Knitting as a Lifetime Hobby

I WAS seven years old when I knitted my first item of clothing​—a pair of baby’s socks. Eventually, this centuries-old craft became a practical hobby for me, as I made many of my winter woollies.

Upon moving from England to tropical Brazil, my needles and patterns were left idle. Why knit in the tropics? But a few years later the Brazilian producers of cotton, wool and man-made fibers launched a campaign to stimulate interest in knitting. Free courses are still offered, and the very first lesson suffices to convince girls and women of the pleasure and savings that can come from this hobby.

An Ancient Craft

Knitting is truly a practical craft. Whereas woven cloth has to be cut, shaped and styled, all of this can be done with the yarn when knitting it. Actually, the need to convert yarn into a fabric and shaped garments was responsible for the very invention of knitting.

How long ago was that? A pair of knitted woolen socks found in an Egyptian tomb may date back to the fourth century B.C.E. About 3,000 years ago, in Arabia, different-colored yarns were used to form designs. In fact, nomadic tribesmen of the Arabian desert are thought to have been the first knitters. While caring for their sheep, they would knit with yarn spun by their wives. In time, their knowledge spread throughout Europe, including the British Isles.

Men, not women, established the craft as a skilled profession. Their training involved three years of study and three of travel. Then followed a further 13 weeks of testing in creative work. After passing the test, a man was accepted as a member of the knitters’ guild.

About 400 years ago, women began to knit as a pastime. First, they learned the craft from their husbands. But, since then, it has been passed down traditionally from mother to daughter. In many countries women’s magazines print new knitting patterns. Although featuring the latest fashions, these patterns are actually based on those developed by the menfolk in the dim past.

Traditional Designs Still Popular

The forefathers of the Aran Islands’a fishermen gave us a seemingly inexhaustible treasure in stitch designs. Each design has a meaning. The picturesque Irish landscape is depicted by a variety of such designs. Small fields enclosed by stone walls are illustrated by the trellis stitch. Zigzag designs represent cliff paths twisting along the coastline. The handiwork of the industrious bee provided the inspiration for the honeycomb stitch.

Family life also produced a wealth of ideas. The plaited cable served as a reminder of the interweaving of family life, whereas the desire for the family to be well fed and healthy was portrayed by the spoon. Various cable patterns depict the fishermen’s ropes. And unmistakable religious influence can be seen in the tree of life design and also in the ladder of life, representing man’s climb to eternal happiness.

Over the centuries, the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands have developed a multicolored knitting technique called “Fair Isle.” A flat weave, known as the stocking stitch, is used for all garments, and colorful motifs are knitted in as part of the weave. Patterning in delicate colors is mostly done on a light background. No more than two colors are used in a row, but a change of ground shade and pattern shade in alternating rows gives a multicolored effect.

The beauty of this work is enhanced by applying dyes from local plants. The resultant subtle shades of blues and greens cannot be matched by chemical dyes. On other islands, the multicolored effect is achieved by knitting various shades of natural wool. Shetland wool, for example, is noted for its fineness and durability. A garment made from this wool is said to last a lifetime, and the colors never fade. The wool has been spun so finely that a lace shawl, six feet (1.8 meters) square and containing one and a half miles (2.4 kilometers) of yarn, weighs only two and a half ounces (70 grams). Why, it can be pulled through a wedding ring!

Practical Garments Dominate the Scene

Have you noticed that most knitted garments are for practical use? Having plenty of time at home on long winter nights, fishermen around the English coast used their knitting talent to make a garment that would stand up to their rough outdoor life. By knitting with very fine needles, they created a virtually windproof fabric. When completed, it is a seamless garment, the original navy-blue jersey or guernsey that is named after islands in the English Channel. It has never been improved on for warmth, protection and freedom of movement.

Typical on the South American scene is the hand-knitted poncho. It was the alpaca that provided the raw material for this original work and the inspiration for the knitted motif. Alpaca wool is very light and as soft as silk.

The hand-knitted item that defies even the spinner is the lovikka, the Scandinavian mitten. With thick needles, it is knitted in stocking stitch from unspun wool. The resultant weave provides such excellent insulation that a person’s hands perspire even at temperatures of 30 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (−34 degrees Celsius). Simple colorful embroidery and a tassel brighten up the natural color.

A Twentieth-Century Hobby

Knitting has never been so easy as it is today. Patterns are available with instructions for practically every known garment. Modern styles call for stitch designs that simply beg you to have a try. With only a few lessons, the beginner can learn elementary essentials, and the use of thick, chunky wool makes for quick progress.

Economic conditions have put more emphasis on knitting as a craft, not just a hobby. For example, the price of a topcoat in England doubled in just one year. So, knitters are directing their talents to the making of short jackets, bulky sweaters and cozy ponchos. In southern Brazil, where the temperature can drop below the freezing point, short jackets, knitted with thick yarn and sporting Aran designs, are seen more often than winter coats.

Brazil’s involvement with knitting stems from its having available the needed raw materials. For centuries cotton has been grown in Brazil and exported to Europe. Careful experimentation has yielded a strain of cotton that is superior to any previously developed, particularly in regard to fiber length and strength. Known as serido, the plant can produce for seven to 10 years before being replanted, while other kinds have to be replanted annually. This has given a boost to the local cotton industry and, hence, also to knitting.

Tips for Beginners

But how can you go about learning how to knit? Says Everyman’s Encyclopedia: “The knitter’s craft itself is very simple, requiring only a set of [knitting] needles, a ball of wool, cotton, silk or linen. A single loop is made on the end of the fibre that is being used and from this loop the stitches are cast on to the needles, the basic action of the craft consisting of transferring the loops from one needle to another; ‘weaving’ the new set of loops transferred on to the second needle from the first set of loops by passing the point of the second needle through the loop, wrapping the fibre over the point of the needle, and then passing the loop over the fibre wrapped round the needle. By working across the back of the loops a purl stitch is produced, [knitting] and purling being the foundation stitches out of which the most simple and elaborate patterns are created.”

Brazilian designers have substituted Fair Isle knitting for Swiss darning​—a method whereby the garment is knitted in stocking stitch and the pattern is applied afterward. Most lace designs are best produced when one has more experience. Yet, simple basic design, such as net stitch, can easily be made with just a little practice. Nevertheless, experienced knitters still prefer to follow a pattern​—to pick up professional secrets.

Most yarns are sold by weight and the yardage depends on its thickness and quality. Man-made fibers are much lighter than wool of the same thickness. Once, for a pattern that called for natural wool, I bought, in weight, the same amount of synthetic wool. When I completed the garment, I still had almost half the wool left. Cotton of the same thickness as natural wool is even heavier. This I discovered when knitting a suit intended for wool. I used cotton of the same thickness instead, which did not alter the tension required, but I had to buy almost twice as much yarn in weight. It turned out to be an expensive suit indeed.

Knitwear is preferred to crochet work for close-fitting garments. Due to its elasticity, a hand-knitted garment can stretch 30 percent before losing its original shape. When undoing a garment to be reknitted, much of the original elasticity is lost, so that an adult’s sweater will produce only enough for a child’s. For this reason, too, never wind yarn tightly on a ball.

Many hand knitters have dropped the hobby in favor of machine knitting. Yet, knitting by machine can never give the same calming physical satisfaction, and it robs a person of the pleasure derived from making something with his own hands. This is why a mother of five children sold her machine. Now “she works at whatever is the delight of her hands.”​—Prov. 31:13.

Yes, knitting is a rewarding and practical hobby. The pleasure it gives is no doubt one of the reasons why it has lasted so long and spread so far. Another reason is its providing a variety of clothing. Knitting has a unique past, it is a practical hobby for today and it has a promising future. So why not make it your hobby too?​—Contributed.

[Footnotes]

[Pictures on page 24]

Ladder of Life

Lobster Claw

Tree of Life