As cooler weather approaches and we search for warmer clothes, it seems fitting to examine the history of knitwear and the centuries-old custom of knitting garments by hand – a craft carried out by many of our forebears, until relatively recent times.

Hand-knitting is an ancient, widely-practised craft involving the creation of fabric from a single thread formed into horizontal rows of loops that interlock with each subsequent row. Historically, the natural yarns available to knitters were linen, hemp, wool and later cotton, although wool was often favoured, on account of its softness and warmth. For centuries, wooden sticks, bone, ivory or quills were the basic hand-tools used in knitting, until fine steel needles became more widely available in the 1800s. Over time, diverse customs evolved in different geographical areas, regional variations giving the knitting of specific locations a strong visual identity; yet the familiar knit and purl loop construction was almost universal and remarkably similar knitted textiles have been produced worldwide for generations.

Surviving pieces of knitwear from 2nd-3rd century Egypt and Syria suggest that early knitted articles were practical garments mainly for protecting the body’s extremities: warm coverings for the head, hands and feet. After these initial finds, the trail goes cold for some centuries, but by the 1100s and 1200s knitted fragments, for example from Egypt and Spain, confirm the continuation of the craft. Indeed, in Continental Europe hand-knitting guilds were forming by the 14th century and further historical evidence demonstrates the attainment of an impressive level of expertise. Records indicate that luxury knitted items were owned by royalty and aristocracy, while humble families – about whom less is known – probably knitted everyday garments from locally-sourced, coarse wools. Significantly, the woollen industry was at the heart of England’s medieval economy and following the development of the spinning wheel, which enabled the production of finer yarns and greater quantities, from the 1400s hand-knitting advanced rapidly in Britain, both at a domestic level and as a professional, commercial enterprise.

The earliest English knitted item to survive in any quantity is the 16th-century woollen cap popularly worn by men and boys and often dyed red using madder, or black. Sumptuary legislation restricted luxury velvet caps to the upper ranks of society, while cheaper knitted caps were everyday wear for the working masses. Although Tudor cap styles varied, their skilled construction centring on a flat circular crown has scarcely changed over centuries of cap-making and knitted headwear has been in and out of fashion ever since. Also in the 1500s, when finer needles first appeared, knitted stockings began to replace traditional woven cloth hose, launching what would become a vast and successful hosiery industry. Stretchy finely-knitted stockings fitted the leg more closely and elegantly than woven fabric and gorgeously-arrayed Elizabethan and Jacobean courtiers favoured exquisite silk knitted stockings embellished with coloured silk and metallic embroidery. Later, during the 1640s, striking wide-topped woollen ‘boot hose’ worn as an extra layer inside cavalier boots became a dashing male fashion statement. T-shaped fine knitted cotton and silk body garments were another elite mode, as exemplified by the pale blue/grey knitted silk ‘shirt’ or ‘vest’ reputedly worn by King Charles I at his execution in 1649, now in the Museum of London.

Among the wider population, in the pre-industrial age hand-knitting provided warm, practical garments for the family and also gave inhabitants of poor farming and fishing communities a way of earning much-needed extra income, especially during the winter. Being light work easily carried out with basic portable implements, men, women and children knitted whenever possible during daylight hours, for instance while watching over sheep, walking to market, even while sailing boats. They often used a knitting sheath tied around the waist or tucked in an apron or belt – typically a stick with a hole or groove to hold one needle in place, both freeing one hand and also steadying and hastening the work. Among Britain’s many hand-knitting centres, the isolated Shetland Islands were important from the early-1600s, where the knitting of caps, jerseys, gloves, stockings and underwear to trade for money or essential goods constituted a livelihood for the whole community. From the late-1800s one of the islands, Fair Isle, became internationally-famed for its intricate knitting comprising horizontal bands of small repeating geometric motifs in several colours – distinctive designs reputedly first brought by sailors wrecked in the Spanish Armada.

Hand-knitting has long been associated with the sea and perhaps the most iconic item of British knitwear is the fisherman’s traditional blue or grey knitted Guernsey sweater or ‘gansey’. Originating in the late 1700s in the Channel Islands, this hard-wearing garment was widely worn by fishermen from Scotland to Sussex, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Mainly knitted from four- or five-ply worsted wool, ganseys were essentially T-shaped, with under-arm gussets and side slits for easy movement, but also had a tight neck, welt and cuffs to keep out freezing winds. The hard twist given to the wool during spinning and the tightly-knitted stitches, coupled with the wool’s natural oils, ensured that ganseys were warm and windproof, offering some protection against rain and sea spray. The classic Guernsey pattern was plain, although often designs were knitted across the chest, upper back and the upper sleeves. Local fishing communities developed their own complex knitwear patterns, unique to their region, the design and sometimes the actual garment passed down the generations. In theory it was possible to identify the village or even the family of a drowned sailor, from the style of his gansey.

Knitted sweaters, stretchy and comfortable, also began to be worn by Victorian sportsmen when more active leisure pursuits became fashionable during the mid-late 1800s. Not only yachtsmen and oarsmen (continuing the association of knitwear with water), but also football and rugby players, cyclists and others participating in physical activities found knitted woollen sweaters and jerseys comfortable, movement-enhancing and successful at absorbing perspiration. As teams began to acquire recognisable colours, sports jerseys were often knitted in horizontal stripes denoting the team colours. Relatively few women played energetic sports before the turn of the century, but during the early 1900s and early 1910s, knitted cardigans (initially termed a ‘Spencer’ or simply ‘jacket’) became very popular for relaxed weekend wear and fashionable activities like walking, skiing, golf and tennis.

Knitting was taught in educational establishments from as early as the late 16th century and from the 18th century workhouse children also learned knitting, along with other domestic accomplishments. The school instruction manuals that began to flourish from the early-Victorian era – titles like The Knitting Teacher’s Assistant (1838) and Directions for Plain Knitting for the Working Classes and Schools (1846) – demonstrate the high standards demanded of each child learning knitting at school or in an institution. Around the same time, knitting guides in quality ladies’ journals and household books also proliferated and it became more common for mothers to teach their daughters at home. In genteel households where females enjoyed leisure time, ladies often practised hand-knitting as well as other needle crafts like crochet, netting, tatting and macramé, keen knitters creating an array of articles for both the person and the home, from warm knee preservers, to knitted mats, doilies, pin-cushions, bread cloths and even curtains. Wool (called ‘worsted’) was the most common knitting yarn, although cotton and silk were also widely used.

Some Victorian hand-knitted items were virtuoso pieces: for example, an exquisite baby’s christening gown displaying diverse intricate hand-knitted lace stitches was awarded a medal in the Great Exhibition of 1851. Lace knitting using lightweight cotton and silk thread flourished at this time and was ideally suited to creating delicate baby bonnets and caps and ladies’ shawls, fichus, fine mittens and gloves. A continuing interest in colourful beaded knitting also inspired some extraordinarily decorative bags and purses: initially these were assembled painstakingly from scratch, following a chart, but in time kits began to be produced with the beads already strung, ready for knitting up.

During the 19th century, knitting items for soldiers serving in foreign theatres of war also become customary, women at home sending donations to the British forces at Scutari during the Crimean War (1853-56) and, later, again despatching hand-knitted goods to soldiers involved in the First Boer War (1880-81) and Second Boer War or South African War (1899-1902). A precedent had been set and during the First World War women left at home while their men folk served overseas set about creating hand-knitted cosy ‘comforts’ for the troops: mainly socks, but also gloves, mufflers, body-warmers, jerseys and balaclavas. With the help of magazine patterns and dedicated publications like The Khaki Knitting Book (1917), they knitted at every opportunity: indoors, alone or in knitting groups or clubs formed among friends; when travelling on public transport; while waiting to be served in hotels and restaurants; even at the picture house or theatre. Khaki knitting wool became widely available and so enthusiastic were women determined to help that reportedly some soldiers received more knitted comforts than they knew what to do with, although many welcomed the clean, dry socks that made life on long winter marches and in muddy trenches a little more bearable.

Throughout the 1914-18 war hand-knitting was also an economical way of extending a civilian wardrobe when families managing on reduced incomes struggled to acquire new clothes. Many women and girls hand-knitted casual woollen caps and front-buttoning or wrap-over jacket-cardigans for themselves, and also created infants’ garments at this time of changing fashions in baby and toddler wear. After the war, as dress etiquette began to relax and simpler, more comfortable clothes became more widely acceptable, knitwear entered everyday dress for all. Attractive knitting patterns supplied by commercial companies like Weldon’s, Leach’s and Jaeger provided instructions for knitting everything from underclothes and baby outfits to schoolboys’ sweaters and sets of matching hats, mufflers and gloves. The introduction of various novelty yarns like mohair and angora also gave hand-knitting a boost between the wars.

After war erupted again in 1939 hand-knitting became essential to the home front concept of ‘remaking and making do’, the Women’s Voluntary Services leading a nationwide knitting drive. Most materials were growing increasingly scarce and new clothing was strictly rationed from June 1941, so knitting wool – new or used – proved invaluable. Once again, women spent their spare time knitting ‘comforts’ for the troops and also created clothes for themselves and their families, from any colour and quality of wool available. Left-over wool was never discarded and adult garments were often unravelled and knitted into new children’s clothes. As a form of camaraderie, women knitted in groups, even in air-raid shelters, or spent evenings at home darning and knitting, while listening to the wireless.

Knitted goods remained popular during the long years of post-war austerity, and hand-knitting was continued as an enjoyable, useful activity in some families well into the 1960s, and beyond. However as the ‘Swinging Sixties’ heralded a more modern, outward-looking age in which clothes were increasingly designed to be fun and ephemeral, homely hand-knitting began to seem old-fashioned, especially among young people. A new generation of designer-knitters revived colourful chunky knitwear during the 1970s and 1980s, but domestic hand-knitting continued to decline and was rarely taught in schools. Not only were more women going out to work and had less time, or inclination, for laborious domestic tasks, but also convenient, affordable new textiles like fleece (a synthetic polyester substitute for wool) were flooding the clothing market by the early 1990s. Yet in the 21st century the craft of hand-knitting is becoming appreciated again – as a satisfying, creative experience, often a sociable community activity and a cool trend. Knitting has been an important feature of our culture and we are picking up our needles again.