This invention relates to knitting.

It is known to use elastic threads such as those known by the names Lycra and Spandex (Registered Trade Marks) in various knitting techniques to produce stretch fabrics. Elasticised fabrics are made by laying in (power net) or knitting (stretch tricot) elastane or elastomeric yarns in warp knitting while in weft knitting elastic yarns are inlaid to produce elastically extensible fabrics.

The present invention provides new elasticated knitting which has substantial advantages.

The invention comprises knitting, comprising a plated elastic thread.

The knitting may comprise an elastic thread plated on to the back face. The elastic thread may extend the full width of the knitting.

With the elastic thread plated on to the back face, the front does not display any elastic thread and the knitting may therefore be dyed without the elastic thread showing because of differential dyeing.

The knitting may comprise a fully-fashioned garment section, and the invention comprises a garment comprising such knitting, which may be a fully fashioned garmen .

The invention also comprises a method for making stretch knitting comprising knitting a face yarn and an elastic thread, plating the elastic thread to the back of the knitting.

The knitting may be carried out on a straight bar frame, which may be a fully-fashioned machine. The feed yarn and elastic thread may be fed through separate carriers. The elastic thread may be positioned nearest the needle head. The carrier for the elastic thread may precede the carrier for the feed yarn, for example by one or two needles, and may have a longer traverse than the carrier for the elastic thread.

Knitting according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of the technical face of knitting according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view of the technical back of the knitting of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view of the knitting head of a straight bar frame adapted to produce the knitting of Figures 1 and 2;

and Figure 4 is a view of the friction box arrangements for the carriers of the frame of Figure 3.

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate knitting, comprising a plated elastic thread 11. The thread 11 is plated on to the technical back of the knitting. The figures are diagrammatic in that they illustrate the stitch structure rather than the actual appearance. In actuality, the elastic thread 11 will pull the stitches tight to form a dense fabric, but will allow the knitting to be stretched in both courses and wales directions.

The face yarn 12, which can be of a different, usually heavier count than the elastic yarn 11, appears substantially exclusively on the technical face of the knitting so that when the knitting is dyed, differential dyeing effects are not visible. With a heavier face yarn 12, both yarn 12 and elastic thread 11 will be visible on the technical back.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate how the knitting illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 can be made using a fully-fashioned straight bar frame.

The standard frame has a single yarn carrier 31 running behind the needle bar 32 above the sinkers 33 (or sinkers and dividers, in a fine gauge machine). The standard frame is modified by the addition of another yarn carrier 34. The carrier 31 feeds the face yarn 12 and the carrier 34 feeds the elastic thread 11 so that it is positioned in the needle nearer the head.

The two carriers 31,34 have independent movement, elastic thread carrier 34 moving ahead of the face yarn carrier 31. The carriers 31,34 are driven by the usual friction box arrangement, the carrier 31 being modifed as illustrated in Figure 4 by having its faces 31a that strike the carrier stop 35 shaved by one or two needle spaces so that the carrier 31 runs over two or four needles more than the carrier 34. Since both carriers 31,34 are picked up by the carrier bar 36 reversal at the same time, carrier 34 always runs one or two needles ahead of carrier 31.