Abstract: A knitting machine is described in which the elastic thread packages (26) are mounted in a stationary position away from the knitting head (22). This results in reducing the revolving mass and the space necessary to accommodate the revolving mass. Furthermore, the commencement of wind on the package (26) can be left as a tail which is knotted to the free end of a second package thus permitting the machine to run continuously without stopping to change packages. A plurality of like knitting heads (22) is mounted in relatively close proximity in a single knitting head frame (24) in such a manner that chain stitches are fed from a power driven warp beam (12, 16, 20). Each knitting head includes yarn positioning apparatus in which yarn (12) fed to each needle (30) of the knitting head (22) is moved under tension with minimal friction to a position where the needle (30) traps the yarn (12) on its downward stroke. Embodiments of the invention are described.