Fair Isle Knitting, Part I

I have been doing some research for a future post on Fair Isle knitting, and so I have been reading through Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting (now sadly out of print, with used copies selling for a minimum of $135.00). I was really struck by this fact on page 8: "Local eighteenth-century physician and historian Dr. Arthur Edmondston noted that this industry generated about L17,000 a year in the 1790s". The industry Dr. Edmonston refered to was the knitting of "stockings, gloves, nightcaps, and other wearing apparel", which were bartered for goods sold by local merchants or sold for cash to foreign fishermen passing by. I had known that the women of the Shetland Islands (of which Fair Isle is one of the smallest and most barren) contributed to the local economy with their knitting, but I hadn't realized to what extent. L17,000 would have been a lot of money in the 1790s. (Sorry about the L - I can't seem to insert the symbol for the British pound.) I should also note that this was what was called "plain knitting". The color work we typically associate with Fair Isle knitting was not developed until sometime in the 19th century, after the manufacture of socks or stockings in particular had been mechanised and plain knitting had ceased to add much to the local economy.

I know that in some cultures, the earliest knitters were men, but apparently on the Shetland Islands, the knitters were mostly women. Perhaps the men were too busy fishing to have time. Anyway, thinking about this fact, and the life it represents, makes me realize how fortunate we are to be able to practise our crafts for enjoyment, and not to help put food on the table.

More on this tomorrow. Today it is off to "Coffee, Chat, and Crochet" with my fellow guild members before I go work at noon!