The History of Knitting

Early origins of knitting
The origins of knitting as we know it today are quite obscure.  There are few early examples do to the fragile nature of fibres.  However, textile historians commonly trace hand-knitting back to 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.  However, there are a few snags in the story of knitting which add complexity to the issue. For one, some claim a Scotsman, St Fiacra invented knitting and passed it along to France.  This is disputed by others who claim that this legend was attached to him later as he was adopted as the patron saint of cap-makers after the founding of the first knitting guild in France.  Another view holds that knitting was entirely unknown in Europe before the 15th   century when it first started to appear in Spain and Italy. A third factor is that throughout the world, including Europe, archaeologists have unearthed “knitted” articles from various cultures in ancient times that do not coincide cleanly with either of these timelines.
Some of the confusion may spring from a genre of similar techniques used to make fabric from looped yarn called “sprang”, which has been found in the Ancient Middle East, Ancient Egypt, Pre-Columbian South America, Neolithic Scandinavia, North America, Africa, New Zealand, and depicted on vases of Ancient Greece.  These techniques are similar to the many methods still being used to “cast on” and another method used to “bind off” or to join two pieces, the “grafting” stitch.  There is much debate among historians concerning the relationship of such techniques to knitting, and whether artefacts made with these techniques should be considered as true knitting.   For example, take a pair of red sandal socks in the V&A Museum.  These are the oldest knitted article in their collection and date to Coptic Egypt in the 3rd to 5th c. AD.  Many historians claim they are not “true” knitting because the stitches are twisted. 
Smilarly, although it is generally accepted that Spaniards 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 often feature native patterns and colours, indicating embedded traditions.   A looped technique was even found being used to make nets for fishing in the early 19th century.  The first knitting guild was established in France in honour of St. Fiacra, in 620 AD.  Knitting guilds were tremendously popular in Europe in the Middle Ages. Knitters had to serve as apprentices for six years before they could enter a guild.   Of course knitting guilds were for men only but knitting became a cottage industry as well, and as time went on people came to rely increasingly on hand-knitting as an income.
In Europe, knitting evolved to into many regional specialties; Austria and Germany produced heavily cabled and knotted fabrics, embroidered with brightly coloured patterns. In The Netherlands, naturalistic patterns were worked on fabric in reverse stocking stitch, and several Dutch knitters went to Denmark to teach Danish women the Dutch skills.  The British Isles are infamous for their heavily textured ‘fisherman’s sweaters.’  The legend, true or not, holds that fisherman all over the British Isles would wear sweaters knit with such recognizably unique designs that if ever they were found adrift their bodies could be identified.  In Scotland these are called Aran in England Guernseys, Jerseys or Ganseys. 
 The Tadjik people of Turkey, Khazakstan, and Afghanistan have a traditional style which has been passed down, at least according to legend, since the time of Genghis Khan.  They are also renowned for their fine-patterned fair-isle type of knitting and chain stitch embroidery. Both men and women in these mountain villages knit various types of winter wear.  This area is still very well known for its intricate coloured patterning, and distinct shapes for mittens and slippers.
In South America it is traditionally the men who knit in the Andes and in Peru and Bolivia, knitting is predominately men’s work.  Boys often make their own ch’ullos, the distinctive pointed cap with earflaps; by the time they are adolescents, they are very skilled and improvise their own colours and patterning. Knitting has taken on many unique forms in Peru—from the ch’ullo hats to figurines, to arm warmers, to the masks used in traditional celebrations.  They have also developed a unique method of knitting, and their own needle styles.
Since the 18th century and the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States, knitting has primarily been performed by machines. The first knitting machine was invented by Englishman Rev William Lee in 1589, whose wife was a hand-knitter. The new invention, set to revolutionize the industry, was however, not so favourably received. In England, Queen Elizabeth refused to patent the machine for fear that it would strip many of her people of their livelihood.  Thus Mr.Lee was forced to market the machine in France, where it thrived.  The knitting machines not only had implications of the industrialization of the craft, but it also had implications for the division of labour based upon gender.  Many of the new machines were operated by men, while the handiwork portions, such as seaming, and the running of certain types of machines, such as circular machines were left for women.  Hand-knitting had been a viable occupation but now it was handed to, girls, particularly the indentured, poor, or orphans who were taught knitting, along with spinning and sewing, in hopes that they may be more marriageable and/or able to earn a livelihood.
During the first half of the 20th century, there was a resurgence of the craft; during the wars women knit for the men abroad, the injured soldiers were taught to knit to occupy their minds as they recuperated as suggested by nursing journals of the time.  Knitting was much discussed in nursing journals through the first half of the century as a means of occupying the infirm.  By the late 1960s, however, hand-knitting had fallen out of fashion, largely due to changing views concerning traditionally domestic and feminine roles and the availability of machine knitted man-made fabrics.. 
Knitting still exists as a cottage industry to support individuals and communities around the world particularly in South American countries where knitting is exported round the world.