How Cashmere Sweaters Are Made
Knitting Machine In Action
Knitting Cashmere Sweater
There are many types of knitting techniques and machinery. For the purpose of simplicity this article will only focus on the technique used for cashmere and wool knitwear.
The most common machine used for knitting cashmere and wool knitwear is flat-bed knitting machine. It can be either hand-driven or computer-controlled, but the applied knitting technique is the same – weft knitting, which creates fabric by forming loops of yarn in successive rows.
Gauge And Knit Structure
- Gauge is simply how many needled(pins) are in a one-inch space. For example, a typical cashmere sweater is 12 gauge, meaning there are 12 needles arranged per inch. As you can imagine, when gauges go higher, the one-inch space is shared by more needles and thinner yarn is required. High gauges(fine gauges) produce thin, lightweight fabric and low gauges(coarse gauges) produce heavy, bulky fabric.
- Different knit structures are formed by different needle actions. Combination of gauge, yarn and knit structure can produce endless varieties of knitwear. Below are a few most classic knitting patterns.
Linking
A cashmere or wool sweater is not knitted on one go as a whole piece but rather knitted in different panels.
Usually there are front panel, back panel, sleeves, neck. After knitting is finished, all these panels will be taken for a process called Linking, where everything is sewn together and forms a full sweater.(END)
