When faced with an adulthood that offered few options, grinding poverty and marriage to a man who drank too much and came home to wale on his own family or...no beatings.
A ridge or streak rising above the surface, as of cloth; hence, the texture of cloth
In a knitted material, it is one of a series of loops in successive course or formation, made by one needle The series of loops in the fabric support each other and they run lengthwise or vertical in the goods The number of wales per inch, which are counted across the sample in the same manner as is done when counting the threads per inch in a woven cloth, is a measure of the fineness or coarseness of the fabric
To choose; to select; specifically (Mining), to pick out the refuse of (coal) by hand, in order to clean it
Parallel lines that appear when a weaving pattern is repeated For twills, the wale is a set of diagonal lines which are very apparent if the warp and weft are two different colors For corduroy, the wales are the "bumps" in the fabric
In knit fabrics, a column of loops lying lengthwise in the fabric The number of wales per inch is a measure of the fabric's fineness In woven fabrics, one of a series of ribs or cords, running either warp wise or filling wise