Meet the speaker: Nora Howley

Cover of Bernat Handicrafter’s Fashion in Real Shetland, Book 178 (1957), Emile Bernat & Sons Company, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, USA (image: Nora Howley)

The next annual Knitting History Forum conference is on Saturday 7 February 2026, with presentations on the history of knitting. The conference is hosted online and tickets are available to purchase.

Nora Howley, knitting researcher and educator, founder of Knitting Tales, will present From Shetland sheep to USA knitters: exploring the history of Shetland wool in handknitting in the United States 1848 to 1990

Since the first white people began the colonisation of the United States, wool from the British Isles was imported there. It is impossible to say what proportion may have come from Shetland at any given time. However, from the late 19th century, when a yarn industry selling to handknitters emerged, reference to Shetland wool and styles of knitting are found. Many of these are in yarn company’s branded patterns calling for specific products to be used for specific garments or accessories. By the early 20th century, multiple commercial yarn companies in the USA were selling Shetland labelled wool with patterns to go with it to handknitters. This paper will show how the name “Shetland” was used to signify the particular qualities of both yarn and styles of knitting.

It uses images and text from pattern books, women’s magazines, and industry publications, to demonstrate how “Shetlandness” has been represented for more than 100 years in an ever-changing industry before the emergence of the internet.

Biography for Nora Howley

Nora Howley is a knitter, researcher, educator, and storyteller whose career in education has spanned learners from toddlers to adults in their eighties. She completed her EdD at the University of Glasgow in 2019, a milestone that reignited her enthusiasm for research and discovery. She founded Knitting Tales as a platform to share her findings and insights.

Howley also curates and manages a collection of patterns by designer Ron Schweitzer—materials that never made the transition to digital formats and would otherwise be inaccessible to contemporary knitters. Her work is driven by a deep interest in the relationships between patterns, yarns, people, and places. She continues to teach knitting as a way to share her love of the craft and to encourage others to uncover and tell their own stories.

Image: Cover of Bernat Handicrafter’s Fashion in Real Shetland, Book 178 (1957), Emile Bernat & Sons Company, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, USA (image: Nora Howley)

Meet the speaker: Helen Wyld

Knitted stockings (A.248.8), Fair Isle, 1850-1857

The next annual Knitting History Forum conference is on Saturday 7 February 2026, with presentations on the history of knitting. The conference is hosted online and tickets are available to purchase

The Fair Isle knitting collection at National Museums Scotland: history, craft and identity

Helen Wyld, Senior Curator of Historic Textiles, National Museums Scotland

Fair Isle knitting, with its brightly coloured geometric patterns, is one of Scotland’s most recognisable exports. A constant presence in global fashion since the 1920s, it is still produced by hand knitters in Shetland today. But despite its omnipresence, the origins of Fair Isle are not well understood. This is a result of the poor survival of early examples, a lack of documentary evidence, and a focus on the role of Fair Isle in 20th century fashion in the literature. 

The collection at National Museums Scotland, which has never been the subject of serious study, has the potential to change the interpretation of the early history of the craft. Three groups of objects, which are dated to the 1850s, 1870s and 1880s, thanks to their documented museum history, provide a concrete starting point for dating and assessing early Fair Isle knitting.

These objects also provide a unique insight into the ways that Fair Isle was described, marketed and consumed in its early decades. Drawing on internal museum documentation, donor records, the catalogues and reviews of international exhibitions, publications by Shetland residents, and contemporary trade material, Helen Wyld will explore the mythology that surrounded Fair Isle knitting from its first ‘public’ appearance, at the 1851 Great Exhibition. She will show that the qualities of authenticity, hand craft and local specificity that are today embedded in the Fair Isle brand have their origins in the mid-19th century, and were both a reaction against, and a product of, the rapid industrialisation of the period.

Biography for Helen Wyld

Helen Wyld is Senior Curator of Historic Textiles at National Museums Scotland, where she is responsible for European and Scottish textiles from the medieval period to 1850. Helen is a specialist in the history of European tapestry, and her book The Art of Tapestry was published in 2022. Her research interests range from medieval woven silks to Paisley shawls and Scottish knitting

Image: Knitted stockings (A.248.8), Fair Isle, 1850-1857 (image: © National Museums Scotland)

Meet the speaker: Carol Christiansen

Detail of a shawl (TEX 2004.303) given as a wedding present

The next annual Knitting History Forum conference is on Saturday 7 February 2026, with presentations on the history of knitting. The conference is hosted online and tickets are available to purchase.

Carol Christiansen, Curator of Collections, Shetland Museum and Archives, will present Shetland Fine Lace Knitting: an overview of history and design

In the late 1830s, a form of extremely fine openwork knitting in wool emerged in a small community in the Shetland islands. Shetland Fine Knitted Lace would become part of the large international trade in fashion accessories and garments throughout the Victorian and Edwardian periods. At the same time, it challenged authors of early knitting pattern books and inspired the development of machine-knitted lace shawl manufacture in the British midlands.

This talk will explore the seemingly improbable origins and trade mechanisms of Shetland fine knitted lace, and the materials and skills required for its development. In particular, the preparation and spinning of very fine wool from the Shetland sheep breed was crucial in the success of knitting design and execution. The important role of the hand-spinner, separate from the designer-knitter, will be discussed.

Surviving collections of Shetland knitted lace show a continuum of design principles, providing a way to define the craft. Primarily, motif placement and design complexity was dictated by Victorian fashion: how the garment would be worn against fashions of the day, showing off the most complex design areas of the garment as it was draped on the body. These features will be shown with examples of 19th century garments from Shetland Museum’s collection.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the East Midlands began to develop machines which could produce fine shawls in openwork knitting. For a time these garments were marketed as Nottingham-Shetland lace, in an attempt to mimic and undercut the hand knitting cottage industry in Shetland. Both crafts survive today and their differences in design and manufacture will be discussed.

Some lace knitters experimented with new styles, possibly as a result of commissions, keeping abreast of fashion from the 1850s into the first half of the twentieth century. The change from designing and making 2-dimenional garments to blouses beginning in the 1920s will be explored in light of a reliance on traditional Shetland knitting techniques to create 3-dimensional lace garments in the round. The Victorian specialised craft continues to inspire into the 21st century, from local makers to haute couture designers.

Biography for Carol Christiansen

Carol Christiansen has been Curator of Collections at Shetland Museum and Archives since 2006.  She received her doctorate in Archaeology with a specialism in textiles from the University of Manchester in 2003. Her research on Shetlandic, Scottish, and Nordic archaeological and historical textiles has been published widely. She is the author of Taatit Rugs: the Pile Bedcovers of Shetland (2015) and Shetland Fine Lace Knitting: recreating patterns from the past (2024).

Meet the speaker: Susan Webster

Promotional leaflet for Flexiknit (1920s)

The next annual Knitting History Forum conference is on Saturday 7 February 2026, with presentations on the history of knitting. The conference is hosted online and tickets are available to purchase.

Susan Webster, collector and researcher of knitting tools, will present The development of circular knitting needles during the 20th century

The circular knitting needle is now an established tool among handknitters.  But, in fact, commercial production of circular needles is only about 100 years old.  Before that, it was double points all the way.  This presentation discusses the origin of early circulars in the UK and USA, what they were made of, and how they were merchandised.

While the earliest patents I can find are in the UK in 1893 and 1906, and in the United States in 1918, these registrations did not mean an immediate push into wool shops and haberdashery departments.  Early UK packaging such as Flexiknit and Abel Morrall’s Twin Pin give implied patent dates of 1921 and 1922.  Early circulars were all metal cable attached to a short metal pin at each end.

Marketing messages accompanied these new, boxed products and claimed that circulars were modern, easier to use, less dangerous, and reduced the risk of losing a straight needle.  US packaging was cheaper to produce – manila envelopes and cardboard backing sheets

Americans used their own distinctive marketing approach, including differentiation of needle shape and materials, claims of superiority of design, use of house-branding and buying groups. 

In the 1930s, American firms were offering rigid plastic circulars in parallel to metal circulars.  While the early materials such as celluloid and casein were easier to manipulate stitches on, the rigid plastics were hard to store and some substances were highly flammable.   Other nations too offered both metal and rigid plastic circulars.

By the late 1930s, nylon and other flexible plastics had been developed, although all such innovations were soon sucked into war production.   World War II had many effects on hand knitting tools including no nickel-plating to prevent rust, the dropping of English sizing in the US for double points and circulars, and shortages of materials which forced reliance on “make-do and mend”.

After the war, nylon moved quickly into circulars with both flexible nylon cable attached to metal pins and entirely nylon single piece circulars – similar to the earlier rigid plastics but much more flexible.  Few advances have been made in our basic tool since this era.

This research has also identified hints that circulars were used in Europe before commercial manufacture.  These needles were probably constructed from baleen or twiggy sapling growth from coppicing, but it seems that use of these circulars was dying out toward the end of the 19th century.  If any KHF participants have any information on these early tools, I would be keen to learn more. 

Biography for Susan Webster

Susan Webster is a collector of and researcher in knitting needles and tools, with a special interest in the period when commercialisation and branding of needles were being developed.

Susan grew up in the United States, but has lived her adult life in Australia.  Retired since 2003, she has built up a research database of over 1000 knitting needle brand names and manufacturers, with about 900 physical specimens.  She shares her information on her website www.knitting-needle-notions.com.au.  Many of her articles and presentations are also available on this site.

Susan has published several research articles in the TCI Bulletin and in 2024-2025 completed a three-part series on the history of circular knitting needles.  She has spoken and published in Britain and Australia too.  She is a past president of the Needlework Tool Collectors Society of Australia.

She is still a keen collector.  “The more you collect, the more you want to know,” she said. 

Knitting History Forum Conference 2026

The Knitting History Forum is pleased to announce that the next annual conference is on Saturday 7 February 2026, with presentations on the history of knitting. The conference is hosted online.

There is an exciting programme of speakers.

Tickets (at £27) are now on sale on eventbrite, click here to buy now.

Please do subscribe to the Knitting History Forum’s newsletter. You can also sign up to the KHF online discussion group.

The Knitting History Forum is an international network for the history of knitting and crochet. KHF advances and promotes the history of knitting through research, exchange of ideas and information, and by historical reconstruction. Bookmark the KHF website!

Knitting History Forum Conference Report 2025

Trista Yeung on the historical evolution of needlework in China focusing on its economic and cultural impacts on women. Left: Cover of the magazine Funü shibao (The Women’s Eastern Times) 1913, issue 10 and (right) an advertisement for the first Chinese wool brand, Diyang pai (1933) (Image: Chinese Women’s Magazine Archive, Heidelberg University)

The Knitting History Forum Conference 2025 took place online on Saturday 1 February with 185 participants joining in. Many of the participants took the opportunity to present themselves in the Lobby and the chat was active with discussions throughout the event. The participants listened in from all over the world, and many of them knitted or crocheted during the event, as well as posing questions and discussions in the chat. The chair of the KHF, Professor Sandy Black, officially opened the conference by welcoming all participants and speakers and presenting the programme for the day.

The morning session started with the paper Knitting history in China: from the late 19th century to the early 20th century presented by Trista Yeung, PhD candidate at the University of Hong Kong and lecturer at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She began with a brief historical background of China at this period and then shared her research into how knitting, both manual and by machine, had been introduced and disseminated in China in the late 19th century and early 20th century. We heard about the first factories with knitting machines as well as the opportunity for rural women to work from home with rented knitting machines to earn money. Yeung also shared some insights into the women who played a big part in the knitting history of China, such as Zeng Jifen, the first recorded woman to have learned hand knitting, from a missionary’s wife in the 1880-1890s. We also learned about Feng Quiping who founded knitting clubs, teaching classes, and published knitting patterns. As a conclusion, Yeung talked about historical gender roles and how knitting became an essential part of the Chinese women’s identity in the early 20th century.

‘Half cap in crochet’ from Cornelia Mee’s 1845 ‘Crochet Explained and Illustrated, 1st series’, made in Drops Merino extra fine wool, colours off white and light pink, using 4mm hook (copyright Eleanor Gilchrist)

The second paper of the day was The proof of the pattern is in the making: the technology of the crochet pattern in the 1840s and how I got on when I tried to use them presented by Eleanor Gilchrist, PhD candidate at Newcastle University. After an introduction to the history of published crochet patterns, which started in the 1840s with the first pattern published by Jane Gaugain, Gilchrist shared some of the challenges with these early patterns and their lack of information. Out of 800 patterns that Gilchrist examined, she found that 43% of these are unusable due to their poor quality of information. Gilchrist then shared some of her challenges when using these patterns. She chose eight that were good candidates for her to try out by using making as part of her research methodology for her PhD. After much trial, error and unravelling, she concluded that two of the projects had to be abandoned, another two required considerable interpretation, one project was a partial success and only three projects were a complete success. As an example of the amount of interpretation needed, Gilchrist mentioned that the patterns rarely state which type of stitch to use.

One of the participants sympathised with Gilchrist’s struggles with the 1840s crochet patterns and could see some parallels to modern instruction manuals: ‘I laughed along with the speaker on using 19th century crochet patterns – really, even worse than the terrible operating manuals we are inundated with nowadays for new tech gadgets.’

The final paper of the morning session was KnitWell: examining the use of a knitter’s vocabulary in capturing emotional states presented by Emily Joy Rickard, PhD graduate at Nottingham Trent University. Rickard introduced us to the KnitWell project which is part of her PhD work. In the project, she examined the knitter’s use of vocabulary for capturing emotional states. Twelve participants (including Rickard) recorded their emotional states by knitting daily as a sort of journal, using a set of supplied yarns of different colours and qualities and the technique ‘free knitting’. Rickard was inspired by ‘free writing’ and the textile artist Mary Walker Philips in coining the term ‘free knitting’. The participants also kept written reflections and completed weekly check-ins and interviews during parts of the project, which was divided in three phases each covering three months. Rickard then shared the process of collecting the data generated through the project and the subsequent analysis. To sum up the results, Rickard found that the knitted vocabulary differed from the written vocabulary. There was more expression in the knitted vocabulary, both direct and metaphorical. And the knitter was able to use the different elements of knitting, such as choice of yarn, colour, stitch, shape and structure to express their emotions.

After three very interesting and diverse papers it was time for a refreshment break. During the break, the participants had the option to join breakout rooms with each other to informally chat and get to know one another. This feature was appreciated, or as one participant put it in their feedback: ‘Loved the small group break out!’

The afternoon session started with the paper (Re)Constructing the Ballybunion knitted cap: providing a glimpse into the experiences, skills, and time required in the knitting of 16th century knitted caps, utilising experimental archaeology presented by Ryan Daniel Koeing, an archaeologist specialising in historical textiles in Dublin, Ireland. The paper was based on his master’s thesis in archaeology, in which he investigated the working lives of the 16th century cap knitters, with the aim of providing a glimpse into the experiences, skills and time which were required to knit the Ballybunion cap. Koeing began with an introduction to the cap, which is a 16th century single-brimmed hand knitted cap found in a bog in Ballybunion, Ireland, in 1847. As part of the historical background, we heard about the cappers’ act of 1571, which mandated that every man in England and Wales, of lower socioeconomic status, had to wear a knitted cap on Sundays and holidays. Koenig also shared some information on the women and children who knitted caps, most likely at home, and that they earned well below what a skilled worker earned, as seen in a census of the poor in Norwich. We then learnt about the use of experimental archaeology to answer the questions of how much experience and what skills were required to knit the Ballybunion cap, and how much time it would take. The 22 volunteer participants knitted the cap from a supplied knit kit. They also knitted a speed knitting task to provide data of their speed, as well as two surveys on their skills and experiences. Koeing concluded that the average time to knit the cap was 13 hours and that one year of prior knitting experience was enough to be able to knit the cap, but that the fastest knitters had 20+ years of experience.

The next paper was Bohus Stickning: a network of creativity presented by Isa Holmgren, master in Textile Studies, Uppsala University, Sweden. The presentation was based on Holmgren’s master thesis and started with some historical and economical background to the region of Bohuslän, Sweden. In the 1930s the employment rates for women were low. Bohus Stickning was founded in 1939 by Emma Jacobsson with the purpose of increasing the local interest in knitting, to employ knitters and to sell their works. Holmgren then introduced several female designers who contributed their modernist designs for pattern knitted garments throughout the years. We also learnt that the knitters were trained in courses at the head office in Gothenburg, and, after completing these, the knitters received kits and knitted at home. The finished garments were then sent to the head office for distribution and sales. Holmgren also introduced several women who contributed to Bohus Stickning in other ways, such as by holding courses and doing quality assurance, which also included sending critiques to the knitters to help them improve. Holmgren concluded with the challenging times that the company faced in the 1960s, for example, the difficulty in recruiting knitters. Eventually, the company closed in 1969, ending the 30-year creative network of women.

The final paper of the day was Krystyna Chiger: the girl in the green sweater presented by Elizabeth Baer, Professor at Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota, USA. In the presentation we got to know a little about the life of Krystyna Chiger, a young polish girl who survived the holocaust, after hiding with her family in a sewer under the Lvov ghetto for 14 months until their liberation in 1944. During her time in the sewer, Krystyna wore a green, short sleeved sweater that her grandmother had knitted for her. The sweater was mended and used after the liberation, and later having emigrated to the USA, Krystyna donated it to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. In a 2007 interview Krystyna stated that she did not know why the green sweater had been one of the few possessions that she took with her to the sewer, but that during her time underground, the green sweater became a representation of her grandmother’s love and, by extension, an instrument for her survival. Baer then concluded by talking about Lea Stern, who examined the green sweater in the museum and took a pattern from it. She knitted several reproductions to test the pattern. In one of the images Baer shared, we saw Krystyna Chiger with one of the reproductions, which fittingly closed the circle, or loop, of the green sweater. Baer’s presentation was very moving, and several participants mentioned her paper in their feedback, as in this example: ‘I was particularly moved by the final programme. Garments can tell such powerful stories and it is so important that they are recorded and shared. Especially as we seem to be living in strange times.’

Before the conference ended, Professor Sandy Black summarised the day and pointed out the variety and the long timespan covered in the papers presented at this year’s Knitting History Forum conference. Black concluded by thanking the KHF team, the speakers and the participants. The chat was full of thanks from the participants and many said they were looking forward to next year already!

Johanna Gullback, PhD candidate in Textile Studies, Uppsala University, Sweden

A PDF of this conference report can be downloaded from the 2025 KHF Conference page

Knitting History Forum Conference 2025

Image: at the Knitting History Forum conference on Saturday 1 February 2025 Elizabeth Baer will discuss Krystyna Chiger’s green sweater, now at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC

The Knitting History Forum is pleased to announce that the next annual conference is on Saturday 1 February 2025, with presentations on the history of knitting and crochet.

We have an exciting programme of speakers lined up for the online event:

  • Elizabeth Baer – A green sweater worn by a young Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis
  • Eleanor Gilchrist – The technology of the crochet pattern in the 1840s
  • Isa Holmgren – The creative process at Bohus Stickning, a Swedish textile association founded in 1939
  • Ryan Koenig – A reconstruction of the 16th century knitted cap from Ballybunion
  • Emily Rickard – A knitter’s vocabulary in capturing their emotional state
  • Trista Yeung – The historical development of knitting in China in the late 19th century and early 20th century

Tickets (at £27) will be on sale soon.

Please do subscribe to the Knitting History Forum’s newsletter to hear when the tickets go on sale. You can also sign up to the KHF online discussion group.

The Knitting History Forum is an international network for the history of knitting and crochet. KHF advances and promotes the history of knitting through research, exchange of ideas and information, and by historical reconstruction. Bookmark the KHF website!

Knitting History Forum Conference Saturday 1 February 2025

Save The Date! Knitting History Forum is pleased to announce the next annual KHF Conference will be online on Saturday 1 February 2025.

Would you like to give a presentation at the conference next year? We have already lined up some interesting presentations but the KHF committee is still inviting contributions. Please send a title and short description (350 words) to KHF chair, Sandy Black, at s.black@fashion.arts.ac.uk or fellow committee member Jane Malcolm-Davies at jane@jmdandco.com. All presenters will be asked to provide an abstract and photographs – one of themselves and at least one illustrating the topic of their talk to promote the event. Add an identifying caption for the image with any credits which are required. In addition, all presenters must record their talk in advance so that there is a backup of reasonable quality to use on the day of the conference, if necessary, and so we can make the conference available online after the event (to ticketholders only behind, a password).

Click here for more more information about previous Knitting History Forum Conferences. The February 2024 event included a mixture of object-based, archive-based and documentary research, knitting tradition and practical reconstruction.  Access to the 2024 conference recordings may still be purchased online.

Knitting History Forum/Early Knitting History Group Reconstruction Knitted Sanquhar Glove courtesy of Kirstie Buckland. PLEASE DO NOT USE IMAGE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Subscribe to the Knitting History Forum’s newsletter to keep in touch and hear what is happening. Don’t forget the free KHF online discussion group is available to discuss ideas for the conference or stay in touch with friends and delegates between conferences (either log in or register as a new member). After you’ve logged in, use the options in the sidebar to select how to receive messages at your convenience.

New submissions are always welcome and we invite you to contact us as soon as possible.

We look forward to seeing you in February!

Knitting History Forum Conference Report 2024

Senior conservation scientist at The National Archives, Marc Vermeulen, undertaking microfading testing with Museum of London textile conservator Emily Austin, 2022 (Image: Beatrice Behlen, © Museum of London)

The Knitting History Forum digital conference of 2024 took off at 11:15 GMT on Saturday 3 February with about 170 excited participants (with 250 tickets sold!), ready behind their screens with knitting projects for a day of research about knitting, yarn and even some crochet. Participants listened from all over the world, some even tuning in from Australia despite of, for them, the very early hour. Chair of Knitting History Forum and host for the event, Professor Sandy Black, welcomed everyone, and together with KHF team member I N Eliatamby she presented the event’s speakers and moderated questions put in the chat by the participants.

The speakers, both academics and freelance researchers, presented a wide range of interesting papers on various topics related to knitting research. As Sandy Black pointed out, practical experience and methodology are important research tools, something that was clearly reflected in the papers. There was a high interest from the participants, and the chat was alive with questions and comments.

Beatrice Behlen, senior curator of the Museum of London started the day with her paper A royal waistcoat re-examined about something of a knitting celebrity, the silk waistcoat that Charles I supposedly wore when he was beheaded in 1649. Together with researcher Jane Malcolm-Davies and a team of fibre and knitting experts, they had re-investigated the famous waistcoat inside and out. Behlen discussed what types of modern technology and research methods from the natural sciences such as microfadometry and dye analysis could be used, and what they can and can’t answer. The projects aim to combine these methods with archival research, visual investigations and reconstruction practices to further investigate the waistcoats possibly rather morbid past. The aim is also to find ways to communicate this to a wider audience, and to use citizen scientists to be able to run reconstructive experiments on a larger scale.     

Recreations of knitted-in cuff patterns of three knitted liturgical gloves
Recreations of knitted-in cuff patterns of three knitted liturgical gloves, showing the variety of such patterns, as discussed in the presentation (Image: © Lesley O’Connell Edwards)

Independent scholar Lesley O’Connell Edwards then presented her paper When there are no words: using reconstruction as a tool for understanding the creation of knitted liturgical gloves. All over Europe, there are many examples of liturgical gloves, skilfully knitted in silk and metal threads, some of which have intarsia motifs on the front. In an online database within a database called Holy Hands, most of the gloves are collected, and it is possible to compare them to one another. In her paper, O’Connell discussed the process of using reconstruction as a research tool to investigate the knitters as makers and how these gloves were constructed. She talked through what is needed for this kind of research, such as access to the actual garments or high resolution images and how to make samples.

For a researcher it is really annoying when a book or article doesn’t provide any information on its sources. That could lead to a lot of unanswered questions, but it could also lead to a Sherlock-esque investigation in the hunt for answers. That is where it led Sally Kentfield, independent scholar [and also a KHF team member], when she started to wonder about some information left out of Richard Rutt’s A history of hand knitting. Kentfield presented her detective work in a paper called The lost biography of Frances Lambert, taking us through the steps she took to find answers. With a deep dive into digital and physical archives, and by using digital humanities techniques such as corpus analysis, she showed how this kind of investigation can be conducted. She followed the traces of Lambert through the various archives, and pointed out how digitalisation can be a great help.

There was a refreshment break mid-forum, with breakout rooms in which the participants had a chance to get to know one another and have further discussions on knitting, crocheting and other yarn-related issues.  

After the break, Dr Marketta Luutonen explored the Korsnäs sweaters in her paper The fascinating Korsnäs Sweater. This sweater, originating from Korsnäs at the Ostrobotnian coast of Finland, is made by a combination of crochet and knitting. Originally made for men it seems to date back to the late half of the 19th century, but is today made for everyone. With its colourful motifs and patterning, the sweater has been a strong symbol for the rural area of Korsnäs throughout the 20th century, and its design elements are re-used as commercial elements. In her research on the relationship between human beings and products of knitting and crocheting, Luutonen notes that the design aspects of the sweater often have been more in focus then the material ones such as warmth. She has studied the process in which meaning is assigned to the Korsnäs sweater, and how its meaning to the people of Korsnäs has changed over time – from a warm, nice-looking garment to a connection to their cultural heritage and past.

Dr Katrin Kania, a freelance textile archaeologist and reconstruction practitioner, then examined yarn used for knitting for historical reconstructions and how the way that yarn is spun will have an impact on the end result. In her paper Yarns for knitting – the influence of twist she talked us through the various steps one needs to consider in choosing a yarn for a reconstruction project, such as the difference between knitting and weaving yarns, how twist influences the end result, the magic of plying and the importance of using a distaff when spinning. She also discussed tools and how much of a difference using modern tools and spinning techniques makes to the end result. Her conclusions? Well, as Kania said in her presentation – its complicated.  

Last but not least was Dr Jennifer Daley who took us on a trip to the Shetland Isles and its colourful knitting traditions. Her paper, Past and present knitters on Fair Isle: a case study of Fair isle knitted fishermen’s keps was presented as a recording, but Daley was still present and available to answer questions. By investigating the making of the hats, or keps, used by fishermen, Daley studied Fair Isle knitting and the changing traditions that surrounds it. Knitted with stranded knitting, the keps incorporate several colours and patterns that would be combined based on the knitters’ preferences and skills. To preserve the cultural heritage connected to the knitting, the Fair Isle knitters only consider items knitted with 100% Shetland wool, using no more than two colours each row and traditional designs as “official” Fair isle knitting. The habit of selling the knitted goods to tourists is still alive, even if a lot of the knitted keps sold are now made on knitting machines.

Julia Holm, PhD Candidate in Textile Studies, Uppsala University