What is knitting?
A: Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or
fabric.
It is used to create many types of what?
A: Garments.
Like weaving, knitting is a technique for producing a
what?
A: A two-dimensional fabric made from a one-dimensional yarn or thread.
Knitting may be done by hand or by what?
A: By machine.
Knitted fabric consists of a number of consecutive rows
of connected loops that intermesh with what?
A: The next and previous rows.
As each row is formed, each newly created loop is
pulled through what?
A: One or more loops from the prior row and placed on the gaining needle so
that the loops from the prior row can be pulled off the other needle without
unraveling.
The exact origins of knitting are unknown, the earliest
known examples being what?
A: Cotton socks found in the remains of the city of Fustat, now part of
Cairo.
When did the first commercial knitting guilds appear in
Western Europe?
A: In the early fifteenth century (Tournai in 1429, Barcelona in 1496).
The Guild of Saint Fiacre was founded in Paris in what
year?
A: 1527 but the archives mention an organization (not necessarily a guild)
of knitters from 1268.
With the invention in 1589 of the stocking frame, an
early form of knitting machine, knitting "by hand" became what?
A: A craft used by country people with easy access to fiber.
Similar to quilting, spinning, and needlepoint, hand
knitting became what?
In weaving, threads are always straight, running
parallel either what?
A: Lengthwise (warp threads) or crosswise (weft threads).
By contrast, the yarn in knitted fabrics follows what?
A: A meandering path (a course), forming symmetric loops (also called
bights) symmetrically above and below the mean path of the yarn.
These meandering loops can be easily what?
A: Stretched in different directions giving knit fabrics much more
elasticity than woven fabrics.
Depending on the yarn and knitting pattern, knitted
garments can stretch how much?
A: As much as 500%.
For this reason, knitting was initially developed for
garments that must be what?
A: Elastic or stretch in response to the wearer's motions, such as socks and
hosiery.
Knitted garments are often more form-fitting than woven
garments, since their elasticity allows them to do what?
A: To contour to the body's outline more closely
Thread used in weaving is usually much finer than what?
A: The yarn used in knitting, which can give the knitted fabric more bulk
and less drape than a woven fabric.
If they are not secured, the loops of a knitted course
will come undone when their yarn is pulled; this is known as what?
A: Ripping out, unravelling knitting, frogging.
How can a stitch be secured?
A: At least one new loop is passed through it.
Although the new stitch is itself unsecured ("active"
or "live"), it does what?
A: It secures the stitch(es) suspended from it.
A sequence of stitches in which each stitch is
suspended from the next is called what?
A: A wale.