Charity has Always Been a Part of Knitting History
Knitting history shows a long line of charity knitting
Knitting history is pretty interesting stuff! For one thing, there was a time that knitting was performed solely by men, for men …
"The brimless 'acorn' style cap was worn by men in northern Europe throughout the second half of the fifteenth-century. Although the height of the crown varied depending on the social class of the wearer and the current fashion, the basic style itself changed very little from the late 1440s to the 1490s."
- From a knitting history website -
KNITTING HISTORY: FROM ANTIQUITY 'TIL NOW
The word "knit", which means to tie or join, was an English word prior to the development of the craft now called knitting. Based on the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest reference to the modern meaning of "knit" is from the year 1530 A.D.
The oldest positively identified knitting is from somewhere between 1200-1500 AD in Islamic Egypt. It consists of some pieces of blue and white cotton socks and fabric fragments, showing complicated two-color patterning along with simple stripes, and some of it displays Arabic script.
By the 1600s, knitting history shows that knitting was a well-entrenched pastime of women, and knitted items were known to be given as gifts, particularly to 'less fortunate' members of the lower classes throughout Europe. There are surviving documents that indicate that the 'poor of the parish' received knitted garments (in drab colors like grey and beige, since color was considered a status symbol - that's why the word "colorless" became an insult).
By the time of the early American pilgrims, women were often knitting for their whole communities, a pastime that continues to this day. They often 'placed orders' back to England for wool, becoming the America's first 'importers' - and having to wait sometimes MONTHS for their ships to come in!
Knitting history, from the 13th century until the present, is full of charitable knitting - a noble pastime with a noble history.
