Knit of the 19th century in two different cultures - Essay Example

s Knit of the 19th century in two different cultures Knitting is a process of making of cloth or garments by means of weaving the threads. In fact, it is not new to the world. Its history is rather long and interesting to observe and analyse. That is why, in terms of this paper, I will take a look at the two quite different cultures of England and Iceland of the 19th century, try to trace the main trends in the sphere of knitting, pay attention to the traditional and cultural approach to the process and some historic facts describing how both the Englishmen and Icelanders regarded this particular kind of industry. First, I am going to speak about the knitting traditions of the 19th century on the land of ice and fire – Iceland. The old Icelandic poem says: “If you are already four years old / it’s time to start working / and for that you need to learn three things / reading, knitting and spinning” (“History of Icelandic Wool”, 2012). In fact, knitting has always been one of the most significant crafts that has also become traditional for the island. Knitting has been such an integral part of its life that the Icelanders of all ages and sexes have been involved in it: men, women, old people, and children (“History of the Icelandic sheep”, 2012). The most evident reason of great success in knitting is the universality as well as practicality of the final products. Another one is the redundancy of the island’s raw materials. It is a well-known fact that the country for a long time has been populously inhabited by some particular long-haired sheep breed that was imported by newcomers in the course of the 9th century. This breed of sheep is notable for its own unique genetic pool. It is also important to note that importation of any kind of animals to Iceland has long been forbidden (“History of Icelandic Wool”, 2012). Speaking about the 19th century, the first half of it relates to the era known as Long Nights, which was a rather difficult one for the islanders. Actually, it was a dark period of time when the island was under Danish Kingdom’s domination. This period was characterised by economic isolation of the country, as well as such catastrophic natural phenomena as earthquakes along with volcanic eruptions. The historians claim that at this time the Icelanders used to knit fairly often and everywhere: “in almost complete darkness, sitting in their huts of turf, as they walked down the street, and while they did other tasks” (“History of Icelandic Wool”, 2012). Moreover, all of them had an additional room for knitting in the house. In that way, the members of the families took a seat around the fireplaces, all doing knitting while listening to someone reading the Old Icelandic sagas or psalms. More than that, the speed of knitting was actually defined by the number and tonality of the lines read. Another interesting fact is that people were rather frequently doing knitting in pitch darkness, which can be explained by the limited number of daylight hours, as well as small windows, and wan oil lamps. Then, in the middle of the 19th century, there started “the importation of foreign-made clothing materials [that] increased substantially; these gradually replaced the former homespun cloth” (“History of the Icelandic sheep”, 2012). It is worth noting that Icelandic wool has had a number of the unique qualities, among them: “insulation, water repellency, high wear-resistance and easy care” (“History of Icelandic Wool”, 2012). All of them contributed to Iceland’s success in knitting and made its production in great demand and extremely popular all around the world. However, knits made for local population were in fact of much higher quality than the knitting products that were exported. Thus, “knitted fabric was worked almost exclusively in the round on fine needles, less than 1 mm in diameter in the 19th century, and then often felted for extra strength and warmth” (Magnússon, 2010). All of the Icelanders’ clothes were knitted at the time: “stockings, trousers, jackets, skotthúfa (cap with a tasseled tail), undergarments, shoes and suspenders and shawls, just to name a few examples” (Magnússon, 2010). Knit was also a substitute for many other fabrics and it was used to make various useful things like pillows or even tents. Speaking about the ways garments were made, one should point out that they were “commonly knitted in stocking stitch with edges in rib or garter stitch and were shaped to fit the body of the wearer perfectly” (Magnússon, 2010). Unfortunately, it is very difficult to understand what techniques of knitting were used by the knitters, which is because of the complicacy of the felting process that require the use of the small needles. It is significant to note that the jackets for women were especially carefully shaped. Still, there is too little information about how it was actually achieved. Hence, “until the establishment of woollen mills in the late 19th century, nearly all knitting was produced from homespun yarn in natural colours” (“Knitting Holidays”, 2015). Nevertheless, paying attention to dyed yarn, one should stress that it was extremely rare but still it existed in such shades of colours as black, red, green, and blue or navy. In addition to that, the end of the 19th century inaugurated an epoch of new relationship between Iceland and the other world (Avery, 2012, p. 100). At this particular period of time, the country initiated the import of foreign publications, which contributed greatly to the development of the production of knitted goods as well as the elaboration of new trends and ideas in this sphere. I think, the highly skilled knitting techniques as well as the Icelandic attention to every detail are the key features characterizing the knitting tradition of the 19th century in Iceland. There is no doubt that knit is closely related to the national spirit of Iceland due to the fact that it represents a significant part of its history. Besides, “with more sheep than people, logically there has always been an abundance of wool around to use for all kinds of clothing” (“Knitting Tours: Quirky, fun and traditional”, 2015). Now I am going to take a look at the 19th century in England and analyse its knitting history. Hence, it appears that over the years and centuries, the role of the knitting process and production has shifted dramatically and rather regularly. One day knitted products were regarded as a high-demand luxury item, the other day these were considered to be low-demand folk craft. Speaking about the Victorian era, during this period, “knitting became a parlor art, used to make all sorts of exquisitely fine laces, bags, and baby clothes” (Theaker, 2006). Some researchers hold the opinion that it were the Victorians, who introduced to the world “fine beadwork to knitting, stringing tiny beads onto sewing thread and knitting it into fabric” (Theaker, 2006). In fact, it was “the onset of the knitting frame and the development of the knitting machine [that] saw the slow decline of hand knitting as a major economic force” (Bialkowska, n.d.). It was true that hand knitters responded much quicker to the new fashion’s demands applying their special technical skills. Still, they witnessed an inevitable decline of their domination because of that the industry of machine knitting developed greatly in volume as well as quality in the course of the 19th century. Nevertheless, hand-knitting technique was preserved in some rural areas and remote regions while the process of industrialisation took the dominant position in the major English town and cities. Actually, “in the second half of the 19th century, steam powered knitting machines allowed the industry to progress to a proper factory based phase” (“Framework Knitting”, n.d.). It appear that “famous among early circular machines become tricoteur patent from 1816, developed by Marc I. Brunei” or the Heathcote machine constructed in 1906 (Potočić Matković, 2011, p. 19; Thomas, 2013, p. 12). Speaking to the point, these machines were considered a very quick way to make knitted products. Thus, rural zones still regarded knitting as a significant and indispensable source of income for the local residents and their families, who considered knitting to be a certain supplement to agriculture and farming. Generally speaking, knitting was regarded as an extremely useful kind of occupation that encouraged a strong ethic of work. Thus, it appears that in most cases, knitting was an only way and option for the residents of poor regions to gain some money to provide sustenance for their families. Indeed, it was a kind of craft that needed not much equipment and minimal skills and knowledge that could be “handed down” the generations. More than that, it was often practised by both, men and women. Taking into account the male knitters, they could be found “knitting whilst walking or driving carts to market, and women whilst doing a multitude of other tasks” (“England Occupations, Clothing, Fan Making, Glovemaking, Hatting, Knitting, Lace, Crochet, Tatting (National Institute)”, 2014). In this connection, the researchers state that around 1835, “knitting has become a fashionable pastime for English and Scottish ladies. The date is fixed by the references in the first English knitting books which appeared between 1835 and 1840” (Bialkowska, n.d.). The rise of production of knitted clothes and material was connected with the contribution and hard work of the English knitters, who suggested the idea to dye fine wools in beautiful hues, shades, and tones of all the possible colours. The range of knitted products is amazing, among them were “Caps, cuff, comforters, shawls, spencers, stockings, tippets, gloves, mitten”, etc. (Formby, 2009). In addition to that, from the year of 1830, the merchants began to sell knitting patterns in the form of books. Hence, by 1847, “the first volume of ‘My Knitting Book’ had printed over 42,000 copies for sale in the UK, translated for Europe and reprinted in America” (Bialkowska, n.d.). It is also possible to trace some trends in the sphere of knitting with the help of literary works of the time. For instance, Elizabeth Gaskell wrote in her novel of 1953 Cranford: “the genteel, but not affluent, ladies knit a lot. Miss Matty knitted elaborate garters while running the sweet shop” (Bialkowska, n.d.) It is of particular importance to point out that certain areas of the Kingdom had their own distinctive knitting styles or even were characterised by a particular type of garment. Of course, such traditions tend to survive much longer in case they are maintained in remote districts notable for a relatively small outside influence. Speaking about the particular regions of the Kingdom, one should note that, for instance, in Shetland, the 19th century knitting was characterised by the use of various shades and colours of wool, which was peculiar to this region. Some of these materials came from the numerous sheep breeds, and the others came from dyes. Moreover, “madder and indigo gave red and blue, while lichens produced red, brown, orange and purple. Brightly coloured synthetic dyes, invented in the 1850s, increased the possible colour range but were used only in small quantities” (“Regional Knitting in the British Isles & Ireland”, n.d.). Allegedly, English knitters have frequently adapted their many-sided skills and craft tp suit the needs and desires of the customers. That is why, in the 19th century, they began to make use of certain patterns of various cultures and myths of the past. So, since the late years of the century, “hand-knitted items of clothing like the Aran jumper have been valued for their individuality over mass-produced, machine-knitted items” (“Regional Knitting in the British Isles & Ireland”, n.d.). In this connection, it is also important to speak about the changes brought by the French Revolution as well as wars in England that disrupted the knit trade. In general, “the knitting industry began to decline in the 19th century” (“Regional Knitting in the British Isles & Ireland”, n.d.). Despite this fact, people continued to knit clothes for personal use. Thus, one may arrive at a conclusion that English knitting was more developed and organized. It is due to the fact that there were great differences between these two countries. It is patent that Britain of the 19th century was a powerful independent Kingdom dominating all over the globe. At the same time, there was no such a notion as the country of Iceland. At that time, its territories were dependent on the Denmark. More than that, one should not forget about the natural isolation of this island put in the middle of the North Atlantic. Nevertheless, one cannot deny the fact that both cultures have something in common when speaking about the production of knitted clothing. In both cultures, men along with women were involved in it. In addition to that, the end of the century for both cultures signified the switch to the knitting machines (Davis, 2014). Despite it, they tried to make use of certain cultural traditions to satisfy the demands of the market. Besides, they both preserved their unique features and traditions that the knitters apply to this very day. What is more important is that even when these cultures witnessed the decline of the knit manufacture, they continued to produce the knitted clothes for themselves, as they were aware of that these ones became a part of their identity. Works Cited Avery, Véronik. Knitting Classic Style: 35 Modern Designs Inspired by Fashions Archives. New York: Open Road Media, 2012. Print. Bialkowska, Anna. A short history of knitting. Serenity Knitting, n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. Davis, Kate. Lopi & Band interview. katedavisdesigns.com., 9 April 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. England Occupations, Clothing, Fan Making, Glovemaking, Hatting, Knitting, Lace, Crochet, Tatting (National Institute). Family Search, 4 Sep. 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. Formby, Colleen. “Commend Me to a Knitting Wife. A look at mid-19th century knitting”. Piecework magazine, March/April 2009. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. Framework Knitting. Leicestershire Industrial History Society, n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. History of Icelandic Wool. Freyja, 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. History of the Icelandic sheep. Wool & Sheep, 2009. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. Knitting Holidays. Iceland Traveller, n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. Knitting Tours: Quirky, fun and traditional. Eskimos Iceland, n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. Magnússon, Hélène. Notes on the Icelandic knitting heritage. The Icelandic Knitter, 2010. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. Potočić Matković, Vesna Marija. “Technological reasons for entering knits in the fashion of the 20’s”. TEDI, 1 (2011): 16-22. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. Regional Knitting in the British Isles & Ireland. Victoria and Albert Museum, n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. Theaker, Julie. History 101. Knitty, 2006. Web. 5 Dec. 2015. Thomas, Marie. Mary Thomas’s Knitting Book. North Chelmsford, MA: Courier Corporation, 2013. Print. Read More