[니들베드의 길이방향을 따라 일정한 피치로 나란하게 형성되는 복수의 니들홈에 각각 수용되는 복수의 편침,]
The present invention is a flatbed knitting machine provided with: at least a pair of front and rear needle beds disposed so as to face each other across a needle bed gap; a plurality of knitting needles respectively housed in a plurality of needle grooves arranged in parallel at a constant pitch along a longitudinal direction of the needle beds; a carriage configured to reciprocate along the longitudinal direction of the needle beds; a cam system mounted on the carriage and configured to make the knitting needles perform knitting operation by driving the knitting needles in a direction of advancing to and retracting from the needle bed gap; and a needle selection mechanism mounted on the carriage and configured to select the knitting needle for the knitting operation, wherein each of the knitting needles including: a select jack having a selection butt configured to receive action from the cam system, and being guided to various positions including a B-position corresponding to a base-state position, an H-position corresponding to an intermediate position and being arranged closer to the needle bed gap in a direction of advancing to the needle bed gap than the B-position, and an A-position corresponding to an advancing position, thereby various types of knitting operation being allowed in a selectable manner to be performed by the cam system with the knitting needles, according to difference in press received by the selection butt from the cam system in each of the positions; and a selector driven to pass through one of a base path in a case of the knitting needle not selected, an intermediate path in a case of the knitting needle selected and an advancing path, corresponding to a selection state of the knitting needle by the needle selection mechanism, the selector configured to guide the select jack to the H-position or the A-position by engagement with the select jack at a time of the selector passing through the intermediate path or the advancing path respectively, and the needle selection mechanism including a selector drive cam configured to move the selector along the previously set path so as to guide the select jack by the engagement with the selector, characterized in that the flatbed knitting machine further comprising: an entry-side needle selection mechanism configured to select the knitting needle for a first half of the knitting operation with the knitting needle advancing to the needle bed gap, in an entry side of the cam system; an intermediate needle selection mechanism configured to select the knitting needle for a second half of the knitting operation with the knitting needle retracting from the needle bed gap, in an intermediate position of the cam system; and a pressing cam configured to press the select jack or the selector in a direction to sink into the needle groove, wherein the engagement of the select jack with the selector being switched by the press applied by the pressing cam, in between a first stage of the select jack in the B-position engages with the selector and a second stage of the select jack in the H-position or the A-position engages with the selector, and the intermediate needle selection mechanism is provided with a front position arranged closer to the needle bed gap in the direction of advancing to the needle bed gap than the A-position as a position for the select jack to be guided in the engagement in the second stage.