early knitting history

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HISTORY

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THE ART OF KNITTING

In the begining.....

Weaving, by a very long time, is the earliest form of fabric making

Fabric pieces, that look like knitting, and are made of an interlooped yarn, can be dated as early as 256AD
The fabric is thought to have been made by using a darning-type needle, and a process known as nalbinding
It is generally accepted that true knitting developed from nalbinding sometime between AD500 and 1200

The earliest pieces of true hand knitting, now known to us, come from Islamic Egypt
There is no conclusive prove as to whether Egypt was or was not the birthplace of knitting,
Socks, are the earliest knitted garments, that have been found
Evidence suggests that tubular, plain knitting was the first form of knitting
It has not been established just how many needles were used at this time
But, it is known that by 1655 English stockings were knitted on four needles
It is also difficult to establish when two needle, flat knitting was first done
But by the 19C it was common place, and seamed garments were being made

The earliest purl stitches were found on stockings dated 1562 (latest)
These stockings are now in the Palazzo Pitti, in Florence
Purl or'pearl' stitches were originally used as decorative stitches,
to imitate damask fabric for example, not for ribs or welts

In England caps seem to have been the first items to be knitted in large quantities,
Coventry cappers can be traced back to the 13C
In 1488 in England, an Act was passed, controlling the price of knitted caps
For a woollen cap the price was set at two shillings and eight pence, (the equivilent of 14p today)
Stockings were the next major product
By 1600 England was the biggest producer of stockings,
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603), English handknitted worsted stockings
were exported all over the world.

It took a long time for knitted fabric to become popular
Most people continued to wear stockings cut from woven fabric
It is thought that children were the only wearers of knitted stockings during the first half of the century
Guilds of Knitters were formed on the continent, but not in Britain,
Each guild had it's own Patron Saint.
St Lucy, St Ursula, St Sebastian, St Martin, and St Micheal the Archangel, were all patron saints of assorted knitting guilds.
Potential Master-Knitters studied for three years to learn their craft,
A further three years was spent as a journeyman
The final Masterpiece would be a carpet or a pair of beautifully knitted eclesiastical gloves or an elaborate silk waistcoat.
The knitted carpets created are amongst the most interesting examples of handkniting which survive today
1527 saw the founding in Paris of the Cap-knitter's Guild under the patronage of St. Fiacra,
who, according to the 'Patron Saints Index', is also the Patron Saint of gardening.
in 1545 some fragments of knitted fabric were found on the sunken 'Mary Rose',
these provide evidence that by this date, knitters had an knowledge of shaping,
and also that items other than hats and stockings were being knitted
An English Act, dated 1571, made the wearing of caps on Sundays and Holy Days compulsary,
disregarding this order brought a fine of three shillings and four pence (17p)

In October 1591 in the Greyfriars building, in city of Lincoln England, (now the city library),
one of the earliest knitting schools was set up.
Children and young people were taught the art of hand-knitting,
By the end of the 16C handknitting was firmly established across the whole of Europe

early machine knitting

The stocking-knitting-frame was invented in or around 1598 by William Lee, an Englishman born in Nottingham,
Machine-made stockings soon replaced caps as the most popular commercial product
During the 17C, English machine-made stockings became particularly desirable for their good quality and strong design
However, machine knitting was very slow to take off.
It did not have any really significant effect on the handknitting industry until about 1800, nearly 200 years later.

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