KNITTING

Research project

HISTORY

The history of knitting is quite a mystery, guessed at from

fragments kept in museums around the world. Knitting is a process

using wool, silk, and other fibres that decay rapidly, even under

perfect conditions therefore making it extremely hard to date it

accurately.

There are many sites and books on the history of knitting, many of

them refer to knitting as a fairly knew craft. On carrying out my

research I have found others to contradict this theory.

There is the idea that knitting may

be connected to the ancient skill

of knotting fishing nets. The

similarity in spelling is tempting

enough. The historical view is that

knitting was introduced by

Arabian seafarers sailing and

trading in the Middle East and the

Mediterranean. This would tie in

well with the next theory on how

knitting travelled throughout the

world.

THEORIES

Many textile historians commonly

trace hand-knitting back to Dura

Europos in the Middle East around

200 AD. Around 600 AD it is said

to have travelled with the wool

trade to Europe, where it was

quickly adopted and spread to the

colonized world.

THE OLD WAY

How to make a fishing net

(Doing the knot)

http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=unc2m4s_6Z8

One view, expressed by The

Columbia Encyclopaedia says that

knitting was unknown in Europe

before the 15th, but throughout

the world, including Europe,

archaeologists have unearthed

“knitted” articles from various

cultures in ancient times that

don’t match cleanly with this

timeline.

THEORIES

It has also been thought that the

Spanish spread hand-knitting to

areas of Central and South

America, knitted items in these

regions have been discovered

dating to around 1100 BC, which

far predates the arrival of the

Spanish, and the articles found in

the Middle East and Egypt. Also,

knitted items from these areas

have had native patterns and

colours of their ancient traditions

HISTORY OF SP INNING AND KNITT INGT E X T I L E T I M E L I N E F O R A N C I E N T H I S T O R Y

Very interesting timeline found at The New World Encyclopaedia site:

c. 8000 B.C.E. – Evidence of flax cultivation in the Near East.

c. 6500 B.C.E. – Approximate date of Naalebinding examples found in Nehal Hemar cave, Israel. This

technique, which uses short separate lengths of thread, predated the invention of spinning (with its continuous

lengths of thread) and requires that all of the as-yet unused thread be pulled through the loop in the sewn

material. This requires much greater skill than knitting in order to create a fine product.

c. 6000 B.C.E. – Evidence of woven textiles used to wrap the dead at Çatalhöyük in Anatolia.

c. 5000 B.C.E. – Production of linen cloth in Ancient Egypt, along with other bast fibers including rush, reed,

palm, and papyrus.

4200 B.C.E. – Date of Mesolithic examples of Naalebinding found in Denmark, marking spread of technology to

Northern Europe.

c. 3000 B.C.E. – Breeding of domesticated sheep with a wooly fleece rather than hair in the Near East.

200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. – Approximate date of earliest evidence of “Needle Knitting” in Peru, a form of

Naalebinding that preceded local contact with the Spanish.

EARLY EXAMPLES?

British Victoria and Albert Museum. Claim

these are the oldest knitted article in their

collection and date to Coptic Egypt in the 3rd

to 5th c. AD but many historians claim they

are not “true” knitting but are made by a

craft called nalbinding which is often talked

about as the predecessor to knitting and

crochet.

Often mentioned as Viking knitting it was

in fact also a technique also used by the

Romans.

They look very much like crossed-stitch or

twisted-stitch knitting

The oldest example of

socks I found were 'Coptic

socks' from Egypt, dating to

around the year 1000 CE.

Many of them have

blessings knitted into them

in decorative Arabic script

or symbols to ward off evil.

FIRST TRUE EXAMPLE

SUMMARY IN BRIEF

From the Elizabethan period in

Britain, knitting history is easier

to determine. The development

of knitting was driven by the

fashion of the time.

As we approached more modern

times with the industrial

revolution and the two world

wars, the history of knitting,

particularly in Britain, is better

documented.

AND THEN THERE WAS WOOL

The story of wool began before recorded

history when primitive man first clothed himself

in the woolly skins, of the wild sheep he killed

for food.

Man soon realized that to kill sheep for its meat

alone was a waste of food and material. And

once he became a shepherd with the help of his

friend the dog (probably the only animal to be

domesticated before the sheep) he soon devised

a method of producing clothing from the fleece.

The art of spinning wool into yarn developed

about 4000 B.C. and encouraged trade among

the nations in the region of the Mediterranean

Sea. 

IN THE BEGINNING

SPINNING INTO THE REVOLUTION

After the art of spinning was

developed the loom was invented for

weaving spun wool. Over time both of

these systems were improved upon

and used for thousands of years.

The growth or the British wool

industry fluctuated from around 55BC

until the industrial revolution in the

18th century, due to multiple invasions

and political strife.

The older industries in such areas as

East Anglia, where opposition had been

most bitter, declined and never

recovered.

They were overtaken by Yorkshire

where machinery was more readily

accepted. The younger industry jumped

ahead and never lost its lead.

Other important manufacturing centres

developed in Scotland, famed for its

tweeds; and in the West Country which

specialized in production of high quality

woven carpets. These are the industry's

we recognise today.

MACHINERY WINS THE DAY

O O R W O O L I E , Y O U R W O O L I E , A’ B O D Y ’ S W O O L I E

SHEARING: Once a year, usually in the warmer months, sheep are

gathered for shearing. A professionally trained shearer is able to

shear one sheep in less than two minutes - 250 sheep in one day.

GRADING: Assessing, by eye and touch, each individual fleece

and placing into groups of the same type and quality, ready for sale

by auction.

AUCTION: The Wool Board holds regular auctions throughout the

year at its Bradford headquarters. The wool is sold electronically and

bidding is in pence and half pence per kilo.

SCOURING: Washing the wool to remove the grease and dirt.

MORE WOOLIE

CARDING: Turning clean, wools from staple to sliver form and

separating the fibres.

COMBING: Straightening long fibres and removing the shorter ones.

SPINNING: Pulling out the fibres and adding twist to make a

continuous, strong thread.

WEAVING: Creating cloth from yarn. One set of threads is interlaced

with another set which are lying in the opposite direction.

DYEING: Adding colour between any of the stages in wool processing.

Copyright © 2006 British Wool Marketing Board

CAN I HAVE ONE?

ORIGINS: The Cheviot Sheep Society was

founded in 1890 but it is reported there have

been small, hardy white sheep running in the

Cheviot Hills in the Scottish Borders since

records began.

CHARACTERISTICS: A white-faced hill

sheep, with a distinctive ‘ruff’ behind the ears

and crisp, white, lustrous wool. The rams can

have horns.

LOCATION: Cheviot Hills, Southern

Scotland, Northumberland, Northern England

and South Wales.

MAIN USES: Carpets, tweed cloth,

knitwear, blankets.

Cheviot

ORIGINS: Takes its name from the Romney

Marsh area of South East England, where this

breed has been kept since the 13th century.

CHARACTERISTICS: A hardy, large-framed

lowland sheep, well adapted to tight grazing

and bleak conditions. It has a broad white

face and a woolly ‘top knot’ and heavy white

fleece which contains some lustre.

LOCATION: Mostly in South East England.

MAIN USES: Versatile because of its

characteristics and used in knitwear, blankets

and carpets, depending on its fineness.

WHY NOT?

Romney

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Straight needles: are generally used for

flat knitting — knitting on the right side,

and then turning and knitting on the wrong

side.

Circular needles: are simply a pair of

straight knitting needle tips joined by a

flexible cable. You can use a circular needle

to knit in the round — knitting in a

continuous, spiral-like fashion without

turning your work.

Double-pointed needles: have a point

at each end and are sold in sets of four or

five needles. They work the same way as a

circular needle — in rounds.