To make the fabric shown in Fig. 37 pull down or remove every other needle in the front plate. Then pull down or remove every other needle in the back plate for five needles, then leave two needles together and remove every other needle for five more, leave two needles together and continue as before until the full width of needles in working position are as follows: Every other needle down out of working position in the front plate, and every other one down in groups of five with two needles together between these groups in the back plate.
We will find by this arrangement that when we rack the plate over one needle, every second group of five needles in the back plate will rack across a needle of the front plate, but the other groups will simply move between the needles in the front plate, therefore will make a plain half cardigan stitch only, while the other groups will make a rack stitch. If this operation were continued in this way, racking one needle only back and forth, we would get a fabric with vertical stripes of alternating plain half cardigan and rack stitch. But if we rack back and forth one needle each round for ten rounds, then rack over the second needle and rack back and forth one needle in this position, we will find that the groups of five needles that were racking in the first instance are now making the plain half cardigan stitch, and the groups that were at first making the plain are now racking.
Fig. 36.
Designs Made with Rack Stitch.
An ingenious knitter can make an almost unlimited number of designs of this character by different arrangements of his needles and a variation of the timing of his racks. One thing which should be remembered is that all racking should be done on the course that tucks or holds two stitches when racking on the half cardigan. On the full cardigan both courses are tucked, therefore it does not matter which one is racked, only the side of the fabric on which the rack shows is dependent upon which course the plate is racked.
The design shown in Fig. 36 at a is simply a zig-zag stitch with three needles taken out of the back plate at short intervals, giving these places a piping effect. The fabric at b is a plain one-needle rack with the piping made in the same manner.
CHAPTER V
The Double Lock Flat Machine—How Different Stitches are Formed
Our study of flat machines up to this point has dealt entirely with the class known as the single lock machines, or those that have but one set or pair of locks to do the knitting. There is another very popular type, commonly known as the double-lock machine, which is, it might be said, in a class by itself. This machine, as the name would indicate, has two sets or pairs of locks mounted on the same carriage, and set as closely together as they can be and work properly.
The double-lock machine has many advantages over the single-lock type, the most important being that there can be made upon it a two-faced fabric, that is, a fabric with each side faced with a different yarn, either in color, quality or both. The popular “cotton back” sweater is in this class. In making this class of fabric it is essential that the two different yarns, to show out on the two faces of the fabric, go into the fabric in alternate courses. Therefore, it is obvious that it would not be practical to make this fabric on a single lock machine, for when a course was finished the second yarn would be on the opposite end of the machine from the locks and yarn carrier, and it would be necessary to put on a full round, or two courses, in order to get back to that end to exchange yarn carriers.