When I learned to hand knit more than 20 years ago (back in 2004!), I had no idea that knitting would be something I’d become passionate about and lead me into a world of fiber and textile arts and crafts. Today, I find myself incredibly interested in uncovering as much as I can about all things knitting (especially the history of knitting) and am excited to share my findings and research here on the blog.
Hand knitting is an incredibly versatile fiber craft – it’s fundamentally the simple practice of creating connecting loops. And it’s this versatility and simplicity that helped knitting develop over hundreds of years into a craft used worldwide in hundreds of countries and cultures. And that is the inspiration behind this series of writings I’m planning to call “Wool Theory”. I want to explore and learn about everything there is to know about knitting.
I have always been fascinated by history and the ways that learning about the past can contextualize our present. History also feels like an appropriate lens to look at all things related to knitting from fibers to yarns to dyes to techniques to the way we talk/write about the craft. And through the lens of history, I’m excited to explore the chemistry, biology, politics, economics, art, tourism and the myriad of other subjects and innovations that have come together to enable modern hand knitting as we know it today.
In this modern era, the amount of information available and the ease of accessing information means that we can explore so much of the world (and our favorite niche topics) in person or from the comfort of home. Libraries and museum collections, communicating with experts globally, and connecting with communities around the world are just a few of the ways accessing information. To explore the history of knitting today feels like something I could quite literally spend the rest of my life doing and still not know everything there is to know.
I’m so excited to share what I’m learning. Much like past historians, I may make mistakes and information may be uncovered that changes what is known (for example, I can’t wait to learn more about nalbinding [or nålbinding] and how we learned that is an entirely different process than knitting). And when I learn something new or have information that updates or changes something I’ve posted here on my blog, my intention will be to make that new information clear and call attention to updates. But you’ll also find I will share my sources as we go along and do my best to provide good and accurate information.
We live in a world where being able to visit a local yarn store, pick up a beautiful yarn, and take it home to knit into anything we can imagine is an activity that can be undertaken almost anywhere around the globe. And I’m really excited to learn about history that has led to us living in a world where hand knitting is a global art and craft. And I plan to pair my findings with patterns (hopefully exploring historical accessories and techniques); printable reference sheets; and other tools/worksheets to explore knitting history.
I’m really excited about this journey and I have a lot of exciting things planned for this year. As always, you can subscribe to my newsletter to get updates about new blog posts and patterns or follow me on Instagram (@KaraMcKinley).
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