Machine Knitting
Our machine knitting yarns are ideal yarns for domestic and industrial flat bed knitting machines. Also suitable for circular and sock machines.
Suitable for most knitting machines including, Brother, Silver Reed / Knitmaster, Passap, Shima and Dubied.
The suitable thickness of yarn depends on the gauge of the machine being used. The gauge is the distance between the needles on the needle bed.
Machine Gauge
12 Gauge - Super Fine / Industrial Knitting Machine, for fine count industrial yarns like 2/30 Nm / 1-Ply or finer.
7 Gauge - Fine Gauge Machine (3.6mm), for fine count yarns, 2-Ply yarn, up to a 3-Ply.
5.6 Gauge - Standard Gauge Machine (4.5mm), for fine 2/30's 1-Ply yarn, up to a 4-Ply.
2.8 Gauge - Chunky Machine (9mm), for double knitting yarns, up to an Aran or Chunky thickness.
Helpful Hint: Knitting machine gauge equals the number of needles per inch.
Yarn Count
All counts have two numbers. One is the number of ends (strands) that have been twisted together to create the yarn. The other number is the count. The higher the number, the finer the yarn, the more metres / yards that yarn has wound onto it.
Metric counts have the count first then the ends (60/2 Nm), worsted and cotton counts have the ends before the count (3/9 wc).
Worsted Count (wc) (Imperial) - 560 yards per lb (pound) of yarn.
Cotton Count (cc) (Imperial) - 840 yards per lb (pound) of yarn or Ne = 768.1m/453.58g Ne - New english
Metric Count (nm) (Metric) - 1000 metres per kg (kilogram) of yarn.
YARN COUNT | PLY EQUIVALENT |
2/4 | aran |
2/6 | double knitting |
2/8 to 2/10 | 4 ply |
2/12 to 2/15 | 3 ply |
2/16 to 2/18 | 2 ply |
2/28 to 2/32 | 1 ply |
3 ends of 2/30 (1ply) make a 4 ply
2 ends of 2/30 (1ply) make a 3 ply
2 ends of 2ply make a 4ply
3 ends of 2ply make a double knit
Patterning with your Knitting Machine
Manual Patterning - needles are selected by hand
Push Button Patterning - Buttons are pressed and a handle is cranked t select needles as required for every row of patterning (Machines 1958-1970)
Punchcard Patterning - needles are selected by the machine depending on the punched card which is inserted into the reader.
Electronic Patterning - Patterning is selected by the machine depending on the pattern loaded to the computer memory