History of Knitting

Knitting is all about texture, fiber, weight, stitch, and comfort. But, we can't focus on the outcome without knowing the origins of knitting. There are no true known facts about where knitting started, but Richard Rutt, a historian, believes it began in Egypt, somewhere between 500 and 1200 A.D. (History of Knitting). A researcher found a few pieces of knitted fabric in Eastern Syria, that seemed to be made out of plain wool, and it was later discovered that the pieces were a part of a foot sock made with the technique of nailbinding. Nailbinding predates knitting, using a single needle to merge fabrics together with knots, versus loops that knitting uses with two needles.

Nailbinding is believed to have been practiced by the Coptic Christians in Egypt. It was used in the 4th century in order to create socks called Coptic socks, which were divided in two in order to fit shoes such as sandals and thongs (commonly known as flip flops). It is believed that knitting was derived from Egypt because it saved the time and energy that nailbinding took (History of Knitting).

Eventually, knitting moved to Europe, being first introduced in Spain, where the Catholic Churches knit liturgical garments and accessories. Some of the earliest pieces discovered were Arab-knit silk pillows, found in the 11th century in royal monastery tombs in northern Spain (History of Knitting).

There is also the painting of the Knitting Madonnas found in the 1350's' showing Mary knitting. One of the most famous ones is Madonna of Humility by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, which seemed to also introduce the image of women knitting and making it a home hobby.

Knitting came to the United Kingdom in the 16th century, which is when the purl stitch, the second most essential stitch to the knit stitch, was created. It was used for stockings, which were all the rage then, even King Henry the VIII wore them; in fact, he was the first man of royalty to wear knit garments (History of Knitting). Because of his elegance in wearing them, they came in high demand and Queen Elizabeth requested knitting circles of their time, knitting guilds, to be formed.

There are two unique styles that came to be within the UK. Gansey, which was a type of cabling made for seamen's sweaters, and Fair Isle, which began in the Shetland Islands. Fair Isle came to be when a man had fled north in 1588, but faced a shipwreck on his journey. He wintered on the Shetland Islands, teaching the people living there how to knit (History of Knitting).

Eventually came the technology behind knitting. Knitting machines were created, with the first completed in 1589 by an Englishman named William Lee. Knitting came to the American continents during the Industrial Revolution, through European Colonizers. It originally had only 8 needles, imitating that of hand knitting but creating a much more rough fabric. Eventually, Lee improved the machine, giving it 20 needles to the inch and worked better with much finer yarn fibers (History of Knitting).

Knitting was also heavily involved during the Revolutionary war, as well as the two World Wars in order to create garments for soldiers and those fighting. It was primarily women and children who gathered and knit for those fighting. This was an early example of craftivism, which is discussed on another page.