Interesting...someone had told me once that "knitting machines" were around in the 16th C. I have no idea what their frame of reference was, but this might have been the sort of machine they were thinking of. Given the instructions for two color knitting here (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22029/22029-h/22029-h.htm) I am guessing you could come up with something that would look similar to the cords in these images.