Knitting

All categories

Circular, flat, sock and glove knitting machines from listed makers, with advice on matching gauge, cylinder and needle setup to your finished article before you request quotes.

Selection guide

Knitting machines are bought for a product, so begin the shortlist with a finished sample on the desk. A double-jersey fabric roll, a terry sock and a seamless work glove each come from a different machine family, and the figures on their quotations measure different things. Read every number inside its own family. A glove quote leads with gauge alone; a sock or circular quote only makes sense once diameter and the full needle total sit beside it, as our note on knitting machine gauge explains.

Circular, flat and glove families

For fabric, Hongjun's 34-inch 108-feeder double-jersey series is identified by diameter and feeder count; ask which gauge and knitting arrangement would be quoted, then hold them against your fabric sample. Shaped and patterned articles suit a flat platform such as Zhiyi's ZYQX-01, published at 52 inches with 9G and variable-gauge options and listing transfer, tuck, intarsia, jacquard and narrowing.

Gloves split further. Dawei's GK2018 describes automatic cuff overlocking as standard, with handling, broken-needle detection and several pattern functions offered as options. Jinlong's SJT2004 is a computer-controlled sinker glove machine with keyboard programming; read its shared brochure strictly by model column. Qiangsheng's AirMax range covers 7G, 10G and 13G with eight self-running yarn carriers, which counts most when a glove carries colourwork or shaping.

Sock machines and how much of the cycle they finish

Sock lines differ in how far one machine carries the article. Weilite's WLT-7F X1 pairs one feed with seven electronic selectors on a 3¾-inch single cylinder, and a change of parts lets it switch from plain to terry socks. Rosso's RS-615F / RS-616F add stitch-to-stitch toe closing and turning, offered on 3.5-inch or 3.75-inch cylinders, and the two models carry different numbers of selectors. Hairun's HAIRUN-2 goes further, joining knitting, toe linking, turning and inspection on a single-transfer system. When one quote includes toe closing and another leaves it out, price the separate linking stage and its labour before you compare. Gloves follow the same logic when cuff work happens on a separate glove overlocking machine.

Specify, compare and accept

Send each shortlisted maker an identical pack: the sample, the yarn by fibre and count with its system named (see yarn count units), the size range, and the cones and tubes your creel will hold. If socks or gloves carry elastic, add the specification of the covered spandex or textured yarn you buy in. Ask which items are standard and which optional, then line offers up by configuration rather than model name.

Before a deposit, run a trial with your own yarn on the quoted needle and carrier setup, and keep the finished pieces together with the recorded settings. Those pieces become the reference for the factory acceptance test, so the shipped machine has to reproduce them. Check the electrical supply your site offers against the quoted motors, and settle needles, sinkers and selectors in the spare parts and warranty terms, because those wear items decide downtime on any knitting floor.

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