 |
| Joyce Meader's collection of knitting gauges |
An excellent day at the conference of the Knitting History Forum. The papers
given covered 2000 years of knitting and crochet history, with three excellent
papers on the early modern period which is of special interest to me. In
addition there was a show and tell table or two where Joyce Meader had brought along her
collection of knitting gauges (right), and a lady, whose name escapes me
(sorry) had brought along samples of wool from different English breeds, and
was talking about what we would lose if some of these breeds become extinct.
Please note that the very brief comments below are my own and my apologies if I
have misinterpreted anything someone said. Taking the papers in chronological
order, rather than the order in which they were given.
Ruth Gilbert – On a complex knitting technique from Egypt.
Ruth was looking at very early, mainly pre-modern knitting examples
ranging from a 3rd century AD Egyptian
sock from Antinoupolis made in what she described as a “crossed encircled
loop,” to a 13th to 15th century Egyptian uncrossed two
course simple knit fragment now
in the V&A. Ruth also demonstrated how some of these very early
techniques were worked. It is always easier to see what is going on when
someone is demonstrating.
Lesley O’Connell Edwards – Of stockings and sleeves:
insights from 16th century knitted items in the Museum of London.
Lesley was the Pasold/Museum of London Research Fellow in
2015/6 and kindly gave us a handout listing all the items she had looked at as
part of the project, unfortunately many of them are not on the Museum’s online
database. She had looked at 14 whole or part stockings, three sleeves and a
child’s mitten. Among the stockings were some with a heel like this
example (Museum ID A26851), where the heel is created by working an area of
“reverse stocking stitch”. As far as I can see, and Lesley had knitted a sock
using this technique so we could see how it worked, you get to the point in the
tube of the leg where you want to create the heel, then you reverse the knitting
for a length, then go back, so you have put two or three rows into the same
stitch, and continue this getting wider and then narrower, so that you produce
a “bulge” which forms the heel. That is not a very clear description; you can
see it on the original I have linked to above, and below is close up photograph
of Lesley’s reconstruction. The toe on this was produced by several rounds of
knit two together. The silk
stocking foot that Lesley looked at has a more complex heel. Lesley said
that the sleeves were narrow and came in different lengths. I believe the
longest was 49cm. They were knitted at around 4 stitches and 6-7 rows per cm,
and one had two rows of reversed stocking stitch at the top. The wrist sizes
were between 15 and 20 cm.
 |
| Lesley O'Connell Edwards reconstruction |
Maj Ringgaard – The development
of stockings 1600-1800: evidence from the Copenhagen excavations.
Copenhagen has had several excavations which have turned up
textiles from the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly
where old canals/moats have been filled in and the textiles can therefore be
dated to pre the infill. Maj looked at the main components of early modern
stockings: the welt, false seam, clock and heel. It is at this point that I
realise my notes are not nearly comprehensive enough. There was a lot of discussion
about the use of, or rather the lack of use of, purl stitches. Many of what we
think are purl stitches are created when the knitting is turned inside out and
knitted in the opposite direction; this creates the appearance of purl. So the
welt at the top of some stockings was created by knitting a couple of rows,
turning inside out and knitting a couple of row in reverse and then turning
back. Maj commented that the false seams appear to be more elaborate in the
first part of the seventeenth century. For the clocks, where you have an
embroidered clock, there is almost always a decorative knitted clock
underneath. Maj showed a couple of close ups to illustrate this, but
unfortunately I didn’t make a note of whose they were. The stockings showed a
variety of heels including the Balbriggan heel, though the most common used was
the “common” heel. Maj noted that repairing and refooting of stockings appeared
to be taking place across all levels of society.
Helena Lundin – Shipwrecked knitting: fragments from the
Swedish 17th century flagship Kronan.
The Kronan (Royal Crown) exploded and sank during the Battle
of Oland on 1st June 1676. She lost most of her bow, and the
majority of the 842 souls on board (which included 300 soldiers) were lost. A
vast amount of material has been excavated from the ship and is at the Kalmar
County Museum. Helena examined fragments from around 80 items, 86% were wool
and 14% silk. Among the items were gloves, headgear, waistcoats and stockings.
At least one of the gloves has the wrist knitted on thinner needles, and gauges
of 2.5 to 3 stitches per cm, and 4 rows per cm. There is a hat knitted in the
round with the brim knitted double at a gauge of 1.5 stitches and 3 rows per
cm. Fragments of a knitted silk waistcoat with silver embroidery has silk pile
on the inside which has been stitched in and not knitted in. The woollen stockings
can be long, with legs up to 84 cm, some are heavily fulled, and there are two
heel constructions used.
Barbara Smith – Wools for the world: Wakefield Greenwood of
Huddersfield
Barbara examined the history of the Wakefield Greenwood
company, founded by Clara Greenwood (b.1898) and Harold Wakefield (b. 1898).
They opened their shop in Victoria Street Huddersfield in 1919, selling
haberdashery, needlework supplies and knitting yarns. By the 1930s they were
advertising in magazines such as Stitchcraft, and Vogue Knitting offering a
postal service and with a 60 page mail order catalogue. They traded as
Greenwoods until 1946 when the wholesale yarn business became Wakefield
Greenwood. They sold a wide range of yarns including rayon, and were the first
to sell nylon yarn. They also started doing their own patterns. They moved from
Huddersfield in 1962 and the company ceased trading in 1966.
Matteo Molinari – Crocheting cultures: traditional Italian
crocheting practice in private and public spaces in Veneto
This paper came from the work Matteo did for his PhD. It
looked at current and recent production of crocheted items within families in
one small area of the Veneto. Matteo did a lot of filmed interviews, some of
which we viewed, with people who would
talk about and show the dollies, curtains, bedspreads, etc. That they had
produced for themselves and their families.
