KNITTING
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Knitting, not to be confused with Crocheting, is the method of making fabric using two long needles or pins and yarn. The yarn is looped around one needle to make stitches, the stitches are then knitted off by hooking the other needle through the loops one at a time, working in rows. There are two types of needles - straight, which creates flat pieces that must be seamed, and circular, which creates tubes.
Knitting is not as ancient a craft as was first suspected, since many fragments dating to Roman times were not knitted, but made in a similar technique. Knitting reached its height of popularity during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England who received some knitted silk hose as a gift and created a mania for them. A cottage industry sprung up of people making stockings of all types to boost their personal income.
Knitting of "Fair Isle" patterns became popular in the early 1930's when The Prince Of Wales began wearing them, and was even painted wearing a Fair Isle vest and holding a West Highland White Terrier. Fair Isle patterning alternates bands of XOXO designs with smaller simpler designs called "peeries". Only two colors per row are used in traditional Fair Isles.
Knitting is not as ancient a craft as was first suspected, since many fragments dating to Roman times were not knitted, but made in a similar technique. Knitting reached its height of popularity during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England who received some knitted silk hose as a gift and created a mania for them. A cottage industry sprung up of people making stockings of all types to boost their personal income.
Knitting of "Fair Isle" patterns became popular in the early 1930's when The Prince Of Wales began wearing them, and was even painted wearing a Fair Isle vest and holding a West Highland White Terrier. Fair Isle patterning alternates bands of XOXO designs with smaller simpler designs called "peeries". Only two colors per row are used in traditional Fair Isles.
