How the economics of knitting has influenced the location and production of knitwear

The economics of the time taken for hand-knitting and spinning during the 15^th and 16^th centuries was one of the motivating factors for inventing the knitting machine. The small size of knitting wires for fine knitting, and the variable yarn gauge of hand-made yarn, results in knitting to a specific garment size taking a long and variable amount of time. To quantify the likely time taken requires data on the speed of hand knitting. There hasn’t been much research or statistical analysis on the average knitting speed of an adult. At a 2018 event for Shetland knitters, the majority of experienced knitters were able to produce over 200 stitches in 3 minutes, which is just over 1 stitch per second.[1] A jumper back consisting of 150 stitches wide by 400 rows long requires 60,000 stitches. At 1 stitch per second the back would take 16.6 hours of knitting. The ‘scale of stockings and socks’ chart at the back of the Knitting teacher’s assistant provides cast on stitch count and rows for several sizes of sock and stocking, which can be used to calculate a rough stitch count of 7,000 – 16,000 stitches for a stocking, and between 1,700 – 6,000 for a sock. At 1 stitch per second a stocking takes between 2-5 hours, and a sock 1-2 hours, however the 1 stitch per second does not allow for time taken to increase and decrease stitches, and the time taken to move between double-pointed needles. These figures are very rough estimates that give an indication of the amount of time that knitting requires. As O’Connell Edwards notes knitting ‘was never a well-paid occupation’ and the sparse records that exist indicate 18d was paid for a dozen socks in the 1720s, and 2s 6d per week income for a full-time knitter in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1840s.[2] 2s and 6d is so low as to not indicate any purchasing power according to the National Archives’ historical currency converter.[3] Knitting is an excellent method to create warm and comfortable garments for the knitter and their immediate family, but scales poorly as a viable economic activity due to the amount of time it takes to complete a hand knitted garment.

Photo taken at Framework Knitters Museum in Ruddington

During the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries increasing industrialisation of the textile industry and printing industry reduces the production time and cost of textiles, clothing and book manufacturing, moving knitting from the home to the factory. Industrialisation reduced the labour cost and production time for manufacturing knitted textiles resulting in increased profit and social unrest. The economic and political importance of the wool trade is evident in the woolsack that the Lord Speaker has sat on in the House of Lords since the fourteenth century.[4] Each stage of the textile industry transitioned from a hand-skill to a specialised machine. First scouring and carding, then spinning, and then the invention of the knitting frame by the Reverend William Lee in 1589.[5] Each advance in mechanisation resulted in thousands of home-working jobs being replaced with hundreds of factory workers. The mass unemployment resulted in riots so wide-spread and brutal that Parliament passed the Frame Work Bill.

Quote from Lord Byron in the Frame Work Bill: “During the short time I recently passed in Nottinghamshire, not twelve hours elapsed without some fresh act of violence; and on the day I left the county I was informed that forty frames had been broken the preceding evening, as usual, without resistance and without detection.” [6]

Photo taken at Framework Knitters Museum in Ruddington

A competent knitter can adapt to knitting in a variety of physical environments, and tools were developed to support knitting whilst multi-tasking. There is a need to see the needles and stitches as a novice or if working a complex pattern. There is less need to see the needles as knitting experience increases. The blind were taught to knit both by hand and knitting machine, and because they are taught to knit by touch, have less reliance on good lighting.[7] Glass windows were expensive but knitting production is improved with good light, especially machine knitting. Knitting machine factories place the machines perpendicular to the windows to provide improved light, then squeeze the knitting machines as close together as possible to fit as many in as they can, which can be experienced at the Framework Knitters Museum in Ruddington.[8]

Photo taken at Framework Knitters Museum in Ruddington

Shetland knitters took their knitting outside to take advantage of the natural light. There is a marked difference between multi-tasking Shetlanders and shepherds knitting whilst working to maximise their individual output, compared to the middle-class work-table knitting activities in the drawing-room conducted as a leisure activity due to the luxury of time. The light-weight and minimal tools required for knitting enabled Shetland knitters and shepherds to knit as they walked between work locations or whilst herding animals.[9] The use of a wooden knitting sheath tucked into the belt holding one needle in place frees one hand to be used to work whilst the other hand knitted.[10] Black notes that searching for evidence of the physicality of knitting requires sifting through ‘incidental’ information in ‘documentary and literary sources’ for mentions in passing of knitting activity.[11] MacDonald conducted a thorough analysis of a collection of diaries and letters written by Colonial women in American providing a colourful and detailed insight into the methods and ingenuity often required to enable knitting of socks and stocking to continue whilst travelling across the United States by horse and cart in the first half of the nineteenth century.[12] Hartley and Ingilby conducted their research by asking people first-hand for their recollections, but the passing of time makes this approach no longer viable for current research. The approach taken by MacDonald of finding nuggets of data within primary sources was in part the inspiration for revisiting the knitting manuals of the nineteenth century. The limited pool of research that has been conducted on the history of knitting practices demonstrates the wide range of environments within which knitting can be accomplished.

References

[1] ‘How Do You Compare to the World’s Fastest Knitter?’, Interweave, 2018 <https://www.interweave.com/article/knitting/worlds-fastest-knitter/>.

[2] O’Connell Edwards, ‘Working Hand Knitters’, 74.

[3] http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter

[4] ‘Woolsack’, UK Parliament <https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/cultural-collections/historic-furniture/the-collection/chairs-chairs-chairs/woolsack-/>.

[5] Chris Aspin, The Woollen Industry (Oxford, 2011), 22.

[6] ‘Frame Work Bill (Hansard, 27 February 1812)’ <https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1812/feb/27/frame-work-bill>.

[7] Frances Lambert, The Hand-Book of Needlework (London, 1842), 186, British Library.

[8] https://www.frameworkknittersmuseum.org.uk/

[9] Sandy Black, Knitting : Fashion, Industry, Craft (London, 2012), 51–56, 104.

[10] Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby, The Old Hand-Knitters of the Dales (Yorkshire, 1969), 77–80.

[11] Black, Knitting : Fashion, Industry, Craft, 104.

[12] Anne L. MacDonald, No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, Reprint edition (2010).

Prefaces in Victorian knitting books

MA History dissertation finally finished. The submitted title was "Knitting as a leisure activity for early Victorian middle-class women 1837-1851". The research confirmed the initial peak of knitting book publishing was in the 1840s, with the exception of the 'Knitting Teachers Assistant' which seems to have first been published in 1817. The digitisation of books over the last 20 years, and the increase in catalogued archive contents has increased the availability of copies of knitting books from the nineteenth century. There were several books published that included reference to Queen Victoria and the Great Exhibition in their title. There seems to be a correlation with the most prolific and successful authors of knitting books also being being shop owners for wool warehouses that also teach knitting and crochet. I've found lots of interesting information about the author Frances Lambert, and found no evidence that Miss Frances Lambert is related in any way to Miss A Lambert. Now the dissertation is written and submitted I'm going to work through the notes to write a less-academic, more everyday-readable version of the interesting findings. Some I will submit to the Knitting and Crochet Guild newsletter, and others will appear here. What I certainly found is that the prefaces of Victorian knitting books contain a wealth of information about the authors and the social changes occurring at the time, and I would encourage their use for other researchers to ponder.

Here are a few prefaces that can be read online:

The ladies' knitting and netting book, 1838

https://archive.org/details/krl00376333/page/n5

The lady's assistant for executing useful and fancy designs in knitting, netting and crotchet work, Mrs Gaugain, 1840

https://archive.org/details/krl00394037/page/n3

My knitting book, Miss Lambert, 1844

https://archive.org/details/krl00394035/page/n5

The illuminated book of needlework: comprising knitting, netting, crochet and embroidery, Mrs Henry Owen, 1847

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=caia.ark:/13960/t5gb3726s&view=2up&seq=10

The workwoman's guide, containing instructions to the inexperienced in cutting out and completing those articles of wearing apparel, &c., which are usually made at home; also, explanation on upholstery, straw-platting, bonnet-making, knitting, &c., by a lady, 1838

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c056087961&view=2up&seq=4

Knitting Teacher's Assistant

The Knitting Teacher's Assistant is a small 32 page booklet that was produced in the nineteenth century to aid teaching knitting in schools. The booklet uses a question-and-answer dialogue to discuss all the instructions and actions required to complete a knitted sock. There is a table at the back of the booklet with multiple sock sizes with the required stitch count in order to achieve each size.

The booklet was published by Hatchards, who have an archive, but haven't responded to my requests for information about when the booklet was printed and how many copies were produced. Therefore, the data is patchy, and based on copies that exist in libraries and archives that have been catalogued.

The earliest copy that I have seen is a facsimile of an 1817 publication that was produced by Robin Stokes (sadly the website no longer exists). The added information page at the front of the copy noted that this was a facsimile of Robin's personal copy (location unknown).

According to the library catalogue at the University of Melbourne, Australia, they have an 1819 edition.

The University of Reading has an 1836 publication of the seventh edition of Knitting Teacher's Assistant in the Special Collections held at the Museum for English Rural Life in the Children's Collection. The British Library also has a copy with the same year and edition.

V&A Museum

The V&A Museum has what looks to be the same content, with the title The National Society's Instructions on Needlework and Knitting and it contains a knitted sampler. The summary suggests it 'was the first British publication of this type on knitting' but their copy is 1838 and second edition, whereas the University of Reading copy is 1836 and seventh edition.

University of Southampton

The Knitting Reference Library at the Winchester campus of the University of Southampton has an 1881 publication from Richard Rutt's collection which has been digitised and is available through Archive.org.

If you know of any earlier copies, please leave a comment with the details.

"It doesn't look like the photo", or, New knitter disappointment

The most frequent question I get asked by new knitters is what they've done wrong. They pull a crumpled handful of knitting from their knitting bag and offer it for inspection. In every case, the knitter has carefully followed the instructions, and the piece of knitting they offer is as the pattern intended. The difference is that it doesn't look like the photo.

In knitting books and magazines the instructions end with some vague reference to follow the instructions on the ball band. There is little or no detail of the blocking required, and with British written instructions there is often a lack of a diagram with measurements to block to. At least charted patterns usually include a diagram with measurements.

My theory is that the knitter born since the 1970's lacked the inherited wisdom of watching parents knitting, washing, blockings and pressing knitting to create the finished fabric. The 'skipped generation' knitters often learn from magazines, videos, or knit-and-natter sessions. They see experienced knitters display their perfect finished garments that look just like the photo that accompanied the original pattern. The gap in knowledge of the unknown finishing tasks creates a gap in confidence.

There is a lack of experience witnessing the casting off a piece of knitting, and observing the following work required to turn a curled piece of knitting into garment fabric, and the sewing-up that turns the fabric into a garment. Most knitters think of these activities as rather dull and uninteresting. The space and steam required makes this an activity difficult to being along to a knitting club or social knitting session. Sewing up is often a tv-watching activity, as it is a slow and time-consuming to match up markers and patterns, and ease seam allowances around shoulders and necklines.

To try and mitigate the worry and concern, here are some photos that are all taken after various stages. The following photographs are of a gauge swatch, and the resulting cotton machine-knit t-shirt.

Straight off the knitting machine:

 After 24 hours of allowing the stitches to relax:

 After washing and allowing to dry flat:

 Finished garment after sewing up:

 After washing and laying out flat to dry:

Some helpful videos demonstrating post cast-off activities:

Cheryl Brunette - Sweater Finishing 101: Easy Finishing for Pullover Sweaters (5-parts)
VeryPink Knits - Knitting Help - Steam Blocking

Cataloguing archive boxes containing fancy work and knitting patterns in the John Johnson Collection

There is an element of treasure-hunting the unknown when cataloguing archive boxes. As each box is laid down on the reading room table, there is an air of expectation of the treasure that may lay within. That you may be the first person to look in this box since it was neatly put away on a shelf in the archives many years ago.

I experienced this excitement cataloguing five boxes of archives in the John Johnson collection of printed ephemera held in the Bodleian library in Oxford. The collection absorbed the prior Constance Meade collection, and the boxes of fancy work and of knitting and crochet patterns were combined. A lack of funding, combined with the triviality often associated with knitting patterns ('trivial' was the word used by Potter in her bibliography), resulted in these five boxes not being catalogued up to now. As I have a research interest in the contents (studying a part-time MA in History), I took the decision to spend two days at the archive, rather than just one, so that I had the time to catalogue all the contents, and not just the contents relevant to my research. I'm currently in the process of reviewing and correcting my catalogue notes, and slowly submitting the details and photographers, box by box, to the collection, in the hope that they are of sufficient quality to be absorbed to the existing online catalogue, to aid future researchers.

As with any cataloguing process, there are surprising and unexpected finds, as well as disappointments. I had hoped to find a pre-1820 copy of the 'Knitting Teacher's Assistant', but that was not to be. However, I did find sheets of metal, a puzzle label, postage, and plenty of doodling and marginalia. Here are a couple of examples found in 'The knitting and crochet workbook', 2nd edition, published by Thomsons Brothers (year unknown).

There was also the satisfaction of reuniting a cover and title page located in box 6, that had been separated from the book contents in box 4. To clarify, I didn't do the reuniting myself. I followed the correct procedure and informed the Archivist on duty of my find in Box 6 that matched a book I had seen in Box 4 that was missing a cover, and it was the Archivist who did the actual re-uniting, and appropriate documentation.

Miss Frances Lambert biography in progress

In the last blog post it was noted that reviewing knitting books from the nineteenth century was in progress. The review resulted in a successful application to study a part-time MA in History at the University of Reading to investigate the wider issues of gender, class, and socio-economics of knitting book publishing. Since starting the course, the research has widened to include all knitting books published prior to World War 1. Reading has, within the Special Collections hosted at the Museum for English Rural Life (MERL), several copies of texts from this period. Reading also has strong research experience with gender history, book publishing history, corpus linguistics, and printed ephemera, including recent collaboration with the John Johnson collection at the Bodleian.

Having analysed Esther Potter's bibliography and Richard Rutt's 'A History of Hand Knitting', I was frustrated with the lack of biographical information sufficient to obtain a clear view of the class and socio-economic status of the author Miss Frances Lambert, who was one of the earliest successful authors of knitting, crochet and needlework books. A thorough biographical research project was initiated, which is 80% complete. Sufficient evidence has been collated to confirm when Miss Frances Lambert was born, when she married John Bell Sedgwick (a bedell at The Royal College of Physicians), and the addresses lived at between the marriage, and her death in her 80's. Corrections were submitted to the British Library Catalogue, as some entries had incorrectly been attributed to Miss A Lambert. A full biography is in progress, with anticipation of submission to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, which currently lacks biographies of female writers in the nineteenth century.

I have catalogued five archive boxes held in the John Johnson collection at the Bodleian in Oxford. The John Johnson collection absorbed the contents of the Constance Meade collection that is referenced by Potter. The fancy work boxes had yet to be catalogued. The contents have now been logged and photographed, and will be submitted for consideration to be absorbed into the existing online catalogue, to aid future researchers.

The 'In The Loop 2018' conference is taking place at the Winchester School of Art this week. The conference programme is available on the 'In The Loop' website.

Victorian knitting with 1mm knitting needles

The Knitting Reference Library at Southampton University has digitised 67 pre-1900 books from the Richard Rutt collection (books that are out of copyright). This is a wonderful resource of a wide range of knitting recipes, advice, guidance, and social history.

The instructions to knit a garment are referred to as recipes, which in current parlance we refer to as patterns. The use of the term pattern seems to infer colour patterns and the yarns used, rather than how to make the garment. There is a lack of drawings or images of the finished items, and no gauges. In a few cases there are instructions to knit for a certain distance, but other than that, no finished garment sizes are provided, and certainly no details for creating the garments in multiple sizes. 

To start my foray into knitting a Victorian garment, I selected a baby bootee recipe: Baby's Shoes (a very pretty pattern) from The Knitters Companion by Mrs Mee and Miss Austin, which was published in approximately 1840-50. Here is a screenshot from the digital copy:

After some research at the Knitting Reference Library in Winchester, and some looking-up of standard wire gauge measurements, the nearest modern needle size I could find to Victorian No. 19 pins are 1mm DPNs. Not easily available. Most knitting shops only go down to 2mm needles for very fine lace knitting or socks. Luckily for me, the Knitter's Pride Karbonz go down to 1mm (US 00000), and were available by mail order.

Whilst waiting for the 1mm DPNs to arrive, I had a go using 1.75mm DPNs (the smallest I had in stock) and some 2 ply wool from my stash and I produced the first version of the baby shoes.

They came out about the size of a 3 year old's foot. For the second attempt I used 1mm DPNs and Yeoman Yarn's 1 ply merino wool that I had left over from making a Zandra Rhodes machine knit circular jacket. 

This one seemed to come out about the right size, though several friends with babies commented that the size is at the smaller end of baby feet, but suggested perhaps Victorian babies were (on average) smaller than today. The Victorian knitting recipes certainly assume a much higher level of knitting ability from the reader, and in some places are more of a guide than instructions. The finished shoes certainly received warm praise and lots of "ooohs" from the members of the Knitting History Forum at the annual conference last month.