source of supplemental income. By 1600 England was a leading exporter
of stockings.
Guilds occupy a popular place in the imagination of knitters interested in the history of
their craft. Knitters like to refer to mediaeval knitting guilds. Actually, guilds were
organized around trades and the production of goods rather than a particular method of
production. The best-known guild involved in knitting production is the Guild of St. Fiacra,
founded 1527 in Paris. St. Fiacra was not associated with knitting before being adopted by
makers of knitted wool caps; St. Fiacra was the patron saint of makers of cotton caps and
was likely adopted by the newly-formed guild because of this existing association with cap
making.
Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries knitting spread north to Scandinavia and east
to Russia. By the early 19th century knitting was well established throughout Western
and Eastern Europe. A similar pattern of dissemination was repeated throughout northern
and eastern Europe. Knitting made its entry in the form of luxury goods such
as stockings, gloves and shirts worn by upper classes. The working classes learned
the technique to meet the demand; the wearing of knitted garments eventually filtered
down as the working classes adapted luxury items to more prosaic garments for common
use.
Colonists and Missionaries Disseminate the Craft
As Europeans colonized the Americas, they spread the craft of
knitting. Missionaries and immigrantstaught knitting to local populations who adapted it to
create their own garments, incorporating native cultural elements. In South America,
natives of the Andes wrap the yarn around their necks and knit on "back side" of work,
throwing the yarn with the thumb in Portuguese fashion. They produce intricate multi-
colored stranded patterns, making beautiful hats and sweaters. The Salish Indians, of what
is now British Columbia, learned knitting from Scottish immigrants. At first they knit only
socks; in the early part of the 20th century, just before WWII, they began knitting heavy
sweaters and jackets featuring natural colors, bold designs from their own culture and
shawl collars of unique construction.
The natural creativity of working class knitters flowered in the 19th and early 20th
centuries. Knitters throughout Eastern and Western Europe developed regional
specializations, now commonly regarded as "traditional" knitting styles.
Stitch patterns were commonly shared and spread along trade routes. Knitters in
the Balkans developed twisted stitch patterns, like small cables. Scandinavians made
sweaters, socks & hats in two-color and single-color stranded knitting, as well as knit and
purl patterned "damask" knitting. Knitters in Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries
developed multi-colored stranded knitting. British knitters in fishing communities produced
dense, weather-resistant sweaters called ganseys, which were decorated with knit-purl
patterns and simple cables. Knitters of the Shetland Isles, which lies at the confluence of a
number of trade routes, developed a particularly rich vocabulary of stranded multi-colored
patterns. The knitters of Ireland's Aran Isles adapted cable and twisted stitch patterns,
introduced by Irish émigrés returned from America, to the traditional fishing shirt shape to
create elaborately cabled sweaters in natural-colored wool.
Knitting enjoyed varied social status in different countries. In some places knitting was
only done by the working classes; in others it was considered appropriate for ladies of the
upper classes as well. By no means did these two social groups perform the same type of
knitting, however. Knitting among the working class was done by both men and women for
production, supplementing meager incomes eked out by land and sea. Upper class ladies
enjoyed the luxury of knitting small decorative household items and garments for children,
using fine wool and white cotton. Upper class ladies further distinguished themselves by
holding their needles in a less efficient, but visually elegant manner.
Knitting Today
The abundance and low cost of manufactured goods means working class knitters need no
longer labor to supplement their incomes with production knitting; knitting is primarily a
hobby for women (as well as more than a few men) in America, Europe and Asia. Still,
women are employed for production knitting for export in China and South America,
making coarse gauge patterned sweaters and hats.
Whereas the early part of the 20th century was marked by manuals that demanded strict
adherence to instructions, knitters now enjoy the freedom to knit their own creations,
thanks to the teachings ofElizabeth Zimmerman, Barbara G. Walker, Mary Walker Phillips
and others. These women taught fundamental principles of knitting and how to apply
them, encouraging self-confidence and creative experimentation. In more recent years,
colorists such as Kaffe Fasset and Annabel Fox have brought excitement and inspiration to
modern knitters, with their innovative and artistic designs. Alice Starmore, Patricia Gibson
Roberts, Nancy Bush, Lizbeth Upitis and Anna Zilboorg have helped renew interest in
traditional knitting, presenting old-style patterns as well as adapting them to modern uses.
Knitting today is a satisfying and productive hobby. No longer forced to produce for
income, knitters are at leisure to take pleasure in their craft. Knitting designers give us
exciting and inspirational creations and dedicated knitting researchers document traditional
knitting from around the world, all at our needle tips.
