The 1823 issue of the Dutch monthly publication Penélopé (cited in several previous posts) describes how the yarn is held for crochet, placing it the same hand as the hook. “For this one needs a tambour needle, with a small hook at the front…. This is held in the right hand, along with the thread being worked, about… Continue reading Methods of holding yarn for crochet
The shepherds in Landes, the northernmost part of the French Basque Country, were a subject of popular attention during the 19th century for two traits. One was their use of stilts to deal with the marshy heathlands on which their flocks grazed, and the other was their practice of knitting while watching over them. A chapter on… Continue reading A stilted perspective on hooked knitting
The description of Bosnian crochet given by Luise Schinnerer in 1897 and discussed in detail in the preceding post, is echoed in almost all points of detail in the article on crochet in the Encyclopedia of Needlework; New Edition by Thérèse de Dillmont. Its publication date is not known but the first edition, dated 1886, makes no mention of… Continue reading More about Bosnian crochet
The text by Fritz Iklé discussed in the preceding post summarizes an article “about Bosnian-Herzegovinian knitting” by Luise Schinnerer published in the 1897 volume of the Zeitschrift für österreichische Volkskunst (“Journal of Austrian Folk Art”). He doesn’t indicate its title and focuses on her observations about knitting with hook-tipped needles being a practice of the Islamic community… Continue reading Hooked knitting and crochet in Bosnia
Several previous posts refer to generally held beliefs about the earliest knitters in Egypt using needles with hooked tips to make twisted-stitch stockinette fabric. More recent scientific examination of archaeologically-recovered knitted fabric has radiocarbon dated the oldest known specimen of true knitting to the interval 425–594 CE. Counter to what the established tenet leads us to expect, this… Continue reading Who said knitting started with twisted stitches and hooked needles?
The preceding post discussed hook-tipped knitting needles and the reasons why they are thought to be older than smooth-tipped ones. The schools of knitting in which they are used are further characterized by a method of holding the yarn that is generically termed “yarn around neck.” This is believed to resemble the form of knitting initially… Continue reading Hook-tipped knitting needles and their traveling companions
Texts about knitting often present needles with hooked tips as limited regional preferences to the commonplace smooth-tipped needles. The hooked form is considered to be the older of the two and initially used in Egypt where the craft is also believed to have originated. Such needles have been documented in Eastern Europe, Portugal, and Southern France —… Continue reading Early knitting with hook-tipped needles
