The part played by colour in knitted goods depends largely on the use to which they have to be put and the variety of garment in which they are employed. For undergarments which are seldom noted in wear for general purposes, the rÔle of colour is slight and the prevailing tints are white, cream or mixture varieties of the natural or tinted class. The nature of the tint for undergarments is important, and a connoisseur will be able to distinguish quite a number of qualities in a white garment. The tint of a white article depends on a number of factors, one of the chief being the class of wool used in its production. Some wool classes are in themselves whiter than others according to the place from which the wool is obtained. Most types of merino wools give materials of a splendid whiteness, whilst the majority of home wools give a result which is more or less of a yellowish nature; if sand particles are adhering in any quantity, the result is to impart a reddy tint which is difficult to eradicate in bleaching or scouring. The yellow tint, common to most classes of wool, is not evident at first sight, and it is only by comparison with bleached goods that the observer may be able to tell the difference. For many purposes of ordinary wear yellowish tinted goods are quite serviceable and are sold under the designation of cream. This tint is the result of a colouring pigment present in the medullary cells of the material and can be removed by one or other of the various methods of bleaching, but the yellow tinge may be greatly increased by scouring in too hot liquor or using cleansing agents which exercise drastic action on the wool fibre. Similarly when the goods are in the hands of the wearer, the yellow tint may be considerably increased in intensity if care be not exercised in washing and if agents of the proper strength be not employed. To preserve the whiteness of bleached articles certain precautions have to be observed in scouring and these may be summarized as follows. The temperature of the scouring liquor or the washing solution should not be raised beyond what is absolutely necessary to effect a removal of the dirt, for a high temperature produces a kind of melting action on the goods which causes the internal scales of the fibre to fuse to some extent, with the result that a permanently yellow tinge is imparted. Next to the temperature, which should be as close to the "lieu warm" as possible, is the question of the nature and composition of detergents. Launderers know that an application of a certain amount of soda or alkali accelerates the scouring action and gives to the liquor a certain softness which is rather misleading. The softening experienced really constitutes a dissolving action on the wool fibre which settles on the material when dry a feeling of pronounced hardness. These two factors combined with a high temperature of scouring liquor and an excess of alkali or soda will destroy the quality of the purest white and impart a permanently discoloured or faded yellow appearance to the finest goods.

Natural Tinted Goods.—The simplest departure from pure white undergarments is to be found in the well-known natural coloured members of the knitting industry, which are usually pants, shirts and combination garments. This is obtained by an admixture with white of about 10 per cent. of coloured fibre, and has the effect of increasing the serviceability of the garments by allowing more extended intervals between the washes. In their usual forms these blends or tinted shades do not possess an aspect of attractiveness, the general run being in dull brown, drab or cold bluish tint, but recently there has been a tendency to brighten up the blends somewhat and introduce an element of greater attractiveness to the garments. There is not, however, great scope for colour effect in such goods; little colour is wanted, as they seldom come into vision.

Horizontal Stripes.—Unfortunately the knitted fabric as such does not give great scope for the production of coloured effects in the plain stitch because of its peculiar structure as an essentially weft fabric. The thread is inserted crosswise in the fabric, both vertical and horizontal elements of the structure being formed from one and the same yarn, and this limitation must be carefully kept in mind when considering the capacity of the fabric for showing colour. From the inherent horizontal character of the fabric it is evident that cross effects such as horizontal stripes of colour can be much more expeditiously produced than effects of the vertical variety. There is something jarring about a predominantly horizontal series of colour stripes, for when these are made into garments they show crosswise, whilst the prevailing cast of the human figure is vertical. For the great bulk of goods, therefore, cross stripes are quite unserviceable except, perhaps, for the sporting jersey, where the object is to arrest the attention of the observers and enable them to trace the movement of individual players in the field. In most types of knitting mechanism the cross colour effect is much more easily produced than the vertical, because we have simply to provide a colour for each thread-carrier and these are brought into operation in succession according to the pattern required. To overcome the inherent defect of the horizontal direction, fabrics are often turned round a right-angle so that a horizontal colour stripe becomes a vertical one, but this has the disadvantage of turning the stitches on their side. The stretch in length is greatly increased over the width, and such garments show a tendency to elongate considerably during their period of wear, whilst the elasticity in the width is much reduced from the normal. In wearing such a garment the tendency is for the fabric to go to length by reason of its own weight combined with the action of the wearer in walking.

In considering patterns for horizontal striped goods, it should be borne in mind that the average rotary frame has a side-to-side movement of the thread-carrier, and that the full extent of the motion requires two courses to complete, once to the right and another to the left. If single courses are inserted it means that one of the thread-carriers has to be kept on the off side of the frame and special tackle requires to be used to work odd courses on these machines. In making out patterns for horizontal striped goods, the patterns should be built as far as possible on evenly numbered courses, 2, 4, 6, etc., for in this way the thread-carrier for any particular colour can be brought back to the starting-point. The usual way of indicating horizontal striped patterns is to detail each colour and the number of courses in succession until the whole pattern is complete. Thus we might have a pattern as follows: 12 black, 6 white, 2 grey, 4 black, 12 white, 6 grey, 6 white. When colour patterns are written in this fashion it may become a rather lengthy process in the case of complicated arrangements such as are often required for fine gauge goods, and for these it is a saving of time and labour to arrange the colour scheme in the following manner—

In this case the colours present in the effect are set down one below the other as shown, and the pattern is indicated by the figures in the columns beginning at the left-hand side and reading downwards from top to bottom for each row, when completed a start is made with the next row and so on till the pattern is finished. The following gives another example of a horizontal striped arrangement which embodies several fancy colours—

In this pattern there are 100 courses in one complete repeat of the pattern, and to produce this a pattern chain would require to be drawn out which by its projections would cause connecting fingers to swing into the carrier as indicated by the colours of the pattern. In all such patterns the colours introduced are part and parcel of the fabric and in direction run crosswise in the texture. Outer wear fabrics made predominantly of cross stripe are not popular because of the reasons already shown, but they are often used for trimming garments, for borders of coats, cuffs and collars, and for fancy shirts they are often quite effective. One point must be borne in mind in selecting fancy colours in fine materials such as silk, etc.; the size of the fancy yarn chosen has to be approximately equal to that of the ground texture, or the fancy threads will cause a space more or less open to appear in the fabric so as to spoil its amenity.

Vertical Stripes.—For most kinds of knitted articles the vertical stripe is extremely difficult to produce without extra tackle on the machine, and most examples of vertical lines are produced by means of yarn inserted in addition to the ground of the fabric, notably in the case of clocking introduced in hosiery articles and vertical striped effects so popular in the men's shirting trade. In both these cases the effect is introduced as a form of embroidery worked as an addition to the fabric, where the fancy yarn is made to exhibit itself prominently on the face of the goods and only comes to the back for purposes of intersection. The materials employed for such colour effects are usually of the lustrous variety, silk or mercerized cotton, and they are forced into prominence on the face by the upward thrust of the ground yarn which they cover. A feature of the vertical stripe effects produced on Cotton's Patent frame is the variety of colours which it is feasible to insert, for every extra thread introduced can be of a different colour if necessary, as each yarn proceeds independently from its own bobbin. In regard to the scope of design, this is generally restricted to solid vertical stripes, and very interesting and effective variations are produced by a zig-zag motion given to the thread guides in knitting.

Tuck Work.—The term tuck is employed to indicate a class of fabric where certain stitches are tucked in the cloth, that is, they are not permitted to form their stitches in the ordinary way but are retained on the needles to be worked in along with the following stitch. This tucking of a yarn into another stitch is performed by means of tuck pressers on bearded needle machines, these pressers being cut so that during the knitting operation the needles affected are left unpressed, that is, they are not permitted to discharge their thread in the normal manner but are held up on the stem of the needle to be discharged as part of a second course of loops. Naturally the omission of the pressing operation cannot be allowed for long, because this would cause a conglomeration of unworked yarn on the needle stems which would in a few courses lead to disaster in the fabric; an essential of the pattern arrangement is to insure that the tucked stitches are cleared from the needle stems after every two courses or so. On the hand frame and the patent rotary machine tuck pressers are of the form shown in Figs. 53 and 54, being the ordinary kind of presser cut with spaces so that the needles which come under the spaces of the presser are not pressed but have their yarn retained on the needle stems. These stitch portions are pushed back on the needles, and when the next yarn is fed into them, the presser is moved along so that needles left unpressed at the last course are now pressed and two yarns are discharged in place of one. In the figures the points marked N represent the needles, and in Fig. 53 the spaces are noted to be over every second needle, 2, 4, 6, etc., whilst the remaining needles, 1, 3, 5, etc., are pressed by the projecting pieces. The odd numbered needles are being pressed in Fig. 53 whilst the even needles are left unpressed. At the next course the presser is moved one needle sidewise, so that the even needles are pressed to discharge their double loops whilst the odd numbered needles remain unpressed. The third course sees further reversal of the presser back to start again when the operation is repeated as before. In Fig. 54 is given another design for a tuck presser, this being termed a 2 and 1 pattern, and every third needle is left unpressed whilst the remaining two-thirds of the needles are pressed as usual. This presser is also given a sidewise movement to insure that the needles are cleared of their stitches every two courses or so. The 2 and 1 presser and the 3 and 3 presser are often used in conjunction with other patterns such as the 1 and 1 or 2 and 2 to form patterns more fancy in style and character. Very effective patterns can be produced in colour by working the 3 and 3 tuck presser in co-operation with the 1 and 1, whilst very effective designs may be made with 2 and 2 tuck presser and a plain presser alternately.

Tuck Work on Circular Frames.—In frames employing the spring or bearded needle arranged in circular machines which are largely employed for the making of fabric in the roll, tuck patterns can be produced by cutting the pressers in circular form as illustrated in Figs. 55 and 56. In the French circular frame, the presser consists of a plain circular disc which, by reason of its adjustment, presses the beards or springs of the needles as they revolve. Figs. 55 and 56 are the circular tuck pressers which correspond to Figs. 53 and 54, that is, 1 and 1 and 2 and 1 pressers. In Fig. 55 the circumference of the wheel is cut alternately in small spaces which come over the beards and press them, and larger spaces which by the depth of their incisions fit over the beards of the machine but do not press them. The wheel receives its motion by the revolving action of the needles in the circle, and the teeth have therefore to be cut to the gauge required, that is, the setting of the machine needles and the teeth in the wheel circumference require to coincide. In Fig. 56 every third space is cut large so as to grip the needle but not press it, whilst the remaining two spaces are cut with small indentations so that the needle will be pressed in the ordinary way. In circular frames there are several feeds, that is, the stitch-forming apparatus is repeated two or more times round the circumference of the machine which allows of a more convenient arrangement being made for the discharge of the unpressed loops. One way is to have a tuck presser and a plain presser arranged alternately in the machine so that there is a tucked pattern where the double stitches are discharged every second course. If, in addition, there is a different colour in each feed, we have an interesting colour effect which is different with every type of pattern wheel employed, whilst wheels can be cut with the greatest freedom right round the edge according to a predetermined design. What actually happens in the fabric with the use of tuck pressers may be better understood by a reference to Fig. 57, which is a diagrammatic enlargement of the pattern produced by the 1 and 1 tuck presser illustrated in Figs. 53 and 55. For the first course where needles 1, 3, 5, etc., are pressed to knit the odd numbered needles are worked, and this state of matters is represented in Fig. 57, where the needles are numbered 1 to 4 to correspond from left to right. Stitch 1 and stitch 3 are pressed as usual and form their ordinary stitches as given by the shape of the presser in Fig. 53, stitches 2 and 4 are left unpressed, and the yarn is noted to have fallen to the lower position marked a1, whilst the knitted loops are retained in their higher position a a. At the second course b, b1, the position is reversed, the stitches on needles 1 and 3 being tucked or left unpressed whilst those on needles 2 and 4 are knitted as usual. This effect may be traced by following the course of the thread marked b, b1, b, b1. From this diagram it will be evident that the whole structure of the texture is altered by the tuck presser, and that this will enable us to insert a greater weight of yarn into the fabric because the threads are not subjected to such a high degree of intersection, and the result is to give a cloth of greater weight and consistency suitable for a large variety of outer garments. Again, it is evident that when two or more colours are employed, novel and characteristic colour effects will result because of the way in which it is possible to pass one colour to the back at certain points and allow the other to show on the face and vice versÂ.

Check Designs.—By the structure of ordinary tuck work illustrated in Fig. 57 it is clear that the threads have a considerable mingling together, and the result will to a considerable extent be a melange colour effect. In what is termed check or press-off work in knitting a clear-cut colour effect of reversible character is often desired, that is, when a block of one colour is knitting on the face, the second colour is made to float loosely on the back, and this arrangement can be made to work with each colour in turn. To make such designs on the circular frame we have two pressers, one cut the reverse of the other, and these are used in succeeding feeds of the machine, so that the needles pressed at one feed have their stitches tucked at the next and vice versÂ. The whole matter of tuck check designs belongs to the higher branches of designing of knitted fabrics. The term check in the ordinary way consists of a vertical colour scheme combined with a horizontal scheme of the same character, and whilst these are possible in the knitted fabric their production is somewhat difficult. Tartan hosiery can be produced in a number of colours having the vertical elements working on the embroidery system and with the corresponding cross colour scheme working in the ordinary horizontal stripe, but these effects require great skill in manipulation owing to the fact that the extra embroidery yarn is inserted over and above the ground, and this tends to show more prominently than the cross effects, and these require special treatment at the hands of the colorist if the balance of the colour scheme has to be preserved.

Spot Effects.—This type of colour effect is best produced on the Jacquard flat knitting machine which is the ordinary flat knitter with an attachment for making patterns of a raised character. These raised or knop effects are produced on the basis of the rib stitch where one needle bed is made to stop knitting for a few courses during which time the opposite side is making its loops as usual. The needle bed which does not knit has its stitches drawn tight and this causes the loops of the other bed to curve round and form an arched effect which can be made the basis of a most interesting pattern scheme. These raised or knop designs have the result of causing an uneven reflection of light, the ridges give a full reflection, whilst the light which falls into the hollows is dispersed and broken so as to cause an interesting play of light and shade. This is used to form novel designs on the flat knitter with the aid of the Jacquard selective mechanism, and when several colours are employed by means of the extra thread-carriers, these can be made to form spot effects with considerable facility. Here again the effects are very pronounced and produced by quite minor alterations in the machine mechanism.