EP2481840A2

EP2481840A2 - Knitting method of knitted fabric

Info

Publication number: EP2481840A2
Application number: EP12000469A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Manabu Yui; Masaaki Inoue; Miyako Kaku
Original assignee: Shima Seiki Mfg Ltd
Current assignee: Shima Seiki Mfg Ltd
Priority date: 2011-01-28
Filing date: 2012-01-25
Publication date: 2012-08-01
Anticipated expiration: 2032-01-25
Also published as: CN102619008B; CN102619008A; EP2481840A3; EP2481840B1; JP5766452B2; JP2012154011A

Abstract

To provide a knitting method capable of alleviating tightening of a side end stitch group at a side end of a knitted fabric by inner narrowing or inner widening without lowering the knitting efficiency. An empty needle (6) for alleviating tightening of the side end of the knitted fabric after knitting the knitted fabric is arranged between a stitch (3) positioned on an outermost side of the knitted fabric in the side end stitch group (2) and a stitch (4) on an inner side adjacent to the stitch (3) immediately before starting the inner narrowing or the inner widening.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a knitting method of a knitted fabric knitted through inner widening or inner narrowing.

Description of the Related Art

When knitting knitwear such as a sweater or a vest using a flat knitting machine, the knitting is carried out in accordance with a desired shape. This is a so-called molded knitted fabric. For example, a stitch group at a side end of a knitted fabric is used to form the molded knitted fabric through inner narrowing. An angle of a stitch to be inclined is adjusted by combining a narrowing course of forming double stitches by transfer of the stitch group and a course of knitting the entire knitting width.
However, as can be recognized from a relationship of one side and the hypotenuse of the right triangle, if an inclined stitch and a non-inclined stitch are stitches of the same size, the size of the inclined stitch lacks the length of the stitch and the knitted fabric becomes tight. In such a case, the applicant of the present application discloses a knitting method of carrying out narrowing at an arbitrary angle with respect to a direction of the knitting width by combining a step of knitting only the stitch group for performing the narrowing of the side end of the knitted fabric and a step of knitting a wider range including the stitch group for performing the narrowing so that distortion does not occur in the inner narrowing portion (refer to Patent Document 1).

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT

PATENT DOCUMENT

[Patent Document 1] US Patent No. 5,826,445

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a knitting method capable of alleviating tightening of a side end stitch group of a knitted fabric by the inner narrowing or the inner widening knitting similar to Patent Document 1 without lowering the knitting.efficiency using a method different from Patent Document 1.
The present invention relates to a knitting method of reducing or increasing a knitting width by repeatedly carrying out inner narrowing of reducing the knitting width by moving a side end stitch group (2), including a plurality of stitches at a side end of a knitted fabric, towards an inner side of the knitted fabric or an inner widening of increasing the knitting width by moving the side end stitch group (2) towards an outer side of the knitted fabric while knitting the knitted fabric using a flat knitting machine including at least a pair of front and back needle beds (FB, BB) and a yarn feeder (9) for feeding a knitting yarn to knitting needles arranged in a line on each needle bed; the knitting method including the steps of arranging an empty needle (6) for alleviating tightening of the side end of the knitted fabric after knitting the knitted fabric between a stitch (3) positioned on an outermost side of the knitted fabric in the side end stitch group (2) and a stitch (4) on an inner side adjacent to the stitch (3) immediately before starting the inner narrowing or the inner widening; and carrying out formation of a stitch row of the knitted fabric and movement of the side end stitch group (2) with the empty needle (6) arranged while repeatedly carrying out the inner narrowing or the inner widening.
In the present invention, if the side end stitch group is configured by five or more stitches and two or more narrowing stitches by double stitches are formed with one movement, an empty needle (7) for alleviating the tightening of the knitted fabric is further arranged on an outer side of the stitch of the side end stitch group adjacent to the narrowing stitches.
In the present invention, if a ratio f of X and Y is f = X/Y, X being a movement pitch of the side end stitch group and Y being number of courses, f > 1.3.
According to the present invention, the empty needle for alleviating the tightening of the side end of the knitted fabric after knitting the knitted fabric is arranged between the stitch positioned on the outermost side of the knitted fabric in the side end stitch group and the stitch on the inner side adjacent to the stitch immediately before starting the inner narrowing or the inner widening. The formation of the stitch row of the knitted fabric and the movement of the side end stitch group are carried out with the empty needle arranged while repeatedly carrying out the inner narrowing or the inner widening. Thus, the sinker loop of the stitch at the outermost end where tightening easily occurs can be made longer, so that the sinker loop can be absorbed to make the stitch after the knitting large thereby alleviating the tightening.
According to the present invention, the position of the empty needle to be further arranged is not the position adjacent to the stitch on the outermost side of the narrowing stitch in which the stitch tends to be split (separated), but is the position on the outer side with one stitch in which the tendency to be split is small in between. Thus, a hole does not form between the stitches, and a satisfactory appearance can be obtained.
Moreover, according to the present invention, the narrowing of two stitches may be carried out twice while knitting three courses (f=1.33), the narrowing of three stitches may be carried out once while knitting two courses (f=1.5), or the narrowing of two stitches may be carried out once while knitting one course (f=2), where sharp narrowing can be carried out such that the ratio f is greater than 1.3.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a knitted fabric using inner narrowing according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a knitting diagram of the knitted fabric using the inner narrowing according to the embodiment of the present invention; and
Fig. 3 is a knitting diagram of the knitted fabric using the inner narrowing according to the embodiment of the present invention following Fig. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to Figs. 2 and 3, a description will be given below of an inner narrowing knitting by a side end stitch group 2 including seven stitches in a knitted fabric formed through inner narrowing serving as an embodiment of the present invention. A method of forming a gradual angle necessary for the sleeve cap and the like using a sharp narrowing will be described. A flat knitting machine used for the knitting is a two-bed flat knitting machine including a pair of front and back needle beds, where a back needle bed BB can be racked with respect to a front needle bed FB and a movable yarn feeder 9 is arranged above a needle bed gap. The number of needles is illustrated to be less than in the actual knitting and all stitches are to be knitted in plain stitches for the sake of convenience of the explanation. With regards to the transfer involving the racking, the operation of the racking is omitted in the knitting diagram.

[Embodiment]

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a knitted fabric 1 using inner narrowing. A knitting of moving the side end stitch group 2 towards the inner side of the knitted fabric and reducing three stitches on the inner side of the knitted fabric is repeated every time two courses are knitted in the wale direction. At the shaded area shown in the figure, the narrowing by transfer is carried out, and thus the side end of the knitted fabric inclines.
Fig. 2 is a knitting diagram of the knitted fabric 1 using the inner narrowing shown in Fig. 1. In the knitting diagram, the number on the left side of the figure indicates the knitting step (S), the arrow in the left and right direction indicates the knitting direction or the moving direction of the yarn feeder 9, and FB and BB respectively indicate the front needle bed and the back needle bed. The capital letters A to P indicate the knitting needles of the FB and the small letters a to p indicate the knitting needles of the BB. The circle indicates a new stitch formed in the relevant knitting step or a stitch to be transferred, and the double circle indicates double stitches. The illustration of the stitch held on the knitting needle irrelevant to the knitting of the relevant knitting step is omitted.
In S1, the yarn feeder 9 is moved from left to right in the figure to form a new stitch row with the knitting needles A to P. In S2, a new stitch row is formed with the knitting needles P to A from right to left. S2 shows a course knitting immediately before starting the inner narrowing, where the formation of the stitch row up to this point is carried out using all the needles A to P, as shown in S1 and S2. S3 and S4 show the first movement of the side end stitch group 2 in the inner narrowing. In the first time, the stitches of the side end stitch group 2 held on the knitting needles A to G are moved to the knitting needle B, the knitting needles D and E, and the knitting needles G to J, respectively. In this movement, an empty needle 6 for alleviating the tightening of the side end portion of the knitted fabric after knitting the knitted fabric is arranged between the stitch 3 positioned on the outermost side of the knitted fabric in the side end stitch group 2 and the stitch 4 on the inner side adjacent to the stitch 3 immediately before the start of the inner narrowing. The side end stitch group 2 is configured by seven stitches and three narrowing stitches 8 by the double stitches are formed in the one movement, so that an empty needle 7 for alleviating the tightening is further arranged on the outer side of the stitch 5 of the side end stitch group 2 adjacent to the narrowing stitches 8. The side end stitch group 2 is held on the knitting needles with the empty needle 6 and the empty needle 7 in between, and the subsequent inner narrowing knitting is carried out while maintaining such a held state.
Looking at S1 to S4, the movement pitch X in the course direction of the moving side end stitch group 2 is three, and the number of knitted courses Y is two. The ratio f (f=X/Y) in the inclined side end stitch group 2 thus becomes 1.5, which is a sharp narrowing. In another embodiment, the narrowing of two stitches may be carried out twice while knitting three courses (f=1.33) or the narrowing of two stitches may be carried out once while knitting one course (f=2), where sharp narrowing can be carried out such that the ratio f is greater than 1.3. The ratio f is preferably 1.3 < f < 2.0. The tightening of the knitted fabric is less likely to stand out if f is a value smaller than 1.3.
In S5 and S6, a new stitch row is formed with the knitting needles B to P excluding the knitting needle C of the empty needle 6 and the knitting needle F of the empty needle 7. In S7, the side end stitch group 2 is transferred to the opposing knitting needles. In S8, the inner narrowing of moving three stitches to the inner side is carried out. S7 and S8 are carried out while ensuring two empty needles. That is, the formation of the stitch row of the knitted fabric and the movement of the side end stitch group 2 are carried out with the empty needle 6 and the empty needle 7 arranged while repeatedly carrying out the inner narrowing. In S9, the yarn feeder 9 is moved from left to right, and a new stitch row is formed with the knitting needles E to P excluding the knitting needle F of the empty needle 6 and the knitting needle I of the empty needle 7. For example, if S5 to S8 are repeated as a unit, an orderly straight line can be obtained. When forming a sharp inclination as well, the angle of the line or the line close to a curve can be adjusted by changing the number of stitches to be narrowed and the knitting course in the wale direction as in the known molded knitting.
In the present embodiment, the empty needle 7 is arranged immediately next to the stitch 5 adjacent to the narrowing stitch, but may be arranged next to the relevant stitch by two stitches apart. The empty needle may be arranged next to the relevant stitch by three stitches apart if the number of stitches forming the side end stitch group 2 is greater. In any case, the effect of having the sinker loop of the stitch applied with the load long can be exhibited when the miss knitting is carried out at a position close to the stitch applied with a strong load. In knitting, the stitch does not need to be made large using a mechanism for increasing the drawing amount of the specified stitch, and there is also no need to increase the number of courses by dividing the knitting course to enlarge the stitch.
Fig. 3 is a knitting diagram following Fig. 2. S10 and S11 indicate the movement of the stitch after the inner narrowing knitting is finished. After the inner narrowing knitting is finished, the side end of the knitted fabric does not tighten, and hence the empty needle formed at the time of the inner narrowing is filled by carrying out the movement of the stitch shown in S10 and S11. In S10, the stitches held on the knitting needle E and the knitting needles G, H are transferred to the knitting needle e and the knitting needles g, h of the BB with the knitting needle F of the empty needle 6 as is. In S11, the stitch 3 positioned at the outermost side of the side end stitch group 2 held on the knitting needle e is transferred to the knitting needle G, and the stitches held on the knitting needles g, h are respectively transferred to the knitting needles H, I. If the knitting of the knitted fabric is terminated with the finish of the inner narrowing knitting, the empty needle obviously does not need to be filled. In S12, the yarn feeder 9 is moved leftward and new stitches are formed with the knitting needles P to G. Furthermore, in S13, the yarn feeder 9 is moved rightward, and new stitches are formed with the knitting needles G to P. As the empty needle is resolved by S10 and S11, the size of the stitch does not change and a satisfactory appearance is obtained even if S12 and S13 are repeatedly knitted.
In the present embodiment, the knitting of a sharp inner narrowing is shown. With respect to the inner widening knitting of increasing the knitting width by being moved towards the outer side of the knitted fabric as well, the tightening of the side end stitch group 2 becomes stronger if the side end stitch group 2 is inclined, similarly to the knitting of the inner narrowing. Thus, the effect of having the sinker loop long is obtained by arranging the empty needle between the stitch on the outermost side of the side end stitch group 2 to be moved and the stitch on the inner side adjacent thereto, and the tightening can be suppressed, similarly to the knitting of inner narrowing.
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the knitting by plain stitches has been described, but the method of the present application can be applied to the knitted fabric of rib or other structures. The known four-bed flat knitting machine can also be adopted, and the method of the present application can be applied not only on a single garment but also on the knitting of a tubular knitted fabric.

Claims

A knitting method of reducing or increasing a knitting width by repeatedly carrying out inner narrowing of reducing the knitting width by moving a side end stitch group (2), including a plurality of stitches at a side end of a knitted fabric, towards an inner side of the knitted fabric or an inner widening of increasing the knitting width by moving the side end stitch group (2) towards an outer side of the knitted fabric while knitting the knitted fabric using a flat knitting machine including at least a pair of front and back needle beds (FB, BB) and a yarn feeder (9) for feeding a knitting yarn to knitting needles arranged in a line on each needle bed; the knitting method comprising the steps of:
arranging an empty needle (6) for alleviating tightening of the side end of the knitted fabric after knitting the knitted fabric between a stitch (3) positioned on an outermost side of the knitted fabric in the side end stitch group (2) and a stitch (4) on an inner side adjacent to the stitch (3) immediately before starting the inner narrowing or the inner widening; and

carrying out formation of a stitch row of the knitted fabric and movement of the side end stitch group (2) with the empty needle (6) arranged while repeatedly carrying out the inner narrowing or the inner widening.
The knitting method of a knitted fabric according to claim 1, characterized in that if the side end stitch group (2) is configured by five or more stitches and two or more narrowing stitches (8) by double stitches are formed with one movement, an empty needle (7) for alleviating the tightening of the knitted fabric is further arranged on an outer side of the stitch of the side end stitch group (2) adjacent to the narrowing stitch (8).
The knitting method of a knitted fabric according to claim 1 or 2, wherein if a ratio f of X and Y is f = X/Y, X being a movement pitch of the side end stitch group (2) and Y being number of courses, f > 1.3.