A Little Piece of History

History of knitting

The actual origins of knitting are hard to trace. Historic evidence of knitted pieces have been found in several, diverse countries such as Egypt, England, Holland, Scotland, Spain, Germany, and so on. Apparently, the earliest evidence of knitted clothing found were fragments of socks that were made in Egypt sometime between 1000 and 1300 A.D. But, even this is disputed since some scholars say that these socks were not knitted but were the result of naalebinding (another fabric making technique).

The first trade union devoted to knitting professionals was founded in 1527 in Paris. It was originally a male-only occupation but soon became a household activity when knitted stockings became extremely popular. Apparently, by the lates 1600's between one and two million of these knitted stockings were exported from Britain to various parts of Europe.
Socks and stockings seem to be the earliest pieces of knitted clothing because this technique allowed for shaping the cloth to mold to the many angles of the foot. But this wasn't the only effective and creative use of hand knitting.

History of the Circular Sock Machine






This is a Circular Sock Machine(CSM) made in 1890.


I work in the security field so there are times I have lots of time at work where I have spare time on my hands. Well I knit at work during that spare time and alot of people in that company has seen the things that I have made and has commented on them. Well this week one of the employees for that company saw an article in one of the newspapers that she gets and it happened to be an article on knitting, since she has seen the knitting that I do she thought of me with this article and she said she just had to give it to me. I am not going to write out the article as it appeared in the newspaper, but in this atricle they are talking about Circular Sock Machines (CSM). These machines were made of castiron with a cylinder of 54, 60, 72, or 80 needles that stuck up around the top of the rim. These machines came out in 1890 or there about and the last one being made in 1923 or there about. Way back then they sold from anywhere between $3 and $8 and this was a way for women to make money outside the home. I thought this was a fastinating article when I read it, as I have never heard of these machines before. These machines are still around and are very hard to come by, if one is for sale it is very expensive and in very much needed repair and the replacement parts are very hard to find. What really got me is that there is a sock-knitting boot-camp, people actually get together and use this machine and make socks.

My Latest Afghan

This is my latest afghan that I am working on. I went away for the Easter weekend and forgot my knitting at work. I got very bored while travelling back to my hometown and it is a 12hr drive so when I got there I decided to pick up a pattern and some yarn so that I would have something to do on the way to my home. This is the pattern and colour of yarn I picked up. I have one panel done and I am working on the second one, there are five panels in total to make. There are three panels like this and two panels done in a cable stitch. When I get one of those panels going I will be putting a picture of that here so everyone can see it and when that afghan is finished I will make sure to get a piture of it and post it here so everyone can see it.

Welcome to Sharon's Knitting & Crochet World

Welcome everyone, Hope you enjoy it as much as I have putting it together, now Little Bit about me.

My Name is Sharon and I am 48 and happily married for 29yrs, I have two beautiful adult children, a daughter in law and a granddaughter. I have been kntting since I was about 10yrs old, my mother bless heart heart taught me how to knit, she had to knit socks, scarves, mitts and hats for all of us, there was 12 kids in the house so buying for all of us would be very expensive, I was not the easiest child out of all of us to learn to knit, but once I learned how to knit I really enjoyed it and still do to this very day. I have taught both my children and some of their friends how to knit, but my kids are not into like I am. I have knitted many things over the years from baby outfits and blankets to sweaters, scarves and afghans and I have to say that I enjoy knitting afghans more. The only thing I have not learned how to knit yet are socks and one day I will do that.

When I was in public school I had to take a sewing class but they also taught us how to cook not that I need to know that, but they also taught us how to crochet, but I could never get the hang of it. Now that I am older and I know how to knit well, I have decided that it is time to learn how to crochet so I am now teaching myself how to do that. I haven't created anthing yet but as soon as I do I will post my projects here.


Happy Knitting & Crocheting Everyone