A great hobby to try this winter season is Knitting. It will definitely keep you busy, and what you create may even keep you warm. With a cup of your favorite hot drink, music, and determination, you may find yourself a brand new challenging, yet interesting hobby.
Where does Knitting come from?
The art of knitting has a mysterious, confusing history. In fact, the verb "to Knit" didn't appear in the Oxford English Dictionary until the fifteenth century.
It is extremely difficult to date back knitting since many of the early knitted works have disappeared. Back then, it was composed of cotton, silk, and wool. These three materials easily decompose taking the garments along with them.
The history of knitting becomes even more confusing once we take nålbinding into consideration. Nålbinding is needlecraft similar to knitting that can be easily confused with it. Knitting uses to needles to loop string or yarn whereas nålbinding only uses one needle to knot string together. The similarity between the two has even fooled historians and scholars before.
Excluding any pieces made through nålbinding, the oldest knitted garment we have dates back to 1000-1400 AD and comes from Egypt. They are two white and indigo socks made of cotton. They feature a complex pattern which let's us know that knitting is in fact older. The origins of knitting have to be way earlier or else the artist wouldn't be able to create such pattern.
One of the many theories surrounding the origins of knitting states that perhaps nålbinding eventually transformed and evolved into knitting.
The origin of this artwork may be unknown but it will definitely be a fun, challenging activity that'll keep you busy in the safety of your home.
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