What is Float Stitch/Tuck Stitch? | Successive Tucks and Floats on theSame Rib Needle

Float Stitch

A float stitch or welt stitch (Fig.A) is composed of a held loop, one or more float loops and knitted loops. It is produced when a needle (M) holding its old loop fails to receive the new yarn that passes, as a float loop, to the back of the needle and to the reverse side of the resultant stitch, joining together the two nearest needle loops knitted from it.

Fig.A

In Fig.B, the float stitch shows the missed yarn floating freely on the reverse side of the held loop. (This is the technical back of single-jersey structures but is the inside of rib and interlock structures.) The float extends from the base of one knitted or tucked loop to the next, and is notated either as an empty square or as a bypassed point. It is assumed that the held loop extends into the courses above until a knitted loop is indicated in that wale.

Fig.B

A single float stitch has the appearance of a U-shape on the reverse of the stitch. Structures incorporating float stitches tend to exhibit faint horizontal lines. Float stitch fabrics are narrower than equivalent all-knit fabrics because the wales are drawn closer together by the floats, thus reducing width-wise elasticity and improving fabric stability.

The Tuck Stitch
A tuck stitch is composed of a held loop, one or more tuck loops and knitted loops. It is produced when a needle holding its loop also receives the new loop, which becomes a tuck loop because it is not intermeshed through the old loop but is tucked in behind it on the reverse side of the stitch(Fig.C). Its side limbs are therefore not restricted at their feet by the head of an old loop, so they can open outwards towards the two adjoining needle loops formed in the same course. The tuck loop thus assumes an inverted V or U-shaped configuration. The yarn passes from the sinker loops to the head that is intermeshed with the new loop of a course above it, so that the head of the tuck is on the reverse of the stitch.

Fig.C

The tuck loop configuration can be produced by two different knitting sequences:

1 By commencing knitting on a previously empty needle. As the needle was previously empty, there will be no loop in the wale to restrict the feet of the first loop to be knitted and, in fact, even the second loop tends to be wider than normal. The effect is clearly visible in the starting course of a welt. By introducing rib needles on a selective basis, an open-work pattern may be produced on a plain knit base.

2 By holding the old loop and then accumulating one or more new loops in the needle hook. Each new loop becomes a tuck loop as it and the held loop are knocked-over together at a later knitting cycle and a new loop is intermeshed with them. This is the standard method of producing a tuck stitch in weft knitting.

Successive Tucks and Floats on the Same Rib Needle

Successive tucks on the same needle are placed on top of each other at the back of the head of the held loop and each, in turn, assumes a straighter and more horizontal appearance and theoretically requires less yarn. Under normal conditions, up to four successive tucks can be accumulated before tension causes yarn rupture or needle damage. The limit is affected by machine design, needle hook size, yarn count, elasticity and fabric take-down tension (Fig.D). 

Fig.D :Successive tucks and floats on the same rib needle.