Knitting generally requires yarns with good extensibility, moderate strength, smooth surface and low bending rigidity and hence traditionally natural fibres like cotton and wool and synthetic fibres like polyester, nylon and acrylic fibre are mainly used in knitting. Keeping in view the potentials of jute, the cheaper and eco-friendly fibre, in the manufacture of innovative value added products; it was felt to explore the scopes of jute in knitting. The basic ideas behind such explorations covered mainly two aspects, firstly to understand the performance of jute during knitting and secondly to establish the degree of agreement of the knitting constants and factors of the knitted structures with the already established knitting constants and factors for cotton, wool and allied fibres knitted fabrics. Jute yarns have successfully been tried in both flatbed weft knitting and warp knitting. Main products are shawl, sweater, agro-textiles. From the findings of the limited studies carried in different places, it is revealed that jute yarn also obeys the general phenomenon of knitting weft established for cotton and other widely used fibres. Therefore jute has certainly some scope in knitting. Some chemical treatment on jute can enhance the knitting performance of jute yarn. Further blended and speciality jute yarn have more potential for knitting compared to ordinary 100% jute yarn.
Knitting, agro-textile, jute
