For a beginner, it can be difficult to understand the knitting literature you find in magazines or online. To decode the language used to describe a pattern can be tougher than knitting the pattern itself at times. In addition, the sight of so much jargon can definitely give cold feet and make knitting seem more complicated than it is. Therefore, I thought a compilation of knitting terminology could really benefit you. To this end, I present to you a short and concise glossary of certain important terms used in knitting.
1) Yarn: All knitted fabric is made out of Yarn, a continuous length of fiber. A Yarn can be made of natural or synthetic fibers. The final product of your knitting project will greatly depend on how tightly “twisted” the yarn is.
2) Warp Knitting: with vertical parallel wales, Warp knitting uses a different yarn for every horizontal row.
3) Weft Knitting: Using a single yarn, the stitches run horizontally and parallel to each other.
4) Knit Stitch: The knit stitch refers to looping the yarn around the needle from back to front and then transferring the stitch to the next needle.
5) Purl Stitch: The opposite of a Knit stitch, purling is often also called the “reverse stitch”.
6) Fabric: The product of any project is called fabric. This helps identify the material that has not been given shape yet. There can be different kinds of fabric like Jersey fabric, Rib fabric, Interlock fabric etc.
7) Pattern: A pattern in knitting is the design and the types of stitches and their combinations that you use in a project.
8) Casting On/Off: Casting on involves putting the stitches on the needle. Casting off (also known as binding off) refers to the process of closing the stitches at the end of a project and taking them off the needle.
9) Tension: The degree of gaps and looseness between stitches in your fabric is what determines the “tension” of the knit. Proper tension in the fabric can only be achieved by practice and nothing else. The more you knit, the easier it becomes to avoid the stitches being too tight or too loose.
10) Twist: The degree of twist of the yarn determines the tension of the final fabric. The twist can simply be defined as how closely or tightly wound the yarn is.
11) Single Stitch: A single stitch refers to fabric produced by using only one set of needles.
12) Double Stitch: Thicker than the single stitch fabric, a double stitch uses two sets of knitting needles.
13) Gauge: A measurement of the number of stitches and rows used in a fabric, per inch of the knitting. E.g. 10” needle, 4 stitches per inch.