Knitting technology, Third Edition

Fig. 16.1
Turned welt on latch
needle machine.
Fig. 16.2
Turned welt on bearded needle
machine.
Fig. 16.3
Accordion welt top.

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Welts, garment sequences and knitting to shape
181
tomeric yarn relaxes, it causes alternate wales to be displaced into a mock rib con-
figuration. Sometimes, the second course of textile yarn is knitted only on alternate
needles.
16.2
Rib welts
Most fully-fashioned and stitch-shaped underwear and outerwear garments, half-
hose, and socks have ribbed borders containing a welt sequence that is produced by
causing the sets of needles to act independently of each other after the 1 
¥
1 rib set-
up course.
When the rib border is to be knitted in 2 
¥
2 rib, the needle bed is either shogged
to form a skeleton 1 
¥
1 rib needle arrangement or it is knitted on a normal 1 
¥
1
rib needle set-out followed by rib loop transfer to achieve 2 
¥
2 rib for the border.
Three types of welt are possible when needles are arranged in 1 
¥
1 rib set-out.
These are:
1
The tubular or French welt.
2
The roll or English welt.
3
The racked welt.
16.2.1
The tubular welt
The 
tubular welt
(Fig. 16.4) is the most popular welt because it is a balanced struc-
ture that is reversible, lies flat, can be extended to any depth and is elastic. Its only
disadvantage is that it can become baggy during washing and wear unless knitted
tightly. Apart from old Cottons Patent Rib Frames, most garment-length knitting
machines can knit this welt.
The 
split welt
is actually a tubular welt knitted at the end of the garment sequence
instead of at the beginning. It is used as an open tube for a collar or stolling, to fit
over the cut edge of a garment to which it is then linked by a through stitch.