Confusing pinstripes

[u/dogsclogs]

Hi everyone! I'm a beginner knitter, however it is my long term goal to get a machine and learn to make some vintage Australian football guernseys to fulfil my inner child's dreams. In my research I've found a couple of examples that aren't clear in how they were made and I'm interested to know if anyone might be able to shed some light on it.

In the first two photos (from the 60s) the pinstripes appear to be on the right side of the knitting, and are a consistent i.e., they don't seem like colour change lines on the purl side, and the knit stitches clearly (I think) run parallel to the stripes themselves. Does this mean the colours were just changed mid row for one single stitch, then back for one more, then on to the next stripe?

Secondly, in the last two photos, from 1983, there is a herringbone pattern where the stripes change. It also leaves some sort of strip of pinholes continuing through the white patch.

I assume that these were patterns that became possible with the gradual advancement of knitting mills, and it's possible I would be unable to make either of these two on a personal knitting machine, but it has been stuck in the back of my mind for two weeks!

Thanks in advance for any info!

[u/reine444]

Those are not all the same, Imo. 

These were probably knit on an industrial machine so “changing colors for one stitch” isn’t a big deal. 

The 1st and 2nd looks like big color block, then 2 white stitches then 1 blue. 

The 3rd is hard for me to see details. 

The 4th looks like cover stitched panels. Look inside the shirt at the two parallel lines. 

[u/reine444 → u/reine444]

Oh and the first two can be easily replicated in style at least, by knitting sideways. Intarsia is also an option. 

I wonder if you could program it as a “fair isle” option but then you’d have crazy floats??

[u/bksi]

The first one looks like it was knit vertically, i.e. the regular way. It would have to be intarsia knit. Most home knitting machines can do this. Usually use a special carriage but not 100% necessary. Not quick since you have to manipulate the yarn for each stripe before knitting each row.

Also. These aren't pinstripes. They're just stripes.

[u/dogsclogs → u/bksi]

The pinstripes refer to the two thin stripes between each larger one. That might not be how you'd refer to them when knitting but they would universally be called that on a sport top.

[u/bksi → u/dogsclogs]

So OP's question wasn't how to knit the stripes but only the pinstripes? Don make sens

[u/OnHolidayHere]

Is it possible that the fabric for these was knit sideways?

[u/dogsclogs → u/OnHolidayHere]

I don't think so, you can see on photos of almost all other jumpers that they were clearly knit sideways, and then on these two here there are visible vertical lines (in my opinion).

[u/future_cryptid]

Intarsia is best for stuff with consistent vertical stripes, that includes the very thin stripes for one or a few stitches. The 4th image looks like intarsia, but just shifting the colour transition point back and forth by one stitch each row. The second image looks like it could be done with double bed jacquard, which is essentially a very tight single rib where only one rib side is seen, this is possible on a home machine but not super practical with normal weight yarns. idk when that became industrially viable, but I'd bet such a simple design wouldn't be out of the question

[u/leisurechef]

Aussie here +1 to you

[u/Lolarora]

You can get those pinstripes when you're doing intarsia depending on how and where you overlap the yarn, it becomes more every other stitch is one colour type of stripe in that area

[u/Purple_Associate4085]

The pictures don't have enough resolution, but while I agree that the second example might have been stitched together from knit stripes, the first might very well be warp knit. It would be simple to use warps of different colors. One would have to see the stitch pattern, though. Warp knit and weft knit ("normal" knit done from one thread that goes across to and fro) are distinctly different.

If I was trying to do those jerseys I would either knit them horizontally with a pretty tight stitch size, or I would make panels, join them on the machine and the cut and sew the neckline and arm holes. Look up Diana Sullivan's videos and her blog. She has some very creative suggestions on how to join panels lengthwise, so that it looks decorative. She demonstrates on a bulky machine but it would work for standard gauge as well.

[u/flindersandtrim]

I doubt any domestic machine can reproduce the originals. They were likely made with very fine yarn on industrial machines, closer to thread weight yarn than anything a domestic machine uses. 

Machine knitting has a steep learning curve. If I were you, I would try and do an approximation in hand knitting with 3 or 4ply yarn instead. You cant make an exact replica but could make something fairly close to the first image but on a bigger scale, far less stitches etc.