21 to the needle 32 the friction of the yarn 21 on the yarn storage drum 13 can be regulated by means of the continuously adjustable yarn brake device 23 and can be matched to the yarn consumption and also to the yarn tension corresponding to the knitting conditions the wrap of the yarn 21 undergoes a forwarding action in the yarn takeup region 26 due to the shallow frustroconical construction since the friction increases with increasing yarn tension according to the capstan principle and the yarn 21 tends to move towards the larger diameter of the yarn takeup region 26 when the yarn tension slackens on the contrary the friction diminishes as does the amount forwarded so that the amount of yarn is matched to the consumption requirement as soon as the yarn 21 leaves the yarn takeup region 26 and passes over to the yarn storage region 29 thus no excessive delivery of yarn is to be expected in this region the yarn storage region 29 which also has the function of an equalizing cylinder at its rotational speed which is equally high as that of the yarn takeup region 26 has just the function of slightly reducing the stresses arising on the yarn takeup region 26 this is possible because the yarn storage region 29 at its.