Purlbed

Tuck and slip › Guilloché, nopps and trellis

Nopped and dotted nopp fabrics

Small round bumps (nopps) scattered on a smooth fabric, in one colour or as dots of a second colour. On the rear bed the K/M cams are at ½ and the tucking cams at 1, so high-butt needles tuck for several rows and low butts miss, while the front bed keeps knitting.

Machine types that can knit it

Demo swatch

Drawn for: Double-bed hand flat (V-bed)
Approximate preview worked out from the bed chart, not a photo.
Bed chart
15101520253035→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←→←Front bedBoth beds (double jersey)TuckSlip1 square = 1 stitch × 1 row · read from the bottom · Hand flat (V-bed), 36 needles, half pitch
Needle notation, first steps
1. Rows 1–4: knit 4 rowsBed-selected motif (front 18 /both 18)tuck 18 · slip 18carriage →backfront2. Rows 5–6: knit 2 rowsDouble jersey (all needles)carriage →backfront3. Rows 7–10: knit 4 rowsBed-selected motif (front 18 /both 18)tuck 18 · slip 18carriage →backfront4. Rows 11–12: knit 2 rowsDouble jersey (all needles)carriage →backfrontShowing needles L12–R12 of 36; repeat across the working area.

Carriage settings on a Dubied

Nopped fabric
Rear
The front bed set-out does not matter.
  1. rearfront½½111100
    1. Knit 4 rows.
  2. rearfront1111
    2. Knit 2 rows. Repeat from the first setting.
Nopps can be racked: after the 2 rows of setting 2, rack 1 needle left, then right, and so on.Front bed tension 1 or 2 divisions looser than the back bed.
Dotted nopps
RearFront
  1. rearfront½½111100
    1. Knit 2 rows, first colour.
  2. rearfront½½½½1100
    2. Knit 2 rows, second colour.
  3. rearfront½½111100
    3. Knit 2 rows, first colour.
  4. rearfront1111
    4. Knit 2 rows, first colour. Repeat from the first setting.
How to read the cross
  • The four quarters are the carriage: top rear bed, bottom front bed, left moving left, right moving right.
  • Corners, knit/miss cam: 1 knits; ½ knits on high butts only and misses low butts; 0 is out of work.
  • Diamond, tucking cam: 0 no tuck; ½ low butts tuck, high butts knit; 1 all needles tuck. An empty diamond is all 0.
  • Numbers on the line are tension dials, 0 tightest to 20 loosest. A + means looser than your usual size.
  • Set-out: long tick high butt, short tick low butt, dot out of action.
Racking handle: up moves the rear bed left, down moves it right, up to 6 notches. Rack only with the carriage clear of the needles.

Steps

  1. Set out the rear in high and low butts.
  2. Set the cams, 4 rows.
  3. Set the cams, 2 rows.
  4. Repeat. Rack 1 needle left, then right, after step 3 to move the bumps.

The full card

What it looks like
Small round bumps (nopps) scattered on a smooth fabric, in one colour or as dots of a second colour.
How it behaves
Raised bumps on the surface.
How it works
On the rear bed the K/M cams are at ½ and the tucking cams at 1, so high-butt needles tuck for several rows and low butts miss, while the front bed keeps knitting. The tucks gather into a bump, and 2 rows of rib clear them [inference on how the cams combine].
Machines
Dubied with high and low butts.
Parameters
Nopped: 4 rows and 2 rows. Dotted: four settings of 2 rows each. Front tension 1 or 2 looser than rear.
Steps
1) Set out the rear in high and low butts. 2) Set the cams, 4 rows. 3) Set the cams, 2 rows. 4) Repeat. Rack 1 needle left, then right, after step 3 to move the bumps.
Charting
Bed chart with tuck cells on the high-butt needles.
Limits and common problems
Front tension too tight stops the bumps from forming. Set-out on the front does not matter for nopped, but does for dotted.
Combines with
guilloche-single-bed, trellis-fabric, racked-cardigan.
Pieces and assembly
Textured panels, accent bands.

Written in our own words from machine manuals, knitting references and swatching. Knit a test swatch before a whole piece.

Related techniques