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A few types of knitted fabric
Knitted fabric

Knitted fabrics are the third major class of fabric, after woven and nonwoven fabrics....
 are so fundamental, that they have been adopted as part of the language of knitting, similar to techniques such as yarn over
Yarn over

In knitting, a yarn over is technique in which the yarn is passed over the right-hand knitting needle. In general, the new loop is knitted on the next row, either by itself or together with an adjacent stitch ....
 or decrease
Decrease (knitting)

A decrease in knitting is a reduction in the number of stitches, usually accomplished by suspending the stitch to be decreased from another existing stitch or by knitting it together with another stitch....
. Examples include stockinette stitch, reverse stockinette stitch, garter stitch, seed stitch, faggoting, and tricot. In some cases, these fabrics appear differently on the right side (i.e., as seen when making the stitch) than on the wrong side (i.e., as seen from the other side, when the work is turned).

tockinette stitch (in the UK, Stocking Stitch) is the most basic knitted fabric; every stitch (as seen from the right side) is a knit stitch.






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A few types of knitted fabric
Knitted fabric

Knitted fabrics are the third major class of fabric, after woven and nonwoven fabrics....
 are so fundamental, that they have been adopted as part of the language of knitting, similar to techniques such as yarn over
Yarn over

In knitting, a yarn over is technique in which the yarn is passed over the right-hand knitting needle. In general, the new loop is knitted on the next row, either by itself or together with an adjacent stitch ....
 or decrease
Decrease (knitting)

A decrease in knitting is a reduction in the number of stitches, usually accomplished by suspending the stitch to be decreased from another existing stitch or by knitting it together with another stitch....
. Examples include stockinette stitch, reverse stockinette stitch, garter stitch, seed stitch, faggoting, and tricot. In some cases, these fabrics appear differently on the right side (i.e., as seen when making the stitch) than on the wrong side (i.e., as seen from the other side, when the work is turned).

Stockinette stitch and reverse stockinette stitch


Stockinette stitch (in the UK, Stocking Stitch) is the most basic knitted fabric; every stitch (as seen from the right side) is a knit stitch. In the round
Circular knitting

Circular knitting or knitting in the round is a form of knitting that creates a seamless tube. When knitting circularly, the knitting is cast on and the circle of stitches is joined....
, stockinette stitch is produced by knitting every stitch; by contrast, in the flat, stockinette stitch is produced by knitting and purling alternate rows.

Stockinette-stitch fabric is very smooth and each column ("wale") resembles a stacked set of "V"'s. It has a strong tendency to curl horizontally and vertically because of the asymmetry
Asymmetry

Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, a symmetry....
 of its faces.

Reverse stockinette stitch is produced in the same way as stockinette, except that the purl stitches are done on the right side and the knit stitches on the wrong side. In the round
Circular knitting

Circular knitting or knitting in the round is a form of knitting that creates a seamless tube. When knitting circularly, the knitting is cast on and the circle of stitches is joined....
, reverse stockinette stitch is produced by purling every stitch.

Garter stitch


Garter stitch is the most basic form of welting
Welting (knitting)

In knitting, welting is the horizontal analog of ribbing ; that is, one or more horizontal rows of knit stitches alternating with one or more rows of purl stitches....
 (as seen from the right side). In the round
Circular knitting

Circular knitting or knitting in the round is a form of knitting that creates a seamless tube. When knitting circularly, the knitting is cast on and the circle of stitches is joined....
, garter stitch is produced by knitting and purling alternate rows. By contrast, in the flat, garter stitch is produced by knitting every stitch (or purling every stitch, though this is much less common).

In garter-stitch fabrics, the "purl" rows stand out from the "knit" rows, which provides the basis for shadow knitting
Shadow knitting

Shadow knitting is a knitting technique that produces patterns that vary with the direction of viewing....
. Garter-stitch fabric has significant lengthwise elasticity and little tendency to curl, due to the symmetry
Symmetry

Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically-pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection....
 of its faces.

Seed stitch


Seed stitch is the most basic form of a basketweave pattern
Basketweave (knitting)

In knitting, a basketweave pattern is characterized by intersecting ribbing and welting .In its simplest form, basketweave is composed of a checkerboard pattern of identical rectangles that alternate between stockinette stitch and reverse stockinette stitch....
; knit and purl stitches alternate in every column ("wale") and every row ("course"). In other words, every knit stitch is flanked on all four sides (left and right, top and bottom) by purl stitches, and vice versa. Seed stitch is also known as Moss Stitch.

Seed-stitch fabrics lie flat; the symmetry of their two faces prevents them from curling to one side or the other. Hence, it makes an excellent choice for edging, e.g., the central edges of a cardigan. However, seed stitch is "nubbly", not nearly as smooth as stockinette.

Faggoting


Faggoting is a variation of lace knitting
Lace knitting

Lace knitting is a style of knitting characterized by stable "holes" in the textile arranged with consideration of aesthetic value. Lace is sometimes considered the pinnacle of knitting, because of its complexity and because woven cannot easily be made to have holes....
, in which every stitch is a yarn over
Yarn over

In knitting, a yarn over is technique in which the yarn is passed over the right-hand knitting needle. In general, the new loop is knitted on the next row, either by itself or together with an adjacent stitch ....
 or a decrease
Decrease (knitting)

A decrease in knitting is a reduction in the number of stitches, usually accomplished by suspending the stitch to be decreased from another existing stitch or by knitting it together with another stitch....
. There are several types of faggoting, but all are an extremely open lace
Lace

Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric....
 similar to netting
Netting

In general, netting means to allow a positive value and a negative value to set-off and partially or entirely cancel each other out.In the context of credit risk, there are at least three specific types of netting:...
. Like most lace fabrics, faggoting has little structural strength and deforms easily, so it has little tendency to curl despite being asymmetrical. Faggoting is stretchy and open, and most faggoting stitches look the same on both sides, making them ideal for garments like lacy scarves or stockings.

Tricot knitting


Tricot is a special case of warp knitting
Warp knitting

Warp knitting is a family of knitting methods in which the yarn zigzags along the length of the fabric, i.e., following adjacent columns of knitting, rather than a single row ....
, in which the yarn zigzags vertically, following a single column ("wale") of knitting, rather than a single row ("course"), as is customary. Tricot and its relatives are very resistant to runs, and are commonly used in lingerie
Lingerie

Lingerie is a term for fashionable and alluring women's undergarments. It derives from the French word linge, "washables" ? as in faire le linge, "do the laundry" ? and ultimately from lin for washable linen, the fabric from which European undergarments were made before the general introduction of cotton from Egypt and then...
.

Other basic fabrics


Other classes of basic knitted fabrics include ribbing
Ribbing (knitting)

In knitting, ribbing is a pattern in which vertical stripes of basic knitted fabrics alternate with vertical stripes of basic knitted fabrics....
, welting
Welting (knitting)

In knitting, welting is the horizontal analog of ribbing ; that is, one or more horizontal rows of knit stitches alternating with one or more rows of purl stitches....
 and cables
Cable knitting

Cable knitting is a style of knitting in which the order of stitches is permuted.For example, let there be four stitches on the needle in the order ABCD....
.