KNITTING is the art of forming looped fabrics or textures with the use of needles or wires and a single continuous thread. Crochet is au analogous art, differing from knitting in the fact that the separate loops are thrown off and finished successively, whereas in knitting the whole series of loops which go to form one length or round of the fabric are retained on one or more needles while a new series is being formed from them on a separate needle. The origin and history of the art of knitting are referred to under the heading Hosiery, vol. xii. p. 299. The wires, needles, or pins used are of different lengths and gauges, according to the work for which they are intended, and are made either of steel, ivory, bone, or wood. Some are headed, to prevent loops from slipping over their ends, but on these can be woven only flat pieces of work; others are pointed at both ends, and with the use of three or more of these circular webs can be made. The materials used in knitting are specially twisted for the purpose, and consist of twines, threads, cotton, silk, wools, and worsteds, the latter being the most important and largely used substance. Ordinary stockings and socks, which are the staple handknit articles, are worked in “lambswool,” “fingering,” and “wheeling” worsteds respectively, these differing in size and fineness of quality; and for other articles of underclothing and fancy knitting the worsteds most commonly used are “fleecy,” “Berlin,” and “Lady Betty” wool. Shetland wool is a thin hairy undyed and very tenacious and strong worsted, spun in the Shetland Islands from the wool of the native sheep, and very extensively used in the knitting of fine shawls, veils, scarfs, and small articles by the islanders, among whom the industry is of much ...