Knitting history forum conferences

Knitting history forum conferences

Knitting History Conferences, speakers and papers presented since 2006. For more information, here are reports from recent conferences: KHF 2018KHF 2019KHF 2020KHF 2021 and KHF 2023.

4th November 2006, University Women’s Club, London
The Early Knitting History Group was re-established in 2006 as the Knitting History Forum. Dr Negley Harte chaired the inaugural meeting, Kirstie Buckland acted as co-ordinator and Dr Karen Finch was unanimously elected Honorary President.

3rd November 2007, University Women’s Club, London
Mary Schoeser Montse Stanley and knitting, her legacy
Karen Finch Recent archaeological finds in Copenhagen
Joyce Meader Military knitting from WW1 to the present
Linda Newington Inspiring collectors: the collections of Montse Stanley, Richard Rutt and Jane Waller
PhD students discuss their research into the historical and inclusive design of seamless knitting, and the cultural significance of armhole shaping in the 17th-18th centuries

8 November 2008, University Women’s Club, London
Sheila Williams A Brief History of Knitting Pin Gauges
Gary Hayton Shaping The Past Writing Patterns for Historical Felted Hats
Lesley O’Connell Edwards A suitable employment for the poor? – English working knitters from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and initiatives to train them
Sandy Black Fashioned with love – home knitting for children
Marilyn Willis The Hidden Skills of the English Housewife: the Marginalisation of Hand Knitting in the 1930s

7 November 2009, London College of Fashion
Caterina Radvan Inclusively designed womenswear through industrial knitting technology
Elizabeth Gibbons Items from the collection
Lise Warburg and Lita Rosing-Schow The Copenhagen Embankment Finds, new research from excavations of 17th century fortifications
Ruth Gilbert Lindisfarne fragments, new research
Hilary Davidson Introduction to Museum of London collection
Jane Malcolm-Davies Recording the Tudor caps

6 Novemer 2010, London College of Fashion
Philip Sykas Silk Yarns for Knitting and their use in Britain
Susan North Knitting Backwards? Deciphering the patterns of historical knitting
Debbie Bamford The Art of Dyeing Silke

5 November 2011, London College of Fashion
In Memory of Richard Rutt, author of A History of Hand Knitting (1987)
Kirstie Buckland Richard Rutt’s contribution to knitting history
Mary Hawkins Richard Rutt’s writings for the Knitting and Crochet Guild’s ‘Slipknot’
Dr Maj Ringgaard 17th and 18th Century star-patterned knitted vests in Scandinavia
Juliana Sissons Historic inspirations – work from Knitwear Design residency at the V&A Museum 2010
Lesley O’Connell Edwards Reproducing and Researching 19th Century Knitted Purses

10 November 2012, London College of Fashion
Lise Warburg Knitting with both ends of the ball – the Geography of Twined Knitting
Edwina Ehrman The Clothworkers Centre for Textiles and Fashion Study and Conservation at V&A Blythe House, and A mystery Victorian knitted pocket
Jane Malcolm-Davies Knit two together – does a committee create a camel? Reconstructing 16th century children’s clothes
Mary Hawkins Eric Pasold’s recreation of William Lee’s knitting frame
Barbara Smith The invisible knitting pattern designer: Elizabeth Forster’s designs 1940s-80s
Sandy Black Couture handknitting in the postwar period – Szanto Models

9 November 2013, London College of Fashion
Susan North A (Knitting) Needle in a Haystack: knitting information found whilst researching other things
Amanda Mason Wartime Knitting: the collection of the Imperial War Museum
Maria Price Researching and designing costume and knitwear for film and TV
Rachael Matthews Refabricating Knitting and Textile History: speculation through archaeology and folk song
Matteo Molinari Crocheting Cultures: traditions and practice in Italy and the UK
Barbara Smith The evolution of Aran Style

8th November 2014, London College of Fashion
Angharad Thomas Piecing Together a History of Two-colour Knitted Gloves – from medieval times to the present
Tom van Deijnen Old Techniques and New Cardigans: a case study in traditional repair techniques
Amy Twigger Holroyd Keep and Share – amateur knitting practice as a sustainable strategy
Barbara Smith Useful Work for Anxious Fingers – knitting & crochet in the First World War
Joyce Meader Knitted Comforts for the Soldiers – from the Boer War to WW1

14th November 2015, London College of Fashion
Carol Christiansen Late seventeenth century knitwear from the Gunnister Man find
Kirstie Buckland Saintly Socks and Silken Pillows – a glance at the mysteries of some medieval knitting in Spain
Lesley O’Connell Edwards Who wrote what when? A study of the publications of the Hopes of Ramsgate in the 1840s
Zoe Fletcher Designing for Breed: Enhancing the potential for British wool in UK knitwear manufacture, through design, new technologies and marketing strategy
Jane Malcolm-Davies A knitting revolution? A scientific survey of sixteenth century knitted caps

19th November 2016, London College of Fashion
Gieneke Arnolli Typically Frisian lace knitting, between fact and fiction and Curating the Knitting! exhibition
Hanna Bäckström The publication of knitting and crochet patterns in Northern Europe 1790-1870 and Brief remarks on recent knitting history research in Sweden
Michelle Hanks The Hand-Knitted Gift: using knitting as a research tool
Roslyn Chapman Cultural Sensitivities: Debunking the myths of Shetland lace

18th November 2017, London College of Fashion
Maj Ringgaard The development of stockings 1600-1800: evidence from the Copenhagen excavations
Helena Lundin Shipwrecked knitting: Fragments from the Swedish Seventeenth Century Flagship Kronan
Lesley O-Connell Edwards Of stockings and sleeves: insights from some 16th century knitted items in the Museum of London
Matteo Molinari Crocheting Cultures: traditional Italian crochet practice in private and public spaces in Veneto
Barbara Smith “Wools for the World” – Wakefield Greenwood of Huddersfield
Ruth Gilbert A complex knitting technique from Egypt: the evidence and some ideas

17th November 2018, London College of Fashion
Annemor Sundbø Everyday knitting in Norway – treasures from the ragpile
Celia Pym The Norwegian Sweater: Darning Damage
Rachael Matthews Knitting effect, wellbeing and health
Cary Karp Investigating 19th Century ‘Tricot ecossais’ and ‘Crochet à la Tricoter’
Jana Trepte Piecing the Bremen waistcoat together: an everyday knitted garment of the early 1600s
Eleanor Reed Post austerity consumerism and thrift – 1958 knitting patterns in Woman’s Weekly
Lorna Hamilton-Brown Black people don’t knit?

2nd November 2019, Textile Research Centre, Leiden
Chrystel Brandenburgh Knitting for science. The reconstruction of the 17th century Texel Stockings by a citizen science community
Lesley O’Connell Edwards A hidden workforce: hand knitters in 17th century England
Sylvie Odstrčilová Early modern stockings from the Czech Republic and neighbouring countries
Hannah Bäckström The earliest printed knitting patterns
Art Ness Proaño Gaibor Dye-experiments on the Texel Stocking
Geeske Kruseman Wearing 17th century knitted silk stockings
Sally Pointer Clues from the deep: Reconstructing for the re-enactment market – silk stockings based on the Texel project
Susan North How not to Knit: Sourcing silk, research and reconstructions reviewed
Jane Malcolm-Davies Modern Slavery and the early modern work ethic: Lessons learned from volunteer participation in knitting in early modern Europe
Panel discussion with Katrin Kania, Heleen van Londen and Roeland Paardenkoper Knitting leads the way! The perils and potential of citizen science in textile research

7th November 2020, Online Conference
Michelle Hanks “I’ll have to knit about it…” Knitting as a thinking tool
Emily Rickard Exploring the use of creative, open-ended knitting as a form of journalling to record emotions, with consideration for mental wellbeing
Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood The Collection of the Textile Research Centre Leiden, with some knitted highlights
Lynn Abrams From Fleece to Fashion: researching the history of knitted textiles in Scotland
Jade Halbert Knitting for Money: homework in Glasgow and beyond in the 1980s
Sandy Black On being a knitwear designer in the 1980s
Sylvie Odstrčilová Two pairs of eighteenth century abbess’s gloves from Prague
Lesley O’Connell Edwards and Angharad Thomas Holy Hands: studies of knitted liturgical gloves
Emily Whitted Made in Germantown: Analysis of an early American frame knitting industry

13th November 2021, Online Conference
Kirstie Buckland From fleece to fez in fifteen steps: an interpretation of the 1571 Cappers Act in the 21st century
Gieneke Arnolli Inlandic, Foreign and Speckled Stockings – Harlingen hosiery shops in the 17th century
Lesley O’Connell Edwards From anecdote to statistic: in search of quantifiable data for the volume of production and trade in hand knitted stockings made from wool in England in the later Elizabethan and Jacobean periods
Pat Poppy “3 pounds Wostid in niting”:  Knitted garments in Stuart accounts
Hanna Bäckström “There are few ladies who cannot knit stockings” – Printed instructions, norms and practice in the nineteenth century
Jane Malcolm-Davies Examining the body of evidence for early knitting
Angharad Thomas Holy Hands: Studies of knitted liturgical gloves
Pragya Sharma From jorab (socks) to dastana (gloves): Tracing provenance of hand-knitting in the Indian subcontinent
Constance Willems Little 16th century feet: The hidden secret of Dutch Groningen´s knitted stocking of 1540
Nicole Pohl Knitwits: Knitting the Bluestockings. Knitting and the 18th century salon
Sandy Black Classic Knits of the 1980s – a book of colourful knitwear designs by Sandy Black

28th January 2023, Online Conference
Kristi Jõeste Reconstructing Estonian mittens and gloves heritage from the insider’s perspective: problems and outcomes
Hélène Magnússon Icelandic knitting traditions
Irene Waggener Keepers of the Sheep: Knitting in Morocco’s High Atlas and Beyond
Frankie Owens Knitting the Peruvian way: traditions
Cynthia LeCount Samaké Andean Knitting Update: Stunning Synthetics of Peru & Bolivia

See Early Knitting History Group Meetings for details of events and speakers before 2006.