PurlbedJacquard (Fair Isle) › Relief and blister jacquard
Relief/blister jacquard
Face: one colour's areas puff up (blisters) or sink as reverse stocking stitch. Back: a flatter, tighter layer. Industrial "jacquard relief": one jacquard colour is transferred and knit as reverse jersey on the face, so relief areas cost one colour slot.
- 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.
Steps
- Set up as dbj-solid-backing.
- For the puff colour, knit 2×n passes on the main bed with the ribber slipping; for the backing colour, both beds knit.
- Change colours at the left.
- Swatch first; the relief collapses if the ratio is too low.
The full card
- What it looks like
- Face: one colour's areas puff up (blisters) or sink as reverse stocking stitch. Back: a flatter, tighter layer.
- How it behaves
- Double layer with 3D relief. Blisters come from the front knitting more rows than the back over certain areas, or from one colour knit as reverse jersey (purl) on the face.
- How it works
- Industrial "jacquard relief": one jacquard colour is transferred and knit as reverse jersey on the face, so relief areas cost one colour slot. On a domestic machine, blister comes from a row imbalance. The ribber knits a plain backing in one colour only (solid backing), while the main bed knits one colour for extra passes, so those areas grow longer than the backing and puff [inference from S2 solid-backing and ch2 ottoman principle] [unverified as a published Brother recipe].
- Machines
- KH-821 + ribber; manual ribber setting changes. A colour changer is helpful. Dubied: relief by front-bed-only rows (ripples, ch2) in a contrasting colour gives colour relief, but not a picture.
- Parameters
- relief ratio = front passes : back passes for the puff colour (2:1 to 4:1) [inference]; backing tension tight; blister area ≥4–6 stitches wide [inference].
- Steps
- 1) Set up as dbj-solid-backing. 2) For the puff colour, knit 2×n passes on the main bed with the ribber slipping; for the backing colour, both beds knit. 3) Change colours at the left. 4) Swatch first; the relief collapses if the ratio is too low.
- Charting
- Colour chart plus a relief layer: hatch the puff cells and give the ratio per colour in the pass column ("B ×4, RB slip").
- Limits and common problems
- Puckered rows instead of blisters if the areas are too narrow. Heavy fabric.
Written in our own words from machine manuals, knitting references and swatching. Knit a test swatch before a whole piece.