How did it get so stretchy? plainpicture/Ute Mans
A knitted scarf may seem to stretch when you pull it 鈥 but does it really? A close analysis of knitwear as it鈥檚 pulled and tugged has shown that it is the way the fabric鈥檚 stitches 鈥榮lip鈥 that makes it seem like the material it’s made of聽is stretching.
鈥淵ou can take your grandmother鈥檚 scarf and you can stretch it double the length, but the yarn itself doesn鈥檛 stretch. This is the paradox,鈥 says Frederic Lechenault at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, France.
He and his team used a…
