Abbreviations, Symbols or Expressions for Basic Machine Knitting

It would be nice if there was a universal standard machine knitting abbreviations list that would be applicable to all knitting machines.  However, this is not the case.  Each variety of knitting machine, each designer and each knitting machine publication has their own favorite set of abbreviations and symbols.  Fortunately, most lists are very comparable, and usually each magazine or publication includes a page of abbreviations that are used within their media.

And here we go again:  I’m going to give you another set of abbreviations that I use when drafting knitting instruction patterns for the fashion industry or my cottage industry students and training programs.  I will not include all the common abbreviations - or conversions between metric and English systems in this article,  but I will include those that I frequently use, or, perhaps some “expressions” unique to production terms that you may not be familiar with.

I have included a category on this web site for knitting patterns that I have written for training purposes in the field of machine knitting that have been popular items for gifts and for sale.  Hand knitters are searching for these basic patterns as well.  Therefore, I am converting my machine knit patterns into hand knitting patterns and terminology. I will post them as they are completed.

Instructional patterns often get 'too wordy' and take up too much space, so it is a common practice to use abbreviations for the common terms used in pattern writing.  The following is a table of machine knitting terms that I use in knitting machine patterns that I draft for my cottage industry training programs.

Also see Conversions Made Simple by Jeannie Merritt ~ A Three part Series of knitting machine knitting and hand knitting terminology.   It is a comparision chart of defining hand knit terms and abbreviations with its translation into machine knit terms.  This series can be found in Inknitters Magazine starting with Summer 2005, Vol.5 No.17. Part 2 is in Fall 2005 and Part 3 in Winter 2005.   Order a subscription of the magazine directly from Inknitters  or get a single magazine at a Barnes & Nobles Book Store near you.