A large variety of yarns other than pure woollens are employed for knitted goods and there is no branch of the textile industry where such free use is made of materials of different type and character. For the plain knitted stitch in particular "the yarn is the fabric" and the qualities of touch and handle as well as colour form the chief features sought after in the yarn.

Cotton Yarns.—Yarns spun from cotton are utilized for a large selection of the trade in knitted articles which perform an indispensable function in clothing. When examined with the naked eye cotton yarns can be distinguished by their dense structure, the fibre is soft when in fibre form, but when spun into yarns takes a firm structure. Cotton yarns used for knitting are usually spun with as slack a twist as is consistent with strength, and an effort is made to throw a considerable portion of fibre to the surface of the thread. When examined under a low-power microscope much useful information may be gained by scrutiny of the lie of the fibres and of the way in which they dispose themselves. A photo-micrograph of a fine counts of cotton yarn used in knitting is given in Fig. 38 where the fibres are noted to be densely packed in the yarn with copious material round the surface to enable the thread to cover up the loop interspaces. From this sample also may be noted the twisted appearance common to all cotton fibres; the single fibres have an irregular twist like a twisted ribbon. This distorted aspect of the fibre is one of the best means of distinguishing this material, and when the feature is noted, it is a sure sign that cotton is present. Another evidence which confirms this is the peculiar manner in which the fibres dispose of themselves, they appear disjointed, form sharp corners and shoot away at steep angles. Wool fibres in a yarn appear curved and dispose of themselves in elegant waves, whilst cotton strands strike out in divergent directions. Fig. 39 gives another view of a type often employed for cotton knitted goods, this being a single thread of long stapled cotton loosely twisted so as to give a soft full handle. This character of thread is often employed for the so-called fleecy underwear where the soft yarn is raised or brushed on the teasles to give an effect extremely pleasant to the touch. In this example the fibres are shown freely scattered from the core of the yarn, and a closer examination of them will show that they have the sharp angles and the spiral twists just referred to as being indicative of the cotton fibre.

Mercerized Cotton Yarn.—Mercerized cotton is largely employed in knitted goods of the fancy class where the great lustre of the material imparts effectiveness to the fabric. The usual type of mercerized thread used in knitting is two-ply and hard twisted, with the surface fibre singed off so as to give an uninterrupted reflection of light. The yarn is mercerized usually in the hank when the hanks of yarn are stretched tightly over poles and then immersed in a strong solution of caustic soda. In a short time the cotton swells and becomes lustrous, approaching silk in general appearance, and this effect is augmented by the evenness of the surface of the thread. This type of yarn lends itself to the production of brilliant colours and is admirably adapted to such articles as knitted coats, scarves and other types of the fancy trade in knitted goods, being best suited for summer wear on account of their coolness.

Artificial Silk.—The application of artificial silk or wood pulp to the manufacture of knitted goods has been extensively made and gives results in every way brilliant in character. The structure of this type is shown in photo-micrograph 40 which is a view of a single thread of artificial silk, where it will be noted that the fibres are exactly parallel to one another and there are no straggling members whatever, each and all of them taking their place in the thread in a perfectly parallel and orderly fashion. The substance from which these yarns is produced is at first in a fluid condition and is pressed through tubes in a container in very fine strands, a certain number of which are run together to constitute thread. This material is usually supplied two-fold for knitting purposes and has been in great demand for the scarf and knitted coat trade, where brilliance of shade and elegance of appearance are outstanding features. Care must be taken that the goods are correctly described, as the Silk Association of Great Britain maintains a continuous campaign to have these goods distinct in description from those of real silk. One famous case hinged on the term art silk. If the word art is written art. with a full-stop it is recognized as a contraction for the word artificial, but without this period the term art is misleading as indicating a variety of real silk and as such constitutes a mis-description for which penalties are provided.

Spun Silk Yarns.—These yarns are produced in silk manufacture from the cocoons which have been damaged so as to cause the silk to be broken or torn. Such have to be prepared and combed like other short materials and the resultant yarns are in great demand for knitted goods. The perfect cocoons have their fibres unravelled in continuous lengths, a certain number of these being run together to form a single thread of commerce. Artificial silk thread is similar in appearance except that it is not possible to approach the real organzine in fineness of fibre. The spun silk thread is elastic and extremely useful in knitted articles, although its use is restricted to specialities on account of the high price of the product. Illustration 42 gives a photo-micrograph of a common form of spun silk yarn which is two-fold in character, with abundant surface material projecting at all angles. To attain greater lustre and a cleaner yarn, these varieties are often put through the process of gassing, that is, the yarns are passed through a gas flame to have their loose projecting filaments burned off. Fig. 43 gives a view of this same thread where the surface fibre has been singed off and the yarn made much more definite in effect. In the two illustrations the surpassing sheen of the extremely fine filaments is clearly visible; when examined still more closely they give the appearance of lustrous glass rods with very little variation in their structure, absolute plainness being the characteristic.

Silk and Wool Knitted Articles.—The free use of pure silk yarns is rendered prohibitive in many branches of the trade on account of the enormous price of the yarns, and generally for knitted goods it is not possible to produce a garment of sufficient weight for normal use. If silk is employed for the entire fabric, much of it is lost by intersecting on the back, only a tithe of the material being visible on the face. There is no real advantage in having silk on the back of the texture, and fuller effectiveness and greater comfort and weight are attained by bringing a heavier material on to the back, preferably a woollen thread with the silk showing on the face only. The back woollen thread by its bulk gives greater proportional weight and at the same time pushes the silk yarn prominently on to the surface and enables it to exhibit its full lustre. This is certainly the most effective way of obtaining the utmost utility from the silk material in the texture. The silk and wool hosiery folded yarn is also employed largely for these goods, one yarn of silk being folded in a loose twist with one thread of woollen. In some cases the silk yarn is organzine, in others it is two-fold spun silk, but as a general rule the woollen constituent is composed of wool in the single yarn only, and this loosely spun to give an open effect. This type of silk and wool yarn forms the basis of an important branch of knitted underwear and such garments present an intermediate position between the plain variety of woollen garment and the more costly pure silk article. Fig. 44 gives a view of a typical sample of this class of yarn, being a single thread of organzine silk folded with a single pure woollen yarn. The dense member of the twist is clearly seen to be the silk thread of the organzine variety, because the constituent fibres are continuous and run parallel with each other. Contrasted with this the woollen yarn is free and open in structure, the most suitable type of wool being medium to long staple. In this yarn the lustre and neatness of the silk imparts an elegant appearance to the fabric, whilst the open structure of the woollen thread removes the baldness of the yarn and adds the essential fullness to the handle as well as softness and warmth. In many cases the organzine silk thread is replaced by the ordinary type of two-fold spun silk yarn and the thickness of the woollen neighbour greatly increased over what is here noticeable. In almost every case for such fabrics the silk yarn constituent is pure white and very attractive results accrue if the woollen thread is folded dyed in some bright shade, such as blue, red or green. The lustrous silk yarn with its whiteness tones down the strong colours in a highly pleasing manner and the entire production is of the most elegant description and deservedly a favourite with many classes of wearers.

Cotton and Wool Mixtures.—Just as we obtain articles of intermediate qualities by adding silk and wool together, so by combining cotton and wool results are obtained which blend the peculiarities of each material. For many wearers pure wool underwear proves rather an irritant to the skin, the crispness making itself felt on a tender cuticle. On the other hand, garments worked entirely from cotton do not possess anything like the power of heat retention as is the case with the pure wool article, and in the important matter of elasticity and absorbency cotton as much inferior to the wool. When the two materials are blended, the resultant is warmer than pure cotton and not so warm as wool, whilst the blended article stands mid-way in absorbency and does not produce the same irritation to the skin as some varieties of pure wool. In regard to whiteness the cotton and wool blend is more satisfactory than many types of wool which have to be bleached in a rather expensive method in order to give similar whiteness. The addition of the cotton improves the colour and obviates bleaching of the garment. Finally, the blended article from cotton and wool is much more moderate in price than the pure woollen garment. For winter its chief drawback is a much lower clothing or heating power, and for the summer its disadvantage is that it quickly fills with moisture and renders the wearer uncomfortable until this moisture has been radiated back again.

Merino.—The great bulk of fabrics of this class are embraced under the term merino, which denotes cotton and wool articles where the materials have been blended in the fibre in a given proportion. The normal yarn is composed of 50 per cent. of each, but the range includes as much as 90 per cent. cotton, with 10 per cent. wool, with 90 per cent. wool and 10 per cent. cotton at the other end of the scale.

If Fig. 45 be examined it will be noticed that it is in the form of two-ply, one thread being composed of pure silk as shown by its density and fineness, whilst the thicker yarn is merino, that is, cotton and wool mixed in the fibre. The presence of the cotton and the wool may both be detected by an examination of the straggling fibres, the wool curving and bending in its usual characteristic manner, whilst the cotton fibres show their twisted convolutions and their furtive breaks into angles. The usual kinds of merino yarns used for underwear are folded two-ply, with a slack twist which seldom exceeds more than a few turns per inch. In spinning such yarns it is sought to throw the wool to the thread surface as far as possible so as to increase the comfort to the wearer and give improved handle.

Cashmere.—The general use of this term includes open spun worsted yarns, used in underwear, but the original signification is the product of the Cashmere goat which inhabits the Himalayas. This material is natural coloured, the softest kinds are of a sandy fawn shade and are largely employed in the knitting industry for scarves, gloves and vests. In respect of soft, delicate handle real cashmere is without an equal amongst textile materials, and this property alone makes it eminently suitable for these branches in particular.

Angora Rabbit Fur.—The fur of the rabbit has recently come into prominence for the knitting industry and many new uses have been found for these materials. The product of the Angora rabbit reared in large numbers in France has been extensively used for knitted articles, notably gloves and vests, where its surpassing qualities of delicacy of handle have been greatly appreciated. One disadvantage of this fur is that it readily contracts when steeped in water, where the least scouring makes it almost vanish out of view. It is extremely difficult to spin into yarns which will bear the strains of knitting and of ordinary wear, the length of the fibres is rather variable and large portions of the rabbit coat consist of fibre of the most flimsy description, being perceptibly swayed by the ordinary air currents of a room. It will thus be seen that in employing this material the kind of article to which it has to be applied must be kept carefully in mind, and every effort should be made to utilize it where it will be protected from contact with excessive moisture. The article selected should not be one which encounters much friction during its period of wear because one of the troubles is that the loose floating fibres easily separate themselves from the parent fabric. This sort of material taken from the common rabbit is often vended in the shops in balls of thick, loose spun thread which can rapidly be made into plain stitch gloves, not very shapely but certainly having qualities of novelty and comfort.

Camel Hair.—As the name indicates this material is secured from the camel, large tufts of good quality fibre growing on its chest and of a predominantly sandy tint, natural in hue. This is used in its life shade for a large number of varieties of knitted articles, perhaps its best-known use in knitting is in connection with the scarf trade, whilst it is also found in the knitted glove and cap industry.

Alpaca.—This is the product of the goat of the same name which inhabits the Andes of South America and is very useful because of the large variety of colours in which it grows on the fleece. These are sorted out into tones of approximately the same depth and used for numerous other articles in the knitting industry. The material in itself often appears rather hard and cold for knitted goods, but the handle can be improved by steaming which has the effect of permanently softening the cell walls of the fibre. Very successful effects are produced by folding a thread of one shade with a single thread of another, and when these are brushed in finishing they give melanged effects which are most attractive and pleasing.

Peculiarities of Goat and Camel Hairs.—Materials such as camel hair, alpaca and cashmere all have certain properties in common. They have each two growths of material, one on the surface consisting of long, strong beard hairs which are rough in the extreme and quite unsuitable for manufacturing purposes. Under this overgrowth and protected by it is the variety which as a rule is much softer to touch and shorter in staple; the long hairs are a great nuisance to the manufacturer, but are in reality indispensable as they afford much needed protection to the soft undergrowth during the turbulent life of the goat. If they are not too coarse they may be employed as the dark colouring element in natural hosiery yarns, the browns and greys of alpaca being most useful in this regard. These materials belong to the most dirty class of materials used in knitting yarns, and it is very necessary that they should be thoroughly cleaned before use. Owing to the fact, however, that they are not dyed but generally employed as they stand, they may not be scoured so thoroughly as ordinary wool. The deadly germs of anthrax are often present on these materials, this disease being frequently transmitted to a worker handling the fleeces where clots of blood produced by careless clipping are a grave source of danger. There is also further evidence of uncleanness in the specks of dandruff-like matter which are often found sticking on the fibres of the yarn.

Like other branches of the textile industry, hosiery manufacture has been the subject of numerous attempts at introducing new and novel fibres heralded on to the market with much blowing of trumpets and exaggerated prospectuses. This industry can absorb a greater variety of yarns, different classes of materials than almost any other branch of textiles. What has often been suggested as a sound commercial proposition is that yarn made from the nettle plant should be more extensively utilized. A thread made from fibre extracted from the stem of the ordinary stinging variety is given in Fig. 47 which gives a thread quite suitable for many classes of woven fabrics. The material, however, is not of suitably agreeable handle for knitted goods and would only be employed for this purpose in times of dire scarcity.

Requirements of the Fancy Trade.—In the chapter on woollen underwear yarns the characteristics of material and structure were discussed in relation to the trade in underwear. In this chapter a number of materials have been referred to which take their place in the what is known as the fancy trade for outer and intermediate garments. If it is a question of the fancy stitches, it is required to bring out the features of these with yarns clear in surface and neat in structure so that the eye may follow the intersections of the yarns in the fabric. The silk and artificial silk productions belong to the most highly valued of the ornamental branches of the knitting industry, and these may be utilized to bring out in the clearest effect stitches such as shogged patterns, rib varieties and lace designs where definiteness of stitch and brilliance of colour combine to give results of a high value for elegant garments. In the case of materials of camel hair, Angora fur or pure cashmere class, the stitch as a rule is subsidiary, being usually of the plainest description so as to allow of the fullest display of the natural properties of the material. In the fancy trade it is futile to employ features which compete with each other for the attention of the observer. In a fancy-stitch article the mono-colour should prevail; where the stitch is simple the best ground is afforded for the display of several colours in the goods.