A knitting machine is a device used to create knitted fabrics in a semi or fully automated fashion. There are numerous types of knitting machines, ranging from simple spool or board templates with no moving parts to highly complex mechanisms controlled by electronics. All, however, produce various types of knitted fabrics, usually either flat or tubular, and of varying degrees of complexity. Pattern stitches can be selected by hand manipulation of the needles, push-buttons and dials, mechanical punch cards, or electronic pattern reading devices and computers.
Process
Early flat bed stocking frames had low carbon steel bearded needles where the tips were reflexed and could be depressed onto a hollow closing the loop. The needles were supported on a needle bar (bed) that passed back and forth, to and from the operator. The beards were simultaneously depressed by a presser bar.
The needle bar goes forward- the open needles clear the web The weft thread is laid on the needles The weft thread falls loosely The needle bar draws back, the weft is pulled in the open needles The needle bar draws back, the presser bar drops, the needle loops close and the weft is drawn back through the web The needles open, a new row has been added to the web which drops under gravity This basic process can still be recognised in all machines, but it has been refined as new technologies have become available.
Types
A few simple devices permit knitting without needles for toy or hobby purposes. The simplest of these is spool knitting, followed by knitting boards or knitting looms, which consist of two rows of pins mounted in two parallel rows approximately 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) apart. Yarn is wound around the pins; various patterns of winding produce different textured knitting. A needle or special tool is then used to transfer the loops of yarn from around the pins, either off the pins or to other pins, to produce the knitting. Knitting boards can produce complex designs. Other semi-mechanical knitting devices are available. To produce larger and more complex knitted items, like garments, domestic and industrial machines, with either flat or circular beds, producing rectangular or tubular fabrics, respectively, are needed. Double bed machines have two flat beds facing each other, in order to produce purl and plain rib fabrics plus a variety of multi patterns. Ribbing attachments can be added to single bed machines to achieve a similar result. Without a ribbing attachment, a single bed knitting machine will only be able to make purl fabrics. Late 20th century domestic/studio models typically have 120 to 200 latch-hook needles to hold the stitches in fine, standard, mid-gauge or bulky gauge needle. A carriage or cam box is passed across the bed of needles causing the needle movements required to produce each next stitch. By means of various selection methods, e.g. punch cards, particular needles can be caused to travel by alternate pathways through the cam box. Thus needles will knit or not, and the unknitted yarn portions will lie under (slip stitch) or over the needle or be held in the needle hook (tuck stitch). Needles can be placed in holding position to allow short row shaping. In modern machines, patterns can be obtained via either mechanical control, using punchcards, or electronic control, using computer software for patterning.
Automatic patterning machines can knit two-colour Fair Isle patterns automatically, and have machine stitch patterning features such as slipping, tucking, plating and knitweaving. Plating refers to knitting with two strands of yarn that are held in such a way that one is in front of the other. Plated effects can be particularly striking in a ribbed fabric. Knitweaving refers to a technique in which a separate piece of yarn, often heavier than the knitted fabric, is carried along and caught between stitches to produce an effect like weaving. With knitwoven fabric, the purl side (usually the wrong side) is the right side of the fabric. Slipping refers to selected stitches being skipped over by the yarn (with a float behind) and tucking refers to stitches being held untitl knit. Both slip and tuck patterning methods are commonly used for patterning various textured partterns. Current standard gauge models have the option of a lace carriage, where stitches can be transferred from one needle to the next. The yarn passes through a tensioning mechanism and down through the knit carriage, which feeds the yarn to the needles as they knit. Domestic knitting machines such as Brother or Silver Reed machines use the weft knitting method which produces a fabric similar to hand knitting. Knitting proceeds more quickly than in hand knitting, where (usually two) straight needles are held in the hand and each stitch is manipulated individually across the row. Knitting machines work an entire row of loops in a single movement. V-bed knitting machines consist of two beds located across from each other. They are called front bed and back bed- one which makes purl facing fabric and one which makes knit facing fabric. This permits the knitting of flat fabrics in knit and purl combination and can also make plain knit tubes. X-bed machines are the advanced version of the V-bed knitting machine. This type of machine adds extra metallic elements which are called holding hooks. These hooks are located above every needle for both front bed and back bed and can only hold loops. If the loop is held by the holding hook, the needle associated with it cannot be used to perform any operations. In the 2010's, a new technology for industrial flatbed machines emerged which enabled fully finished garments to be knit in one piece with little or no assembling. Shima Seiki was the first to develop this technology, which was inspired by a glove making machine that the company had made as early as the 1960's. [1] Others such as Stoll quickly followed suit. In 2016, Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo, signed a deal with Shima Seiki to develop a factory of WHOLEGARMENT 3D knitting machines for mass-producing garments. In 2026, the partnership was going strong. Multiple companies are using this technology to design and produce clothing made on-demand. in October 2025, Stoll machines were discontinued but Stoll is still considered to have led much research on whole garment or flatbed seamless knitting, and became very well known for the technology paricularily with the first Nike Flyknit shoe.[2]
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