Craft Articles

There are two major knitting techniques: weft knitting and warp knitting. Most craft knitters use the first technique and thereby create a fabric made up by horizontal parallel courses.

Warp knitting on the other hand create vertical parallel wales. Another important difference between the two techniques is that weft knitting requires only one yarn, while warp knitting requires one yarn for each stitch in the row. Warn knitting is often used for tricot garments and similar and is typically made by a machine. 

When you knit something, e.g. a pair of socks, you make the yarn follow a loopy path along its row. The loops of one row are always pulled through the loops of another row. If you would create a woven fabric instead, the strands would run straight horizontally and vertically. A hand knitting person usually starts by creating a base series of twisted loops on a knitting needle. This is known as “cast on”.

There exists several different methods for doing this, including knitting on, cable cast-on, single cast-on/simple cast-on, double cast-on, tubular cast-on and invisible cast-on. During the actual process of hand knitting, a second knitting needle is used to reach into each loop and retrieve a piece of yarn. The yarn is pulled back through the loop and thereby secured.
Knitted Egyptian and European fabrics are known from the 14th century, but the tradition may very well be much older than this. In 1527, the first knitting trade guild was formed in France and during this period of history professional knitting was a craft performed mostly by males. One advantage compared to woven fabrics is that a knitted fabric is stretchy in all directions. This has to do with the fact that there is no single straight line of yarn to be found anywhere in a knitted fabric. Knitted stockings grew highly popular during the 17th century since they would stretch around the leg and foot in a way that a woven piece of garment could not. Britain began to mass-produce stockings and by the end of the 17th century over a million pairs of stockings was exported from Britain each year. Later on, elastic synthetic materials would be created and these inventions made it possible to create woven fabrics that were just as stretchy as the knitted ones.
When the knitting machines were invented, the use for professional hand knitters decreased rapidly. Today, knitting by hand is performed as a relaxing and creative craft and a majority of the knitters are female. Knitting can be a highly social activity since it is possible to create hand knitted fabrics while chatting, watching over children etcetera. During the 21st century, hand knitting has enjoyed a revival in modern societies and a lot of urban, young professionals of both sexes are rediscovering the joys of hand knitting. Knitting by hand has become a way of expressing a creative side while relaxing your mind and relieving mental stress.