This canvaswork stitch consists of alternating columns of slanted stitches.  It resembles knitting worked in stocking stitch, hence the name.

We have worked this stitch over four horizontal and one vertical thread which gives a steep slanted angle.  For a version worked over two horizontal threads and one vertical see Elizabethan knitting stitch; for a smaller version worked over a single horizontal and a single vertical see reversed tent stitch.

The stitch can also be worked in diagonal lines.

There is a visually similar stitch with a different working method (each pair of slanting parts are both worked before moving onto the next pair) called Soumak stitch which will feature in a future RSN Stitch Bank release.  The fact that the stiches are visually similar has meant that some authors either use the names interchangeably or have reversed them, hence giving Soumak stitch as an alternative name here.

The V&A Museum holds an ecclesiastical piece from the 14th or 15th century with the background and some of the figures worked in green silk knitting stitch, although it is not clear whether it is this version or Soumak stitch.

Knitting stitch features in Therese de Dillmont’s 1886 Encyclopedia of Needlework where she indicates it is used for reproductions of ‘Sumac rugs’.