Two and Two Rib
Fig. 65 shows two designs the lower one being very simple. With the carriage on the left end of the machine arrange the jacks in the back plate two and two, or two in working position and two out. Then move the carriage across to the right end of the machine and we will find that the needles have arranged themselves to conform to the arrangement of the back jacks, alternating two and two in both needle plates. Now move the handle b, Fig. 61, to the left and this will raise cams a and b, Fig. 62, up into the cam plate out of operation, thus preventing the jacks from moving to their innermost position. Therefore, they cannot exchange needles and so would make a two and two rib fabric, knitting this continuously without any further change.
Fig. 65.
Diagonal Diamond Design
and Two and Two Rib Made on
Hand Purl Stitch Machine.
The upper half of Fig. 65 is made by arranging the jacks in the back needle plate so that five will be in working position, alternating with five out. With this arrangement of the jacks, and without any further manipulation, the machine would knit a straight vertical stripe of five needles purl stitch and five needles plain jersey stitch. If, however, we rack the back needle over one needle every round when the carriage is at the left end of the machine, and all the needles are in the front plate, for five rounds we would have these stripes running diagonally instead of vertically, and the distance they would run to the right or left, depending on which way we racked, would depend on how many times we racked in one direction. In this instance it would be for seven rounds, or rather we would rack over in the one direction every round for six rounds, and on the seventh we would rack the plate back the five needles at once. Then start over racking the other way one needle each round as before to make the second row of diagonal blocks. This racking back of five needles at one time would of course bring the non-working jacks to the position where the working jacks were, and the working jacks to the position where the non-working jacks were. Therefore, the needles that were knitting the purl stitch would begin making plain jersey, while the needles that were making plain jersey would now make purl stitch.
Fig. 66.
Two and Two Rib Racked, Made on Purl Stitch Machine.
Fig. 66 is simply a two and two rib stitch racked over two needles every four rounds. This racking over two needles with needles in both plates may be done successfully if the stitch is drawn fairly long.