Patent ID: 6658899
Filing Date: 2003-12-09
Classification: D04B

Abstract:
A method of knitting knitwear, said knitwear comprising a front part having a front body and right and left front sleeves and a back part having a back body and right and left back sleeves using a flat knitting machine, said flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair of first and second needle beds, which are extended laterally and confront each other in back and front and at least either of which can be racked laterally to transfer stitches between the needle beds, wherein the front part of the knitwear is associated with the first needle bed and the back part of the knitwear is associated with the second needle bed so that the body and sleeves of the front part and the body and sleeves of the back part are joined at knitting-widthwise ends to form a tubular body and wherein the body and sleeves of the front part and the body and sleeves of the back part are knitted up to underarms of the knitwear and then are joined together from the underarms to shoulders of the knitwear, and stitches of the body and sleeves of the front part and the body and sleeves of the back part are laid over each other in sequence so that the tubular body can gradually decrease in diameter, wherein a neckline is knitted in the following steps:a) from a front neckline forming starting point, from which the front body is forked into a right front body and a left front body, knitting the right front body, a right sleeve formed by the right front sleeve and the right rear sleeve, the back body, a left sleeve by the left front sleeve and the left rear sleeve and the left front body, respectively, and, then, after a yarn feeder is reversed in direction at the front neckline, knitting the left front body, the left sleeve, the back body, the right sleeve and the right front body, respectively, in a shuttle knitting, during which stitches around the front neckline are sequentially put into inoperative states and simultaneously the stitches of the sleeves are shifted toward the bodies and are laid over the stitches of the bodies, one after another, so as to decrease a diameter of the tubular body; b) knitting the left front body and the right front body, during which the stitches around the front neckline are sequentially removed from the knitting so as to be put into inoperative states and also while the stitches of the back sleeves are fed from outside to the front needle bed to keep balance between the knitting widths of the front and back fabrics at sleeve portions thereof retained on the first and second needle beds, the stitches of the front sleeves are shifted toward the front body and laid over the stitches of the front body; c) while the stitches around the front neckline are sequentially removed from the knitting so as to be put into inoperative states is continuously performed, the knitting of only the right front body and the left front body is performed, during which while widening stitches are formed, the stitches of the right front body and the stitches of the left front body are shifted toward the sleeves, so as to allow the stitches of the front bodies to be laid over the stitches of the front sleeves which then can be laid over the stitches of the back sleeves as were fed to the first needle bed in the step b); and d) after shoulder portions of the back body and extended portions provided on tops of sleeve caps of the back sleeves are knitted in the order of the right back sleeve, the back body and the left back sleeve, reversing the yarn feeder in direction to knit the left back sleeve, the back body and the right back sleeve in reverse order in shuttle knitting, during which the fabrics at the extended portions are fed toward the back body so as to allow the stitches at side ends of the sleeves and the stitches at side ends of the back body to be laid over each other and simultaneously the stitches of the front body at side ends thereof adjacent to the sleeves are fed to the second needle bed so as to be sequentially laid over the stitches at the side ends of the sleeves, whereby the front body and the back body are joined together across the extended portions of the sleeves.