History of knitting
Knitting is the process of using two or more needles to pull and loop yarn into a series of interconnected loops in order to create a finished garment or fabric. The word is derived from knot, thought to originate from the Dutch verb knutten, similar to the Old English cnyttan, "to knot". Its origins lie in the basic human need for clothing to protect one against the elements. More recently, hand-knitting has become less a necessary skill and more of a hobby.
Origins of knitting
is a technique of producing fabric from a strand of yarn or wool. Unlike weaving, knitting does not require a loom or other large equipment, making it a valuable technique for nomadic and non-agrarian peoples.The oldest knitted artifacts are socks from Egypt, dating from the 11th century. They are a very fine gauge, done with complex colourwork and some have a short row heel, which necessitates the purl stitch. These complexities suggest that knitting is even older than the archeological record can prove.
Earlier pieces having a knitted or crocheted appearance have been shown to be made with other techniques, such as Nålebinding, a technique of making fabric by creating multiple loops with a single needle and thread, much like sewing. Some artefacts have a structure so similar to knitting, for example, 3rd5th century CE Romano-Egyptian toe-socks, that it is thought the "Coptic stitch" of nalbinding is the forerunner to knitting.
Early European knitting
The earliest known knitted items in Europe were made by Muslim knitters employed by Spanish Christian royal families. Their high level of knitting skill can be seen in several items found in the tombs in the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, a royal monastery, near Burgos, Spain. Among them are the knitted cushion covers and gloves found in the tomb of Prince Fernando de la Cerda, who died in 1275. The silk cushion cover was knitted at approximately 20 stitches per inch. It included knitted patterns reflecting the family armoury, as well as the Arabic word baraka in stylized Kufic script. Numerous other knitted garments and accessories, also dating from the mid-13th century, have been found in cathedral treasuries in Spain.There also is a Votic knitted fragment dated to late 13th century excavated in Estonia. This fragment is knitted in a stranded pattern in three colours and was likely part of a mitten cuff. Also, a wool mitten fragment from early 14th century has been found in Siksälä burial in South-Eastern Estonia.
Several paintings from Europe portray the Virgin Mary knitting and date from the 14th century, including Our Lady Knitting by Tommaso da Modena and Visit of the Angel, from the right wing of the Buxtehude Altar, 1400–10, by Master Bertram of Minden.
Archaeological finds from medieval cities all over Europe, such as London, Newcastle, Oslo, Amsterdam, Lübeck, and Tallinn as well as tax lists, prove the spread of knitted goods for everyday use from the 14th century onward. Like many archaeological textiles, most of the finds are only fragments of knitted items so that in most cases their former appearance and use is unknown. One of the exceptions is a 14th or 15th century woollen child's cap from Lübeck, and a cap fragment from beginning of 15th century from Tartu.
Although the purl stitch was used in some of the earliest knitted items in Egypt, its knowledge may have been lost in Europe. The first European purl stitches appear in the mid-16th century, in the red silk stockings in which Eleanora de Toledo, wife of Cosimo de Medici, was buried, and which also include the first lacy patterns made by yarn-overs, but the technique may have been developed slightly earlier. The English Queen Elizabeth I herself favoured silk stockings; these were finer, softer, more decorative and much more expensive than those of wool. Stockings reputed to have belonged to her still exist, demonstrating the high quality of the items specifically knitted for her. During this era the manufacture of stockings was of vast importance to many Britons, who knitted with fine wool and exported their wares. Knitting schools were established as a way of providing an income to the poor. The fashion of the period, requiring men to wear short trunks, made fitted stockings a fashion necessity. Stockings made in England were sent to the Netherlands, Spain and Germany.
Many elaborate designs were developed, such as the cable stitch used on Aran sweaters, which was developed in the early 20th century in Ireland.
Importance in Scottish history
Knitting was such an important occupation among those living on the Scottish Isles during the 17th and 18th centuries that whole families were involved in making sweaters, accessories, socks, stockings, etc. Fair Isle techniques were used to create elaborate colourful patterns. Sweaters were essential garments for the fishermen of these islands because the natural oils within the wool provided some element of protection against the harsh weather encountered while out fishing.Industrial Revolution
The stocking frame or the mechanical knitting machine was invented in 1589 by William Lee, an English clergyman. After receiving a pair of black stockings from William, Queen Elizabeth I ultimately declined to grant him a patent for his invention. However, France's King Henri IV saw the opportunity William's invention provided and offered him financial support. The inventor moved to Rouen where he built a stocking factory. Before long, the French spread the knitting loom throughout Europe. When the device came back to Great Britain, the Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters was incorporated in 1657 in London. Framework knitting was predominantly performed at home, often with the entire family participating.The city of Nottingham, particularly the district known as Lace Market, was a major producer of machine-knitted lace. Leicestershire and neighbouring counties had long had an association with the hosiery industry. This continued particularly growing with the invention of portable circular knitting machines. Machines could be hired and worked from home rather than relying on a large stocking frame or the much slower hand knitting. One manufacturer of these machines was Henry Josiah Griswold, they were often called Griswold knitting machines, the design of this English sock machine originates from the British inventors, Hainsworth and Griswold.
Some framework knitters were among the Luddites, who resisted the transition to factories. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the knitting industry had still not made the transition to factories. With the improvement of steam-powered knitting machines in the mid-nineteenth century, machine knitting increasingly shifted to factories to accommodate the larger machines.
By the mid-nineteenth century, hand knitting was declining as part of the knitting industry but was increasing as a hobby. Printed knitting patterns and yarn were produced for leisure as well as for industrial use by authors such as Jane Gaugain.
1914-1918: Knitting for the war effort
During World War I, men, women, and children knitted large quantities of clothing and accessories to help the war effort on the Allied side, supplementing the troop's uniforms with socks, hats, scarves, sweaters, mufflers, and balaclavas. Knitting and women's magazines along with the Red Cross published pamphlets and patterns specifically for sailors and troops. Popular magazines and songs treated knitting as a craze that had swept over Britain in the effort to support the military forces.1920s: the Russian Civil Wars and China
After the White Russians' defeat in the Civil War, many units retreated into China's Xinjiang and were interned there. As China was about to descend into a civil war of its own, the Russian internees were transported by camel caravans to Eastern China. According to Owen Lattimore, it was then that they passed on the art of knitting to the Chinese caravan men, who had ready supply of camel hair from their animals. In 1926, Lattimore was able to observe camel-pullers "knitting on the march; if they ran out of yarn, they would reach back to the first camel of the file they were leading, pluck a handful of hair from the neck, and roll it in their palms into the beginning of a length of yarn; a weight was attached to this, and given a twist to start it spinning, and the man went on feeding wool into the thread until he had spun enough yarn to continue his knitting." This way the camel men not only provided themselves with warm camel-hair socks, but were able to make knitwear for sale as well.1920s: Fashion
The 1920s saw a vast increase in the popularity of knitwear in much of the western world. Knitwear, especially sweaters/pullovers became an essential part of the new fashions of the age for men, women and children, rather than mostly practical garments often associated with particular occupations. The late teens and early 1920s saw a fashion for knitted neckties. Knitwear was often associated with sport and leisure. Garments often became associated with particular sports; for example, white sweaters/pullers, often with coloured stripes in the collar, became common for tennis and cricket.Fair Isle knitting enjoyed a golden age during the 1920s, reputedly started by the Prince of Wales wearing a Fair Isle pullover sweater to play golf. Both Fair Isle and Argyle styles have since been associated with the sport.
High fashion also embraced knitwear, with Coco Chanel making prominent use of it and Vogue magazine featuring patterns.
Before the 1920s, the majority of commercial knitting in the Western world had centred around production of underwear, socks and hosiery. This vastly expanded as the public taste for knitted fashion did also. Both hand and machine knitting were commercially active on a large scale prior to the Great Depression.
The 1920s saw a continuation in the growth of interest in home/hobby knitting which grew during the First World War. Conditions of trench warfare led to a shortage of socks in particular, and the Allied home front was encouraged to support the troops by knitting. Home knitting grew in popularity, especially as fashion fully embraced knitwear. Companies started, or expanded, to meet the demands of home knitters, producing patterns, yarn, and tools.