Some people attribute the earliest examples of knitting to Christian Coptics in Egypt in the 3rd or 4th centuries; others consider the earliest knitters to be Muslims working for royal families in Christian Spain in the 13th century. (note 1)

Partly, it depends on whether you consider items like those below to be knitted. They are socks from the 3rd or 4th century, designed to be worn with sandals. They were excavated in Egypt and are now part of the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London.

They were made by the process called nålebinding. Technically, nålebinding is regarded as a forerunner of knitting because it uses only one needle, and involves knotting the yarn rather than looping it. Still, compare the heel section of this ancient sock to the heel section of the sock I’m knitting at the moment and tell me what’s different.

Whenever knitting started, it was roaring along by the doublet-wearing age of Elizabethan England.  With all those bare legs shooting out of short trunks, knitting must have been widespread and essential. Elizabeth I was a fan of knitted stockings, but only if they were made of silk, not wool.  The ones below — dating from the 1640s, and also held by the V&A — are beautiful enough to have belonged to the glorious monarch herself.  For it’s rumoured that:

Stockings [belonging] to her still exist, demonstrating the high quality of the items specifically knitted for her. (2)

Of course, this was long before the Industrial Revolution, and all knitting was done by hand, and mostly by men.  In the 1400s in Europe knitting guilds were established which were “exclusively male and with structured apprenticeship systems.” (3) Even a shepherd could knit while watching his flock.

Outside the guilds, “knitting schools were established as a way of providing an income to the poor.” (4)  And if the income of the poor depended on their output, then speed and efficiency were of the essence.

According to the wonderful Judith, the woman who runs the Craft Clinic at Morris and Sons, this meant the style of knitting they used would have been quite different to the one I use, for example.  The hands would have been held low and unobstrusive, with a ruthless economy of movement. This economy of movement would have applied regardless of whether the knitter was using the “English style” or the “Continental style.”

Throwing vs Picking

English style, also called “throwing,” is where the yarn is held in the right hand and it moves back and forth when wrapping the yarn around the needle.  Beginners tend to use English style with their right hand on top of the needle; more experienced knitters use English style with their hand underneath the needle. Continental style, also called “picking,” is where the yarn is held in the left hand, and the right hand, on top of the needle, does very little. Compared to English style, Continental style is deadly. Utterly pragmatic, silent, swift.

Judith’s version of English style is a remnant of this earlier imperative to economy and, no doubt, the Continental style in which she first learnt knitting in her native South Africa.  Sitting side by side with Judith, my style in comparison could be called the English Gothic.  It’s the style that evolved, Judith says, around the end of the 19th century in England with the reign of Queen Victoria and the rise of parlour pastimes for women.

In this version of English style, the yarn is held in the right hand as with all English styles, but unlike Judith’s English style, the whole hand — minus the little finger, which is fetchingly cocked so as to be “more ladylike” — moves forward and back.  It’s a very showy style, and as profligate of movement as befitted Victorian ladies wanting to demonstrate their leisure.

Despite the name, and the fact that prior to Victorian times there were more economical versions of the English style, the Continental style must also have been used to some extent in England.  Because, according to Wikipedia, Continental style fell out of favour in English-speaking countries with the advent of the world wars as it was associated with Germany.

It’s only recently that Continental style has been re-introduced to the US, for example.  With Judith’s help, I’m giving it a go too.

***

Notes

1. Wikipedia

2. Wikipedia

3. Knit a Square

4. Wikipedia