Stitch Transfer and Holding Techniques
topic
Flat knitting stitch transfer moves loops from one needle to another within the same bed or between front and back beds using transfer bits or dedicated transfer cams in the carriage, enabling garment shaping by narrowing and widening the knitting width, creating cable twist effects by crossing loop groups, and forming three-dimensional pocket and tubular structures through selective held loop knitting on subsets of active needles.
Role
Provides the fundamental shaping and structure manipulation capability that distinguishes flat knitting from circular knitting, with stitch transfer enabling both the practical garment shaping of fully fashioned knitwear panels and the aesthetic stitch effect of cable, twist, and lace patterns that are defining characteristics of hand-knit aesthetic reproduction in machine flat knitting for fashion knitwear markets.