As a second part of learning abour knitting, we had a chance to spend few hours in a knitting lab and actually see the process of making a knitted fabrics and garments using different types of machines.
Knitting lab was divided into 3 parts according to types of machines - circular machines, hand knitting and flat knitting machines. In the end of this post, there is a vlog tour through the knitting lab that shows how these machines actually work.
Knitting lab was divided into 3 parts according to types of machines - circular machines, hand knitting and flat knitting machines. In the end of this post, there is a vlog tour through the knitting lab that shows how these machines actually work.
CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES
We had a chance to "peek" into every machine and see how needles inside are working. Circular knitting machines are faster than flat knitting machines and are used to make socks, pantyhose, yardage etc.
Fabrics on a picture below are made on a Jacquard machine - more colors you add, more stiff is the fabic.
We also had a chance to see one of the newest machines in the lab - circular machine that works with yarns made of anorganic man-made fibers such as carbon. There are only 5 of them in the world (picture above and below)
After exploring circular knitting machines, we went into a computer room to see how the process of choosing a pattern looks like that is later knitted by a machine. We chose one picture and thi is how it looked like:
HAND KNITTING MACHINE
Hand knitting was a lot of fun, we had a chance to try it out, see how it works and make different patterns following different tutorials on the paper.
We made full rib, Milan rib, roll pattern...
FLAT KNITTING MACHINES
Our last stop in Knitting lab were flat knitting machines that are able to make a full garment, for example, a sweater can be made in only 52 minutes. On the photo below there is the newest flat knitting machine in the lab that has an open engine.
Last machine that we got introduced to was a machine that makes garments such as gloves and Adidas and Nike knitted parts.
Here is a small video tour through Knitting lab!