Editing Knitting (section)

==History and culture==
{{main|History of knitting}}

[[File:Eureka Knitting Silk for hand knitting, half ounce. - DPLA - cf08334529ffa81f9c6eb16763cddb9b (page 1).jpg|thumb|Eureka Knitting Silk for hand knitting, half ounce, ca. 1870–1900; from the 19th Century American Trade Cards collection of the Boston Public Library]]
The exact origins of knitting are unknown, the earliest known examples being cotton socks dating from the 11th century, found in the remains of the city of Fustat, now part of Cairo.<ref>''Tissus d'Égypte: témoins du monde arabe,  VIIIe. - XVe. siècles''. Collection Bouvier, Exposition 1993-1994, Musée d'art et d'histoire à Genève. 1994, Institut du monde arabe à Paris. {{ISBN|9782908528527}}.</ref>

The first commercial knitting guilds appear in Western Europe in the early fifteenth century (Tournai in 1429, Barcelona in 1496). The Guild of Saint Fiacre was founded in Paris in 1527 but the archives mention an organization (not necessarily a guild) of knitters from 1268.<ref>{{Cite book |language=en |editor1-last=Brewer |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=Porter |editor2-first=Roy |title=Consumption and the World of Goods  |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London |year=1994 <!--|format=poche--> |isbn=978-0-415-11478-3 |lccn=93180136 |pages=232–233}}</ref> The occupation: "cap knitter"  describes Margaret Yeo, of London, in 1473.<ref>http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT2/E4/CP40no847/aCP40no847fronts/IMG_0744.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201013175224/http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT2/E4/CP40no847/aCP40no847fronts/IMG_0744.htm |date=13 October 2020 }}; 4th entry</ref>

With the invention in 1589 of the [[stocking frame]], an early form of [[knitting machine]], knitting "by hand" became a craft used by country people with easy access to fiber. Similar to [[quilting]], [[spinning (textiles)|spinning]], and [[needlepoint]], [[hand knitting]] became a leisure activity for the wealthy. English Roman Catholic priest and former Anglican bishop, [[Richard Rutt]], authored a history of the craft in A History of Hand Knitting (Batsford, 1987). His collection of books about knitting is now housed at the [[Winchester School of Art]] (University of Southampton).