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History
of Knitting
We do
find it incredible hard to find out where knitting came from.
Historic evidence of knitted pieces has been found in several
countries such as Egypt,
England,
Holland and Scotland.
Apparently, the earliest evidence of knitted clothing found were
fragments of socks that were made in Egypt sometime after the
death of Christ. Even this is argued the world over. Some even
say that these socks were not knitted but were the result of
nail binding (another fabric making technique).
The first trade union devoted to knitting professionals was
founded around the 1500s in France. It was originally a
male-only occupation but soon became a household activity when
knitted stockings became extremely popular. Apparently, by the
late 1600's between one and two million of these knitted
stockings were exported from Britain to various parts of Europe.
Socks and stockings seem to be the earliest pieces of knitted
clothing because this technique allowed for shaping the cloth to
mould to the many angles of the foot. But this wasn't the only
effective and creative use of hand knitting.
According to one
source I checked, "Legend has it that sailors wore sweaters
with their family pattern knit into them so that their bodies
could be identified if they died at sea. While it's a morbid
thing to think about, it is a notable application of the craft.
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