Category: Research

Elizabethan knitting is the subject of a newly-published article in the journal ‘Textile History’. Lesley O’Connell Edwards’s paper is entitled ‘The Stocking Knitting Industry of Later Sixteenth-Century Norwich‘ and its focus is a subject with popular interest but surprisingly little academic investigation. As the abstract explains: “Knitted garments became increasingly common throughout the sixteenth century in England, and it has been estimated that the production of stockings alone occupied at least 90,000 knitters at the end of the century. Knitting as an economic process in England has been little studied in this period. This paper examines the evidence for knitting as an industry in the later sixteenth century in Norwich, the second city in England, when it provided a source of employment for over seven per cent of the poorest people. It provides quantitative data for the socio-economic background of knitters in the 1570s, and for the minimum volume of production in the early 1580s. It analyses other evidence for this industry, including the production process and contemporary writings.”

Lesley, a long-standing member of KHF, has presented well-received papers at previous Knitting History conferences. She maintains the invaluable Bibliography Of The History Of Knitting Before 1600 and has published other pieces on early knitting, some of which are included in KHF’s select Knitting History Reading List. This latest work, which includes material from her recent masters’ dissertation, is based on her ongoing research into sixteenth century knitting. Textile History is a peer-reviewed journal published on behalf of the Pasold Research Fund. Lesley’s article is available by subscription at the Textile History website https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00404969.2021.1923342?

The Early Summer 2021 issue of The Journal of Dress History includes Dr Eleanor Reed’s article on twentieth century knitting, “For Those Who Enjoy an Interesting Piece of Knitting:” Handknitting and Handknits in British Domestic Magazines, 1910–1939. The abstract reads: “Although early to mid twentieth century histories of handknitting are well documented, comparatively little research has been undertaken into the role in these histories of domestic magazines, which, appealing to and working to generate mass readerships of skilled and enthusiastic knitters, supported — and sought to profit from — a precipitous rise in the handicraft’s popularity. This article uses quantitative and qualitative analysis of The Knitting and Crochet Guild’s collection of 1910−1939 British domestic magazine knitting patterns to explore these publications’ treatment of handknitting and knitwear during a period in which knitting’s popularity soared, and the women’s magazine market boomed. Surveying a sample of 2538 patterns from 367 magazines representing 46 titles, this article spotlights, besides a rise in the popularity of knitwear and handknitting, a fall in the assumed expertise of knitters targeted by domestic magazines, and a growing intimacy in the commercial partnerships between these publications, yarn manufacturers, and pattern designers.”

The focus of Dr Reed’s research is on early to mid twentieth century domestic magazines and she gave an insightful presentation on 1958 knitting patterns in Woman’s Weekly magazine at the Knitting History Forum Conference in 2018 (in those heady days when we could all gather in person). The Journal of Dress History is peer-reviewed and published by the Association of Dress Historians. The Early Summer 2021 edition, Volume 5, Issue 2, is free to download at the ADH website  https://dresshistorians.org/journal/

BREAKING NEWS! The 60th edition of Archaeological Textiles Review has finally been published. This long-awaited diamond issue is devoted to the study of Early Modern knitted items with more than ten articles focussing on extant evidence, including two sixteenth century caps (one being the earliest known example of Danish knitting), sixteenth century wool stockings, seventeenth century silk stockings, items recovered from shipwrecks including mittens from the Netherlands and Sweden, and the full version of the proposal for a new protocol for recording evidence for knitting (read more here). One of the articles is an obituary of Karen Finch, our late Honorary President. A major outcome of the Knitting in Early Modern Europe (KEME) project, funded by a Marie Skłodowska Curie Research Fellowship, the volume contains 99 pages devoted to knitted fragments and garments with many colour photographs and detailed specifications such as the tension or gauge, yarn and fibre for each item.

This issue is available by subscription and the University of Copenhagen is now deciding how many copies to print. Don’t delay! The print deadline is today (12th December 2018). Volume 60 of Archaeological Textiles Review costs dkk250, approximately €34, £30 or US $38. Visit the University website to subscribe: http://www.webshophum-en.ku.dk/shop/2018-subscription-archaeological-2310p.html.