Knitting Method

Abstract

A method of knitting a sleeved garment in which sleeve tubes and a body tube are knitted and joined to one another on the knitting machine, said joining being brought about by means of sleeve extensions knitted integrally with the sleeve and during the knitting of which needles are taken out of action whilst still holding their loops and are subsequently reintroduced to cause portions of wales of the sleeve extensions to lie at an angle to other portions of those extensions.

Description

This invention relates to a method of knitting sleeved garments in such a way that the garments come from the knitting machine with the sleeves attached to the body and require only a small amount of making up to produce the finished garment.

According to one aspect of the invention a method of knitting a sleeved garment comprises knitting three tubes constituting two sleeves and a body for the garment, knitting portions of fabric constituting extensions of the sleeve tubes either before or after knitting the sleeve tubes and, during the knitting of the extensions, taking out of action needles holding loops of the extensions (whilst retaining those loops on the needles) and subsequently re-introducing these needles to knitting action to cause portions of wales of the extensions to lie at an angle to one another, and joining the sleeve extensions, on the knitting machine, to the body tube or an extension thereof.

The method can be carried out on a flat V-bed knitting machine.

According to a further aspect of the invention a knitted, sleeved garment comprises a knitted body tube and two knitted sleeve tubes each sleeve tube having a knitted extension formed in continuation thereof and joined to the body or an extension thereof, there being wales in each sleeve extension which have portions lying at an angle to one another in the finished garment.

The machine used for carrying out the invention need a take down mechanism, or a mechanism serving in place of or as an adjunct to a take down mechanism, which is capable of moving knitted loops away from the needles in such a way that knitting can be carried on over a considerable number of courses on some needles of the machine whilst adjacent needles holding loops of the fabric are maintained out of action. For example, a machine having web-holding sinkers can be used, or a flat V-bed knitting machine having hold-down elements as described in the specification of our German OLS No. 1,956,190 can be used.

Some embodiments of the method are advantageously carried out on machines having two opposed main needle beds and also having further needle beds which are movable with respect to the main needle beds.

In order to cause portions of wales of sleeve extensions to lie at an angle to one another, a number of needles may be taken out of action simultaneously and brought back into action sequentially or a number of needles may be taken out of action sequentially and brought back into action simultaneously. Needles may also be taken out of action sequentially and re-introduced sequentially.

The process of taking needles out of action and re-introducing these needles to cause portions of wales of the sleeve extensions to lie at an angle to one another may be repeated two or more times in the knitting of a sleeve extension. Some of the needles taken out of action may be re-introduced and then taken out of action again and once more re-introduced before the remaining portion of the original number of needles is re-introduced.

The loops carried on the needles taken out of action need not extend across the whole of each sleeve extension. Thus, knitting can be continuous on some of the needles holding loops of the extension.

The sleeve extensions may be joined to the body or body extensions in a number of ways. For example a linking procedure may be used employing a linking attachment on the knitting machine. A chain joining procedure can also be used in which loops of one or two portions to be joined are pulled through loops of the other part held on needles of the machine.

A knitting procedure which can be used to join the sleeve extensions to the body is to knit the garment in a continuous fashion from cuffs to waist or vice versa, the sleeve tubes then being knitted first and the body tube subsequently or vice versa.

The invention will be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGS. 1 to 3 are diagrams each showing a half of a different garment knitted by the method of the invention,

FIGS. 4a to 4d are diagrams illustrating four stages in the knitting of the garment of FIG. 3,

FIGS. 5 to 7 are also diagrams showing a half of a different garment knitted by the method of the invention,

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a further garment knitted by the method of the invention,

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing half of a still further garment knitted by the method of the invention,

FIG. 10 is a cross-section on the line 10--10 of FIG. 11,

FIG. 11 is a plan of a part of a flat V-bed knitting machine for knitting garments according to the invention,

FIG. 12 is a perspective view illustrating part of a linking mechanism mounted on a flat V-bed knitting machine, and

FIG. 13 comprises a series of diagrams illustrating the joining of garment sleeves to a body by a linking procedure.

Where in the drawings a Figure shows half a garment, the half of the garment not shown is identical with that shown.

The garments shown in the drawings may be knitted on flat V-bed knitting machines having hold-down elements as described in the specification of our German OLS No. 1,956,190. A pair of such hold-down elements is carried on a single member which is so mounted that it can be moved to bring the two hold-down elements alternately into an operative position in which the operative element extends beneath active needles of the opposed arrays of latch needles of the knitting machine, the said member being arranged to carry the hold-down elements along the arrays of needles in synchronism with the actuation of the needles and the operative hold-down element being arranged to hold down the knitting so that opened latches move up through the loops on the needles as the needles rise during knitting and are closed by the loops as the needles descend.

The garments of FIGS. 1 and 2 are advantageously knitted on a flat V-bed knitting machine having, in addition to the main needle beds, two pairs of secondary beds containing arrays of needles, the secondary beds being movable longitudinally of the main needle beds of the machine. Each pair of secondary beds contains sufficient needles to hold all the loops of the sleeve of the garment to be knitted on the machine at its widest point.

A flat V-bed knitting machine having movable secondary beds is illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11 of the accompanying drawings. For the sake of simplicity only a part of the main beds of the machine is shown and the number of needles shown in the secondary beds is illustrative only and would normally be greater in an actual machine. The main beds 1 of the machine have tricks containing needles 2 held in place by needle bands 2a. Pairs of opposed secondary beds 3 and 4 are movable longitudinally of the main beds by rotation of a lead screw 5 (only one of which is shown) extending through internally screw-threaded tubes 6 in the beds 3 and 4. The parts of the lead screws engaging beds 3 are screw-threaded in the opposite sense from the parts engaging beds 4 so that the beds 3 and 4 are moved in opposite directions by rotation of the lead screws. Needles 7 held in place by needle bands 7a are located in tricks of the beds 3 and 4.

The needles 2 and 7 of the main and secondary beds are shown pulling loops 8 and it can be seen in FIG. 10 that the needles 7 of the secondary beds cooperate with the knock over bits 9 of the main beds 1 in performing their knitting action.

For the sake of simplicity in the drawing the needles 7 in the secondary beds are shown as simple needles without transfer capability but in the machine which is preferred for knitting the garments of FIGS. 1 and 2 the needles of the secondary beds are capable of transferring loops to needles of an opposing bed. In such a machine, the secondary beds may be equipped with the needles described in British Pat. Specification No. 1,123,630.

A flat V-bed knitting machine having auxiliary needle beds movable relative to the main needle beds is described in U.S. Pat Specification No. 3,167,938 and in British Pat. Specification No. 991,943. Further description of the machine is to be found in the Dubied Knitting Manual published in 1967 by Edouard Dubied & Cie. S.A. of Neuchatel, Switzerland. Mechanisms corresponding to those used in the machine of U.S. Pat. Specification No. 3,167,938 for controlling needle beds and needles can also be used as appropriate in a machine for carrying out the present method.

The garments of FIGS. 1 and 2 can also be knitted on a V-bed knitting machine having arrays of transfer elements capable of picking up all the loops of a garment sleeve from needles of the machine, moving them relative to the needle beds and replacing them on different needles of the main beds. Such transfer elements are described for example in British Pat. Specifications Nos. 910,885 and 448,795.

A flat V-bed knitting machine having transfer elements movable relative to the needle beds of the machine is described in British Pat. Specification No. 934,883. This machine would require modification to increase the number of transfer elements in order to render it capable of carrying out the present method.

The garment of FIG. 8 can be knitted on a V-bed knitting machine having only a single pair of secondary beds containing sufficient needles so that all the loops of the sleeve of a garment at the widest point of the sleeve can be held on needles of the secondary beds. The secondary beds are movable longitudinally of the main beds of the machine.

The knitting of the garment of FIG. 1 will now be described using a knitting machine having two pairs of movable secondary beds containing transfer needles. The garment is made by knitting a tube 10 constituting the body of a garment, a tube 11 constituting a sleeve of the garment and a further tube identical with the tube 11 but located on the opposite side of the body tube 10. The three tubes are knitted in a conventional manner on opposed beds of the machine, the body tube being knitted on the main beds of the machine and the sleeve tubes on separate pairs of opposed secondary beds of the machine.

During knitting of the sleeve 11 of the garment, the sleeves are widened by needle introduction and when the sleeves have been completed to the line 12 and the body has been knitted to the line 13, knitting of the sleeve extension indicated at 14 is commenced. The sleeve extensions 14 are formed by knitting U-shaped courses, the open end of each U facing inwardly towards the body tube. During the knitting of the sleeve extensions needles are taken out of action progressively on each of the secondary beds from the inner edge of the sleeve, which is adjacent the body, towards the outer edge 16 of the sleeve extension. Thus the wales of the extension become longer in the direction from the armpit 19 to the outer edge 16 and portions of the wales of the extension on opposite sides of the line 17 lie at an angle to one another. This is a consequence of progressive holding up and progressive re-introduction of needles whilst retaining loops on them and is a feature of all the sleeve extensions described in this specification. The join along the line 17 is sometimes called a suture join. When the line of loops 17 is held on the needles, the knitting process is carried out in such a way as to bring successive needles back into action in the direction from the outer edge 16 of the extension towards the inner edge until all the needles are again knitting. When the loops along the line 18 are held on the needles, knitting is ceased on the secondary beds and the two pairs of secondary beds are moved inwardly towards the body until the needles of the secondary bed holding the innermost loops of the sleeve are opposite the needles of the main beds holding the outermost loops of the body tube. The needles are then operated to transfer the innermost sleeve loops to the needles holding the outermost body loops so that needles at the armpit 19 hold sleeve loops as well as body loops. The first course of the body extension 15 is then knitted, yarn being supplied by means of two separate yarn carriers to each of the opposite main beds of the machine so that the body extension is formed as two pieces of plain fabric. Each end loop of these pieces of plain fabric is pulled through the doubled sleeve and body loops on the outermost body needles, thus joining each sleeve to the body. The sleeves are then moved inwardly again and the loops which are not innermost on the secondary beds are transferred to the needles holding the outermost body loops. Again a course of the body extension is knitted and again the doubled sleeve and body loops are joined together by pulling one loop through the doubled loops. That is a loop at the end of each course of the body extension is knitted on a needle already carrying a body loop and a sleeve extension loop. The secondary beds are again moved in, further sleeve loops are transferred to needles holding body loops, further body extension courses are knitted and so on producing a sleeve body join along the line 18.

When the neck of the garment is reached, a course of rib may be knitted to join the front and rear body extension pieces together. The loops are then pressed off the needles, and if trimmings have been knitted at the cuffs and waist it is only necessary to cut out and finish the neck of the garment to produce a finished garment.

The garment shown in FIG. 2 is knitted in a similar way to the garment of FIG. 1 except that in taking needles out of action and re-introducing them during knitting of the sleeve extensions, the number of needles taken out of action in each bed is such that some needles at the outer edge of the group of needles on that bed holding loops are never out of action. In addition, some needles at the inner edge of the group of needles on each bed holding loops are taken out of action en bloc before the needles in the central portion of the group are taken out of action and re-introduced sequentially. The inner needles are then re-introduced en bloc. The procedure produces a different shape of sleeve extension from the procedure described with reference to FIG. 1.

The knitting of the garment shown in FIG. 3 is carried out on a flat V-bed knitting machine without secondary beds and without transfer needles but having hold down elements as described in our British Pat. application No. 52942/68. Knitting is commenced at the cuffs (not shown) of sleeves 22. The sleeves are widened by needle introduction until the line 23 is reached. Needles holding loops of wales 25 at the inner edge of each sleeve are then taken out of action en bloc and knitting of sleeve extensions 31 is commenced using U-shaped courses. (It should be noted that the inner edges of the sleeves are located remote from one another on the machine and are thus outermost on the machine). Needles are taken out of action progressively over a central region of each side of the sleeve extension commencing near the inner edge of the sleeve extension and progressing outwardly as shown in FIG. 3. Needles holding loops of wales 24 at the outer edge of each sleeve are arranged to be continuously in action. As is apparent from FIGS. 4a to 4d these needles are innermost on the machine that is they are adjacent the needles holding corresponding loops of the other sleeve extension. When the loops along the line 26 in the sleeve extension are on the needles of the machine, progressive needle re-introduction is commenced starting at the active needles holding loops near the outer edge of the sleeve. When all the needles have once more been brought back into action, the line of loops 27 is on the needles of the machine and needles are again taken out of action progressively in the direction towards the outer edge of the extension until at the line 32 knitting of the sleeves and sleeve extensions of the garment has been completed. Knitting of the body tube extension 33 is now commenced, the needles holding loops of the wales 25 being again brought back into action en bloc. The stages of knitting this garment which have been described so far are illustrated in FIGS. 4a and 4b. FIG. 4a shows diagrammatically the line of the needle beds 30 of a V-bed knitting machine without secondary beds on which the garment is knitted. The two sleeves 22 are shown moving downwardly away from the beds 30 as they are knitted. It should be noted that the edge of each sleeve tube which will be the outer edge in the finished garment is the inner edge during knitting of the sleeve tubes and is therefore located nearer to the corresponding edge of the other sleeve tube than the inner edge of the sleeve. FIG. 4b shows the position when knitting of the sleeve extensions 31 has been completed and the loops along the line 32 are held on needles of the beds 30, the innermost loops A being those which, in the finished garment, will be located adjacent the upper edge of the body extension 33. The loops at the points B on the beds will, in the finished garment, be located in the underarm position in the garment.

The body extension 33 is knitted as two pieces of flat fabric, yarn being supplied by means of a separate yarn carrier to needles of each of the opposite beds of the machine. Knitting is commenced at the neck of the garment by a single course of rib knitting the end loops of the course being pulled through the sleeve loops at the points A. As the extension 33 is knitted the courses are made successively longer and the end loops of each course are knitted through the innermost sleeve loops which remain on the beds. The sleeve loops are successively knitted off the beds until the position shown in FIG. 4c is reached where the last sleeve loops have left the needles and the knitting of the tube 34 constituting the body of the garment is commenced.

Knitting of the body tube 34 is illustrated in FIG. 4d and is carried out by tubular knitting on the two opposed beds of the machine.

After knitting the lower edge of the body, a suitable trimming can be knitted on the waist and following this a few courses of waste yarn before the garment is pressed off the needles of the machine and any necessary finishing at waist and neck is carried out.

The garment of FIG. 3 can also be knitted commencing at the waist of the body, completing the body tube and the body extension and then knitting the sleeve extensions before knitting the sleeves in the direction towards the cuffs. Needles may be taken out of action and re-introduced in the manner described above in connection with knitting this garment in the opposite direction.

The garment of FIG. 5 is knitted in a similar way to the garment of FIG. 3 excpet that the suture lines produced by the taking out and re-introduction of needles extend from the armpit to the outer edge of the garment. That is, the sleeve tubes 37 are knitted first, followed by the sleeve extension 38 which is knitted using U-shaped courses. Suture lines 39 and 40 extend from the armpit to the outer edge of the extension. When the loops along the lines 41 are held on the needles of the opposed beds of the machine, knitting of the body extension 42 comprising flat panels joining the sleeve extensions is commenced. When the body extension 42 has been knitted the garment is completed by knitting the body tube 43. The garment is finished in the same way as the garment of FIG. 3.

The garments of FIGS. 6 and 7 are also knitted in a similar way to the garment of FIG. 3 by knitting the sleeve tubes first, starting at the cuffs and subsequently knitting the body tube in the direction towards the waist. However, in the garment of FIG. 6, the sleeve extensions are formed by knitting a number of beret segments made by taking needles out of action progressively in the direction from the underarm edge of the sleeve towards the outer edge and re-introducing the needles en bloc prior to taking them out of action progressively once more and re-introducing them again en bloc and so on. Sleeve extension 46 of the garment of FIG. 6 is shown as being formed in this way.

The sleeve extension 47 of the garment of FIG. 7 is formed in a similar way of a number of beret segments but the segments extend only over the central region of each side of the sleeve, knitting being continuous on the wales in the region near the outer edge of the sleeve and near the underarm position.

The garments of FIGS. 3 to 7 can also be knitted in the direction starting at the waist of the body and knitting to the top of the body before knitting the sleeve extensions of the sleeves in the direction towards the cuffs.

Instead of producing beret segments in the sleeve extensions by taking needles out of action progressively and re-introducing them en bloc, one can take needles out of action en bloc and re-introduce them progressively.

Instead of joining the sleeve extensions to the body by a knitting procedure as described in relation to the garments of FIGS. 3 to 7, the joins can be made by a linking procedure using a linking mechanism mounted on the knitting machine. This method of making the sleeve-body joins is illustrated in FIG. 13. This machine used in knitting the garment when employing this type of sleeve-body join is a flat V-bed knitting machine having two main beds 80 and 81 (see for example FIG. 13a). The machine also has two pairs of movable secondary beds 83, 84 and 85, 86, mounted in the manner shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 and two linking devices as illustrated in FIG. 12, each arranged for cooperation with needles of one of the main needle beds 80, 81. All the needles of the machine are of a kind able to transfer loops to and accept loops from a needle located in any opposite bed and the needles 66 of the main beds 80 and 81 each have a groove 68 adapted to receive a looper needle 67 as will be described below.

Each looper device comprises a housing 71 movable along a guide rod 72 by a lead screw 73. Within the housing 71 is a conventional reciprocating mechanism for reciprocating the looper needle 67. The housing 71 also carries a conventional feed mechanism (not shown) for feeding yarn 69 to the looper needle 67.

In FIG. 13, which is diagrammatic, the loops shown are purely illustrative and in an actual machine and garment these numbers would be far greater than is shown in FIG. 13.

In making a garment in which the sleeve-body joins are formed by linking, the body, sleeves and sleeve extensions are first knitted, the sleeves and sleeve extensions on needles of movable secondary beds in a flat V-bed knitting machine. The top part of the body tube is formed with two shaped flat panels of fabric so that when the body is finished, loops along the line 32 of FIG. 3 at the front and rear of the garment are held on needles of the opposed main beds of the machine. Similarly, loops along the line 32 of the sleeve extension 31 shown in FIG. 3 are held on opposed secondary beds of the machine. This stage in the knitting procedure is shown in FIG. 13a and the subsequent stages in the present method of carrying out the linking are shown in FIGS. 13b to 13f.

The secondary needle bed 85 is now moved to the right and the secondary needle bed 84 is moved to the left in FIG. 13, each of these needle beds being moved through a distance of one needle pitch. The needles of the secondary beds are now operated to transfer a loop 87 at the inner end of a sleeve extension 31 from bed 83 to an empty needle of bed 84 and to transfer a loop 88 at the inner end of the other sleeve extension 31 from bed 86 to an empty needle of bed 85. The main bed 80 and the secondary beds 85 and 86 are now shogged to the left through one needle pitch as shown in FIG. 13c. In the next traverse of the cam carriage, needles of the main beds and of the secondary beds are operated to transfer the loop 87 to the needle of the main bed 80 carrying an end loop 89 to the body extension 33, and the loop 88 to the needle of the main bed 81 carrying an end loop 90 of the body extension 33.

The linking devices associated with each main bed are next positioned and operated to pass linking threads through the pairs of loops 87, 89, and 88, 90.

The linking is carried out in the following way. The needles carrying the pair of loops to be linked are raised by traversing the cam carriage across the needle beds, the pattern control for the needles being programmed to cause butts of the appropriate needles to be presented for raising by the cams. When the needles have been raised, the looper devices are positioned opposite them and are operated so that each looper needle 67 passes through the two loops on the corresponding needle 66 and engages in the groove 68. Yarn 69 is fed into the hook of the looper needle in the conventional way and the looper needle is withdrawn. The cam carriage is again traversed across the beds causing the raised needles 66 to be retracted thus casting off the loops 87, 89 and 88, 90 which have been joined by the linking thread.

The beds 80, 84 and 86 are now shogged one needle pitch to the right (FIG. 13d) to enable the end loop 93 of one sleeve extension 31 to be transferred to a needle of bed 83 and to enable the end loop 94 of the other sleeve extension to be transferred to a needle of the bed 86. The beds 80, 83 and 85 are now shogged to the right by one needle pitch (FIG. 13e) and the loops 93 and 94 are transferred to needles 66 of the opposite main beds holding end loops 95 and 96 respectively of the body.

The linking devices are now moved to positions opposite the doubled loops and linking of these loops is carried out in the manner described above for loops 87, 89, 88, 90.

The transferring and linking procedure is then carried through again in respect of the new end loops of the body and sleeve extensions and is repeated until the linking of the sleeves to the body has been completed and the body has been cast off.

The garment of FIG. 8 is knitted on a V-bed knitting machine having a pair of opposed main beds and a pair of secondary needle beds movable longitudinally of the main beds. A tube 49 constituting the body of the garment is first knitted on the main beds of the machine. Following the knitting of the body tube, or contemporaneously with the knitting of the body tube, a sleeve tube 50 is knitted on the secondary beds of the machine. A sleeve extension 51 is then knitted on the secondary beds as a continuation of and integral with the sleeve 50 and comprises U-shaped courses on the secondary beds, the open end of each U-shape being at the edge of the sleeve joining the loops of the body tube held on the main needle beds.

In knitting a portion 52 of the sleeve extension immediately adjacent the tubular part 50 of the sleeve, needles are taken out of action progressively in the direction towards the outer edge of the extension. When the line of loops 53 is held on the needles of the secondary beds, all the needles are brought back into action together and the knitting of U-shaped courses to form the sleeve extension 51 is continued on needles holding all the loops of the sleeve wales.

Before the line of loops 53 is formed, the secondary beds are moved to bring the needles holding the sleeve loops at the underarm position C opposite the needles holding the outermost body loops, the needles are operated to place the outermost body loops at the left hand side of the body on the needles of the secondary beds holding the loops at the underarm position. The U-shaped course 53 is then knitted and a single loop on each inner end of the U-shaped course is drawn through the doubled sleeve and body loops. In this way the outermost body loops are removed from the needles of the main bed. The secondary beds are then again moved in by one needle pitch and the next body loops are transferred to needles of the secondary beds at the innermost ends of those beds. A further U-shaped course is knitted on the needles of the secondary beds and the end loops of the course are again drawn through the doubled sleeve body loops. The inwards movement of the secondary beds is continued after the knitting of each U-shaped course and the body loops are thus progressively transferred to the needles of the secondary beds and are knitted off.

Half way across the body the knitting of the extension 51 of the sleeve 50 can be regarded as completed and the knitting of the extension 55 of the sleeve 56 is commenced. This is carried on in the same way as the knitting of the extension 51. The part 57 of the sleeve extension 55 is next knitted by progressively holding up needles from the underarm position to the outermost edge of the extension and then re-introducing the needles once more. The tubular sleeve 56 is then knitted on the needles of the secondary bed using tubular courses, all the body loops having been removed from the needles of the main beds at this stage.

The garment is finished by cutting out and finishing the neck.

The suture formation shown in the garments in the previous Figures can also be used in the garment of FIG. 8.

The sleeves of any of the garments described can be short sleeves and need not extend to the wrist of the wearer.

The sutures used in the sleeve extensions of any of the garments can be Y-shaped sutures as illustrated in the garment of FIG. 9. In knitting the garment shown in FIG. 9 by the same method as described with reference to FIGS. 3, and 4, the sleeve tubes 60 are knitted first in the direction from the lower end of the sleeve and when the loops along the line 61 are held on to needles, needles are progressively taken out of action from the underarm position D towards the outer edge of the garment. However, the needles holding loops of wales 62 at the outer edge are kept continuously in action. When all the needles which are to be taken out of action have ceased to function, needles are progressively re-introduced up to the point 63 after which the needles thus brought back into action are progressively taken out of action again until all the needles previously inactive are again inactive. Needles are then progressively re-introduced into action once more until all the needles are knitting.

A similar procedure is followed to produce the Y-shaped suture 64.

The subsequent knitting of the garment is as described with reference to FIG. 3.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of knitting an integral seamless knitted sleeved garment on a machine having at least two opposed needle beds, said method comprising the steps in either order of:

knitting three tubes constituting respectively two sleeves and a body for the garment side-by-side on said opposed needle beds,

knitting U-shaped courses at the shoulder ends of each of said sleeve tubes, said U-shaped courses opening toward said body tube, to provide extensions of said sleeve tubes at the shoulder ends thereof, and during the knitting of said sleeve extensions taking out of action needles holding loops of the extensions whilst retaining those loops on the needles and subsequently re-introducing those needles into knitting action to cause portions of knitted wales of the extensions to lie at an angle to one another, and

knitting flat front and rear panels opposite one another on said opposed needle beds to provide extensions of said body tube at the upper end thereof, the ends of the courses of said front and rear panels being joined, on the knitting machine, to said sleeve extensions.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein, during knitting of the extensions of the sleeve tubes, a number of needles are taken out of action sequentially and are brought back into action simultaneously.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein, during knitting of the extensions of the sleeve tubes, a number of needles are taken out of action simultaneously and are reintroduced sequentially.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the procedure of taking needles out of action and re-introducing those needles is repeated at least twice during the knitting of each sleeve extension.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein some of the needles taken out of action during knitting of the sleeve extensions are reintroduced and are taken out of action again and once more reintroduced to knitting action before the remaining portion of the needles originally made inactive is reintroduced to knitting action.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein a first step comprises the knitting of a tubular garment body, two tubular sleeves and an extension for each sleeve and a second step comprises joining said sleeve extensions to the body by knitting an extension of the body, said body extension comprising two pieces of flat fabric, one at the front and one at the rear of the body, loops at the ends of courses of these body extensions being knitted on needles each of which already carries, because of stitch transfer, a body extension loop of a previous course and a sleeve extension loop.

7. The method of claim 1 comprising the following steps in the order set out:

knitting of two tubular sleeves,

knitting of a sleeve extension for each sleeve,

knitting of a body extension comprising two pieces of flat fabric, said body extension being knitted integrally with said sleeve extensions, and knitting of a tubular body in continuation of said body extension.

8. The method of claim 1 comprising the following steps in the order set out:

knitting of a tubular body,

knitting of a body extension comprising two pieces of flat fabric,

knitting of two sleeve extensions integrally with said body extension, and

knitting of two tubular sleeves.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein end loops of said U-shaped courses are joined to end loops of wales of said body.

10. The method of knitting a sleeved garment on a knitting machine having at least two opposed main needle beds, two sets of opposed secondary needle beds longitudinally movable with respect to said main needle beds, and a linking device associated with each of said main beds for passing a linking thread through loops on any needle of the associated main bed, said method comprising the steps of:

knitting a body tube for the garment on said main needle beds,

knitting a sleeve tube for the garment on each of said two sets of secondary needle beds,

knitting U-shaped courses on said secondary needle beds at the shoulder end of each of said sleeve tubes, said U-shaped courses opening toward said body tube, to provide extensions of said sleeve tubes at the shoulder ends thereof, and during the knitting of said sleeve extensions taking out of action needles holding loops of the extensions whilst retaining those loops on the needles and subsequently re-introducing those needles into knitting action to cause portions of knitted wales of the extensions to lie at an angle to one another, and

knitting flat front and rear panels opposite one another on said main needle beds to provide extensions of said body tube at the upper end thereof, the ends of the courses of said front and rear panels being joined, on the knitting machine, to said sleeve extensions by a linking procedure in which the sleeve extensions on said secondary beds are moved along relative to the main beds of the knitting machine, loops of said sleeve extensions are placed on the same needles of said main beds as loops of said body extensions and a linking thread is passed through pairs of loops on needles of said main beds.