VASANT R KOTHARI - has done
tuck and miss stitch. These three stitches, or combinations
Master’s in Textiles Technology from
DKTE’s Textile and Engineering Institute,
Ichalkaranji (Shivaji University, Kolhapur),
Maharashtra. He has also done Diploma
in Export Management (Apparel Export)
from the Indian Institute of Export
Management, and Garment Export and
Merchandising Management from NIFT,
Bangalore. Presently, he’s working as an
Assistant Professor in Department of
Fashion Technology, NIFT, Bangalore.
(This is his fifth input from the series of
articles in Knitting Views)
22/KNITTING VIEWS/SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2010
T here are three principle stitches utilised in knit fabrics: Knit,
of them appearing in the same fabric, form the basis of all knitted
fabrics.
Formation of loop structures
The weft knitted structures described so far have been totally
composed of knitted loops, which are produced whenever the
needle clears the old loop, receives the new yarn and knock
over the old loop from the previous knitting cycle. Fig. 6.1 shows
the three possible positions of the needle at the time of feeding
the yarn. They are referred to as knit, tuck and miss positions.
These different stitches are produced by controlling the height
of the needles and the individual selection of needles enable
knit, tuck or miss stitches to be formed.
For different stitch requirements, swing cams or auxiliary cams
are placed between the rising cams and the stitch cams to change
the path of the needle butts to form a raceway and the needle
butts travel in this restricted path accordingly to form knit, tuck
and miss stitch.
Fig 6.1 Three needle positions for the production of three stitch types.

Fig 6.4 Tuck stitch produced on a latch needle machine

The tuck loop will always lie at the back of the held loop. The
numbers of consecutive tucks on any one needle is limited by the
amount of yarn that the needle hook can hold, with the maximum
usually being between four to five loops. Fig 6.5 shows the
technical face of the tuck stitch along with the knitting notations.

Fig 6.2 Cam setting for different stitches

Knit stitch
The knit stitch is the basic stitch. It is also called the plain stitch.
Knit stitch is formed when the needle carries out a complete
stroke, reaching the maximum height on the looping plane.

Fig 6.5 Technical face of tuck stitch fabric with stitch notations

Fig 6.3 Face and back of knit stitch

Tuck stitch
A tuck stitch is formed when a knitting needle holds its old loop
and then receives a new yarn. Two loops then collect in the
needle hook. The previously formed knitted loop is called the
held loop and the loop which joins it is a tuck loop.

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The resultant stitch is elongated. Tuck stitches appear on the
back of a fabric and may be recognised as an inverted V, sometime
elongated for two or more courses, depending on how many
times the stitched was tucked. Fig 6.6 shows a single tuck viewed
from technical face and back of the fabric.
Fig 6.7 shows a single tuck viewed from the technical back and,
in addition, how this structure is represented using conventional
stitch notations.
Fig 6.6 Tuck stitch
Fig 6.7 Tucking over four adjacent plain needles
Tuck stitches tends to reduce the length of the fabric and increase
its width (Wales are pushed apart), resulting in the fabric being
thicker (yarn from the tuck stitch lies on top of the preceding
stitch) with less extension in the width.
The tuck stitch is used in knitted fabric to create design effects
in colour, raised surface texture, or a hole or eyelet effect.
Fig 6.8 Tuck stitch (Face and Back)
24/KNITTING VIEWS/SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2010
Miss stitch
A miss stitch is created when one or more knitting needles are
deactivated and do not move into position to accept the yarn.
The yarn merely passes by and no stitch is formed.
The float will lie freely on the reverse side of the held loop, which
is the technical back, and in the case of rib and interlock
structures it will be inside the fabric. Fig 6.10 illustrates that the
float will extend from the base of one knitted or tucked loop to
the next.
Fig 6.9 Float stitch produced on a latch needle machine
Fig 6.10 Technical face of float stitch
Miss stitch is also known as float stitch or welt stitch. Fig 6.11
shows the face and the back of the miss stitch.
Fig 6.12 shows a four needle float viewed from the technical
back, together with the conventional stitch notation used to
represent this structure.
The introduction of miss stitches results in the fabric becoming
narrower in width, since the wales are pulled closer together and
the held loop ‘robs’ yarn from adjacent loops. This tends to improve
fabric stability. The miss stitch also has a tendency to increase
 fabric weight, and reduce both stretch, and width. A miss stitch is
used to create colour and figure designs in knitted fabric since it
permits the selective positioning of yarns in a fabric.

Fig 6.11 Miss stitch

Fig 6.13 Miss stitch (Front and back)

Knit, tuck and miss stitches can be used in any of the four fabric
types – single jersey, rib, purl or interlock – to produce a wide
range of structural effects. Fig 6.14 shows the combination of all
three stitches.

6.12 Floating across four adjacent plain needles

Fig 6.14 Successive tucks and floats

(In the next edition, we would be

discussing about Weft Knitting.)

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