PurlbedJacquard (Fair Isle) › Double-bed jacquard (no floats)
3–4 colours per row in DBJ
Face: up to 4 colours per row, often slightly muddy, with backing grinning through stretched face stitches. Back: a busy multicolour tweed or stripes. Each colour needs its own pair of passes per design row. Every face stitch must stretch over more backing strands, so the face loses clarity.
- Two beds
- Needle selection
Machine types that can knit it
Demo swatch
Drawn for: Single bed (electronic) + ribberApproximate preview worked out from the bed chart, not a photo.The colours are the point here: the preview shows the pattern, and the fabric itself lies flat.
Steps
- Separate the design into colour layers.
- Build the card: for each design row, n colour bands of 2 card rows.
- Bird's-eye backing for balance, or striper for simplicity.
- Knit, changing colours every 2 passes, in a fixed colour order.
The full card
- What it looks like
- Face: up to 4 colours per row, often slightly muddy, with backing grinning through stretched face stitches. Back: a busy multicolour tweed or stripes.
- How it behaves
- Thick and dense; heavier with each colour; elongated.
- How it works
- Each colour needs its own pair of passes per design row. Every face stitch must stretch over more backing strands, so the face loses clarity. 4 colours is the practical limit set by the colour changer.
- Machines
- Ribber plus a 4-colour double-bed changer (KRC). Punch card: a hand-separated card, one card row per colour per pass pair; separation method A always works (each colour twice, elongated); methods B/C reduce elongation but must be planned. Electronic 9xx: KRC auto-separates only 2 colours per row. 3–4 colours need a separation made by hand or by software (AYAB/DAK).
- Parameters
- yarn ≈ 1-ply/2-ply per end for 4 colours (4 ends of 1-ply equivalent); passes per design row = 2 × colours; vertical elongation grows with the colour count (redesign shorter).
- Steps
- 1) Separate the design into colour layers. 2) Build the card: for each design row, n colour bands of 2 card rows. 3) Bird's-eye backing for balance, or striper for simplicity. 4) Knit, changing colours every 2 passes, in a fixed colour order.
- Charting
- Colour key with changer slot numbers (Brother numbers slots right to left). Row colour sequence column (e.g. 1-2-3-4). Separated card preview.
- Limits and common problems
- Grin-through; stitch formation fails if yarn is too thick; changer mis-picks.
Written in our own words from machine manuals, knitting references and swatching. Knit a test swatch before a whole piece.