separated by a wale construction 208 having at least three wales viz a held loop 210 immediately adjacent to one lace hole 200 a held loop 210 immediately adjacent to the neighbouring lace hole 200 and at least one wale of knitted stitches 218 between the two held loops 210 the upper course wise boundary of each hole 200 is preferably defined by a conventional 1 u00d7 1 knit miss knit run on course 216 accordingly the number of stitches defining the upper boundary is n 1 where n is zero or an even number 2 4 6 preferably the yarns used for the run on course 216 are nylon textured or flat polyester yarn or continuous filament in construction in order to ensure reliable press off of the loops on course 202 the same needle is preferably exposed to a pressing off action at two successive feeds thus on a santoni 8 feed machine the needle cams at two adjacent feeds are used to press off stitches and only 6 feeds are used to supply yarn to be knit by using all or some of the technique yarn combinations as described in paragraphs iv to vii above it is possible to produce a weft knitted fabric having a true lace appearance that is stable against run back of the pressed off stitches that form holes 200 by adopting a desired distribution of holes 200 within the fabric.