A Short History of Hand-Knitting
Hand-knitting is older than most knitters realise — the oldest surviving knit fragments are from Egypt, dating to the 11th century. Knitting spread across the Mediterranean in the late Middle Ages and reached Northern Europe in the 14th–15th centuries.
Recommended A printable technique cheat-sheet for your knitting bag.
Earliest evidence
The oldest surviving knitted items are 11th-century cotton socks from Egypt. The technique likely originated in the Arab world and spread across the Mediterranean trade routes. Early knitting was done with thin cotton and fine needles.
Spread across Europe
By the 14th century, knitting had reached Spain, Italy, France, England, and Scotland. Knitting guilds were established in major European cities. The Master Knitters of Strasbourg, formed in the 16th century, required apprentices to knit a master-piece carpet that took six months to complete.
In partnership Tools and supplies that make this technique easier.
Industrial transition
The mechanical knitting frame was invented in 1589 by William Lee in England. From this point, hand-knitting and machine-knitting coexisted, with hand-knitting concentrated in remote regions (Shetland, the Faroes, the Aran Islands) where wool was the local industry.
Modern revival
Hand-knitting nearly disappeared in the mid-20th century but revived dramatically from the 1970s onward, driven by the back-to-the-land movement, then by the internet (Ravelry founded 2007), and by independent designers and dyers.
Abbreviation reference
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| CO | cast on |
| BO | bind off |
Tips
- Visit your local museum — many have early knitted objects in their collections.
- Read Mary Thomas's Knitting Book (1938) for a snapshot of mid-20th-century technique.
- Read Richard Rutt's A History of Hand Knitting (1987) for the most thorough overview.
In depth
Hand-knitting has a continuous history of nearly a thousand years. The basic motions — make a stitch by pulling a loop through another loop — have not changed since the medieval Egyptian socks. What has changed is the cultural context: hand-knitting today is overwhelmingly recreational, where for most of its history it was a working necessity.