knitting

The tradition & historical record

Knitting is the process of interlooping a continuous length of yarn to create textile fabric made of rows of interconnected loops. Knitting can be done by hand, by machine or using one of a variety of frames developed for the purpose. When done by hand, one uses a pair of knitting needles where the loops are created one at a time. When done by machine the loops are created on hooks that work one entire row of knitting at a time. Hand knitting needles are either straight with blunt ends or so-called "circular needles" that are a single flexible tube or wire with blunt needles at both ends. The resulting knitted fabric consists rows of loops that intermesh with the rows above and below. Differences in yarn (varying in fiber type, yarn weight, color, uniformity, twist per inch), in needle size, and in stitch type allow for a variety of knitted fabrics with different properties, including texture, thickness, heat retention, and water resistance. A small sample of knitwork is known as a "swatch" and helps the maker determine the gauge of the intended work. ¹

There are several possible origins of the word knit and knitting. These include the German derivation from the word knutten (to tie), the Old Norse word knytja, and the Old English words cnyttan (to tie a knot, bind together, fasten by tieing) and cnotta (knot). ¹

Artifacts of fabric making using some form of knitting have been found in many regions including Egypt, China, Denmark, and Sweden, dating as far back as 4200 BCE. The exact origins of the invention of knitting are unknown, however the earliest known examples are cotton socks dating from the 11th century, found in the remains of the city of Fustat, now part of Cairo. In Europe, knitting is believed to be an evolution of the ancient craft of nålebinding, the Scandinavian word for "needle binding". In nålebinding, fabric is created through forming loops and knots of yarn with a single needle. The first commercial knitting guilds appeared in Western Europe in the early fifteenth century (Tournai in 1429, Barcelona in 1496). The Guild of Saint Fiacre was founded in Paris in 1527, but the archives mention an organization (not necessarily a guild) of knitters from 1268. The occupation "cap knitter" was recorded in 1473 as these textile artists primarily produced knit caps and dyed stockings. In 1589, William Lee of Nottinghamshire invented the first stocking frame, which was an early form of the knitting machine. Lee petitioned Queen Elizabeth I for a patent but was denied due to the coarse nature of the frame-knit fabric and the fear that frame knitting would take away the jobs of hand knitters in England. Lee improved the knitting frame to accommodate a finer gauge, or number of stitches per inch, producing a smoother fabric, but his petition for a patent failed following the death of his court sponsor and apprentice, Lord Hunsdon, in 1596. Lee travelled to Normandy, France, and later Paris, along with a group of apprentices in search of court sponsorship for his invention. ¹

When knitting by hand, two or more needles are used to hold the live stitches and they are knit from one needle over to the next needle. By contrast, crochet uses a single hook, usually finishing one stitch before creating the next. The stitches in knitted fabric form a shape that is similar to a "V", whereas the stitches in crochet look more like knots. Knitted fabric also tends to be thinner and more flexible, making it more drapey. Because of the different nature of each stitch, crochet fabric uses more yarn per stitch, holds structure better, and can have more variety of stitches, since the crochet hook usually only holds one live stitch. Since knitting requires all the needed stitches to sit on the needles at the same time, knitting requires more planning ahead of time. Although different methods, they can create similar projects using the same fibers and yarns. ¹

Like weaving, knitting is a technique for producing a two-dimensional fabric made from a one-dimensional yarn or thread. In weaving, threads are usually straight, running parallel either lengthwise (warp threads) or crosswise (weft threads). By contrast, the yarn in knitted fabrics follows a meandering path (a course or a row), forming symmetric loops (also called bights or stitches) symmetrically above and below the mean path of the yarn. These meandering loops can be easily stretched in different directions giving knit fabrics much more elasticity than woven fabrics. To secure a stitch, at least one new loop is passed through it. Although the new stitch is itself unsecured ("active" or "live"), it secures the stitch(es) suspended from it. A sequence of stitches in which each stitch is suspended from the next is called a wale. A wale, according to Knitting Technology: a Comprehensive Handbook and Practical Guide, is "a predominantly vertical column of needle loops generally produced by the same needles at successive (not necessarily all) knitting cycles. A wale starts as soon as an empty needle starts to knit" To secure the initial stitches of a knitted fabric, a method for casting on is used; to secure the final stitches in a wale, one uses a method of binding/casting off. During knitting, the active stitches are secured mechanically, either from individual hooks (in knitting machines) or from a knitting needle or frame in hand-knitting. Depending on the yarn and knitting pattern, knitted garments can stretch as much as 500%. For this reason, knitting was initially developed for garments that must be elastic or stretch in response to the wearer's motions, such as socks and hosiery. ¹

There are two major varieties of knitting: weft knitting and warp knitting. In the more common weft knitting, the wales are perpendicular to the course of the yarn. In warp knitting, the wales and courses run roughly parallel. In weft knitting, the entire fabric may be produced from a single yarn, by adding stitches to each wale in turn, moving across the fabric as in a raster scan. By contrast, in warp knitting, one yarn is required for every wale. Since a typical piece of knitted fabric may have hundreds of wales, warp knitting is typically done by machine, whereas weft knitting is done by both hand and machine. Warp-knitted fabrics such as tricot and milanese are resistant to runs, and are commonly used in lingerie. Weft-knit fabrics may also be knit with multiple yarns, usually to produce interesting color patterns. The two most common approaches are intarsia and stranded colorwork. In intarsia, the yarns are used in well-segregated regions, e.g., a red apple on a field of green; in that case, the yarns are kept on separate spools and only one is knitted at any time. In the more complex stranded approach, two or more yarns alternate repeatedly within one row and all the yarns must be carried along the row, as seen in Fair Isle sweaters. Double knitting can produce two separate knitted fabrics simultaneously (e.g., two socks). ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Knitting”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

knitting is forming and interlacing of loops using needles according to a prescribed manner or pattern, either by machine or by hand, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 41 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²