Knitted Fabric Architecture — Wool Loop Geometry at 4:1
11,875.54 ¥
A hand-knitted merino wool swatch photographed at 4:1 macro — the individual wool fibre’s scale structure visible on each filament, the knit loop geometry showing the interlocking yarn paths of the stocking stitch pattern.
Description
Knitted fabric at 4:1 macro reveals the fundamental loop architecture of the stitch — each stitch is a loop of yarn that is drawn through the previous row’s loop, creating the characteristic elastic fabric structure. The merino wool yarn used in this image is composed of approximately 20 individual wool fibres per thread, each fibre approximately 18 microns in diameter (superfine merino specification). At 4:1 reproduction, the individual wool fibres within each yarn are resolved as distinct threads, and the scale structure of the merino wool cuticle is visible as a surface texture on each fibre — the overlapping scale edges creating the characteristic micro-serration that contributes to wool’s felting behaviour. The loop geometry of the stocking stitch pattern — knit stitches on the face, purl stitches on the reverse — is visible in the interlocking path of the yarn through successive rows, the structure’s three-dimensional organisation communicated by the shadow in the loop underpasses.
