1920's Knitting

Week 11 = History
Day 4 = March 15, 2014




     This week I will be copying from Wikipedia. I searched "History of Knitting" and below are the 5th and 6th sections exactly as listed on Wikipedia.

1920s: the Russian Civil Wars and China[edit]

After the White Russians' defeat in the Civil War, many units retreated into China's Xinjiang and were interned there. As China was about to descend into a civil war of its own, the Russian internees were transported by camel caravans to Eastern China. According to Owen Lattimore, it was then that they passed on the art of knitting to the Chinese caravan men, who had ready supply of camel hair from their animals. In 1926, Lattimore was able to observe camel-pullers "knitting on the march; if they ran out of yarn, they would reach back to the first camel of the file they were leading, pluck a handful of hair from the neck, and roll it in their palms into the beginning of a length of yarn; a weight was attached to this, and given a twist to start it spinning, and the man went on feeding wool into the thread until he had spun enough yarn to continue his knitting". This way the camel men not only provided themselves with warm camel-hair socks, but were able to make knitwear for sale as well.^[15]

1920s: Fashions[edit]

The 1920s saw a vast increase in the popularity of knitwear in much of the western world. Knitwear, especially sweaters/pullovers became essential part of the new fashions of the age for men, women and children, rather than mostly practical garments of associated with particular occupations (e.g., fishermen). The late teens and early 1920s saw a fashion for knitted neckties. Knitwear was often associated with sport and leisure. Garments often became associated with particular sports such as white sweaters/pullers, often with colored stripes (club colors) in the collar became common for tennis and cricket.
Fair Isle knitting enjoyed a golden age during the 20s. Reputedly started by the Prince of Wales (future Edward VIII) wearing a Fair Isle sweater/pullover to play golf. Both Fair Isle and Argyle(knitting) styles have since been associated with the sport.
High fashion also embraced knitwear with both Coco Chanel making prominent use of it and Vogue magazine featuring patterns.
Before the 1920s, the majority of commercial knitting in the Western world had centered around production of underwear, socks and hosiery. This vastly expanded as the public taste for knitted fashion did also. Both hand and machine knitting were commercially active on a large scale prior to the Great Depression.
The 1920s saw a continuation in the growth of interest in home/hobby knitting which grew during First World War. Conditions of trench warfare lead to a shortage of socks in particular, and the Allied home front in particular was encouraged to support the troops by knitting. Home knitting grew in popularity, especially as fashion fully embraced knitwear. Companies started, or expanded to meet the demands of home knitters, producing patterns, yarn and tools.

Question of the day

What is your favorite 20's knitting item?

Knitting for Fisherman,


Victoria

Notes[edit]

15. Jump up ^ Lattimore, Owen, The Desert Road to Turkestan. London, Methuen, 1928. p. 52