Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/607

* KNILLE. 551 KNITTING. his other works the 'urilliaiit '"Tannhauser and Venus" (IS73), and •Dii.putation of Professors of the Sorbonne Before Saint Louis," both in the National Gallery, Berlin, commend themselves to special attention. He was also known as an il- lustrator and wrote: Griibeleien eincs Malers iiber seine Kunst (1887) and Wollen und Kon- iien in der Malerei (1897). In 1874 he was ap- pointed profe.'sor at the Berlin Academy, and became a nieiiilier of it in 1880. KNIPPERDOLLINCK, knip'perdoriink, Beknaku ( ■; — 1.5.jiii. A noted leader of the fa- natical .iiabapti»ts of the sixteenth century. He was born in iliinster of a prominent family, be- came a merchant, embraced the Reformation, and joined the Anabaptists in 1.527. He was elected burgomaster of iliinster in 1.334, and upheld John of I^yden (q.v. ) in his excesses. In the kingdom .John set up he was vice-regent. Con- sequently he was involved in the ruin that be- fell .John, and was beheaded .January 23, 1.536. See An.b.ptists. KNITCHANIN, kne'cha-nen', Stephax Pet- ROKNITCH (18011-05). A Servian general, born at Knitch. He was a merchant, and early gained great political influence with Prince ililosh. who promoted him in 1839 to the head of the Provincial Government of Semendria. When his patron fell. Knitchanin was exiled; but two years later (1842) he returned, on the invitation of Prince Alexander Karageorgevitch. He held command in the war with Hungary (1848) at the head of a Servian army of volunteers, but was unsuccessful, and had to retreat, and in 1849 to retire to Servia, where in 1854 Prince Alexander made him Minister of War and head of the Council. KNITTING (from knit, AS. cnyttan, cnittan. to knit, from cnotta. knot). The art of forming a fabric out of a single thread by means of needles on which the thread is placed in a suc- cession of loops arranged in rows so that each loop in one row passes through the adjacent loop in the preceding row. Knitting is a more recent invention than the kindred art of netting, with which it is sometimes confused. In both knitting and netting but one thread is used, but in the latter the thread is not looped, but is knotted into itself at definite intervals to form a mesh. (See Nets.) Knitting and netting both diflfer from weaving, because in weaving there are two sets of threads, the longitudinal or warp threads, and the filling or weft threads, which pass in and out at right angles to the warp. Braiding is a still ditTorcnt process, in which the threads, all longi- tudinal, are woven diagonally in and out of each other. The advantage possessed by knitted goods over all other fabrics is their great elasticity, which enables them to fit snugly irregular out- lines. The timj and place at which the art of knit- ting was invented is a matter of dispute. Tlie weight of evidence remains in favor of Scotland. From Scotland knitted stockings found their way to France, where a guild of stocking-knitters was formed who chose for their patron saint Saint Fiacre of Scotland. The needles used in hand knitting are made of steel, wood. bone, rubber, or other substance. Those of steel are usually pointed at both ends, while those of other materials have a point at one end and a round knob at the other. The fol- lowing technical terms are used in knitting: To cast on is to make the first row of loops or stitches on the needle. To cast off is to knit two stitches and then pass the first over the second, securing the last stitch by drawing the yarn through it. A purl, seam, or rib is formed by bringing the wool in front of the needle in knit- ting. To icidtn is to increase the number of stitches. To slip a stitch is to take a stitch oft ihe needle without either knitting or purling. Fur further definitions and a full description of the various styles of hand knitting, consult Rose- year's Text-book on Knitting. Hand knitting, except as a light form of ladies' 'fancy work.' is no longer practiced, having been completely superseded by the more rapid and economical method of knitting by machinery. Kjxittixg bt jM.4Ciiixebv. It is probable that the first knitting-machine or stocking-frnme was invented in less than a century after the art of knitting by hand had been learned. The inven- tion was made by William Lee of Xottingham- shire, England, in 1589. The first knitting-ma- chine was a very simple affair, but its compli- cated modern successor depends for its efficiency upon the same essential principle as Lee's stock- ing-frame. This, in turn, was modeled after the process of hand knitting which originated it. In knitting by hand the thread is formed in a suc- cession of loops on a knitting-needle ; each of these loops has, in succession, another loop passed through it by means of another and similar needle, and this operation is carried on succes- sively until the whole fabric is made. In Lee's stocking-frame, instead of one needle to hold the stationary loop while those of the moving row are being inserted, there are as many needles as there are to be loops in the breadth of the web, and these are so made as to alternately form and give off the loops. Each needle termi- nates in a hook or small indentation. The other end of the needle is fi.xed into a casting formed to fit into a frame and be securely fastened, side bj- side with the rest of the needles. Between the needles are placed thin plates called sinkers in two rows; in one row the sinkers move freely on an axis; in the other they are all fi.xed to a bar and move with it. The object of the loose ones, or jack-sinkers, is to make loops by pressing the thread down beneath the needles. The other row on the bar, or lead sinkers, is brought do«-n so as to press simultaneously on the hooks of the needles, and press their points dovn into the lit- tle depression so that they ^-ill pass through the loops without catching one way, and take them up when opened and drawn in the contrary direc- tion. The great ingenuity of Lee's invention lies in this arrangement for closing the hook in the needle so that one loop can be dra^-n through an- other. Xo improvement of importance was made in Lee's stocking-frame until 1758. when Jedediah Strutt added a second series of needles, by the use of which it was possible to produce ribbed or seamed knitting. All the earlier machines pro- duced a flat web; but in ISlf! Marc L. Brunei in- vented a circular knitting-machine which pro- duced a tubular web. Power was applied to the knitting-machine by Bailey in 1831. The latch needle was patented by a Frenchman named .landeau as early as 1806. A nindificntion of this needle was patented in the United States by Hibbcrt in 1863. In this needle a hinged latch folds back on the needle, so that the hook may