Abstract: Fine gauge knitting machines utilized in the production of hosiery and comprising needle cylinders three and three-quarter to four inches in diameter and carrying 300 to 469 needles are modified for the production of outerwear garments and the like knitted with relatively large loose loops by replacing the sinker caps thereof by sinker caps which are 0.060 to 0.100 of an inch less in interior diameter than those used in such machines for the production of hosiery, and replacing the sinker throw-in cam and the sinker throw-out cam by cams which differ from those used in the machine for the production of hosiery to use this additional space for sinker movement, by replacing the sinkers by sinkers having bottom legs 0.030 to 0.075 of an inch shorter than those used in corresponding conventional machines for the production of hosiery, and by replacing a stitch cam or cams by those which are 0.038 to 0.