The weeks just before Christmas were bitterly cold both day and night with the frost never lifting. Consequently during the last fortnight I knitted everyone a hat. A useful way of using up left over yarn and some hats were knitted with two strands together, using up even more left over yarn. Keeping your head, hands and feet warm is important in the damp, cold weather we experience here. But it got me thinking about knitting hats. The fashion for the bobble hat or the beanie over the Tam'o'shanter and other designs. Knitted hats seem to be the rage at the moment. I have gone back to this book for references to hand knitting hats, although they are always called caps, to find the local references to knitting head gear. It was part of the rural economy and brought in an income for the poorest. Knitting caps went alongside knitting stockings and were made of similar wool, oversized and then sent to a mill to be "fulled" i.e. shrunk and made waterproof. The Nottingham Review of 25 September 1829 advertised a forthcoming publication called a History of the Framework Knitting and Lace Trades by Gravener Henson. The author gave a summary of the history of knitting thus - It is very uncertain when the art of knitting was introduced into England; but it is positively known who knit, and wore, the first pair of knitted stockings in this country. Stockings made of cloth were a very extensive manufacture in this country in the sixteenth century, as hosiers are mentioned among the crafts, in the great statute of servants passed in 1563; but it does not appear that any knit goods were worn, except knit caps, which were more valuable than hats, as the price of both was fixed by Act of Parliament in 1488 [ 4th Henry VII cap 9] hats at twenty pence each, and caps at two shillings and eight pence. The difference between a cap and a hat was in the manufacture; caps were spun from the wool, knit, then scoured and half thickened upon the bank-stock ...hats were shrunk from the wool, caps were shrunk when knit. Of such importance was this trade in cap making considered, no less than six Acts of Parliament were made to regulate and enforce their wear, in eighty years: the last of which compels every person, not being a gentleman or ladies of twenty marks a year rent, to wear a cap of wool-knit, on Sabbath or holy days, except on travel, under a fine of three shillings and four pence for every day not wearing them..... I am not sure if these come under the Act of Parliament or not. So what type of knitted caps were worn at the time of the Acts of Parliament? The Victoria and Albert Museum has images of hats in their collection which date from this time. This cap is described as 16th century, hand knitted in stocking stitch and fulled, accession T617.1913 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O353199/cap-headgear/ Here is another from the V & A collection dated 1500 - 1550. This is knitted and then felted and has a brim and flaps to keep your ears and neck protected. It is accession 741-1904 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O124669/cap-unknown/ Who wore these knitted caps or hats? Sometimes newspapers gave descriptions of missing people, and sometimes they wore caps. Kentish Weekly Post of Canterbury Journal 22 December 1731. On December 18 1731 an Excise man called Thomas Wylde was attacked by highway men, and died of his injuries. A reward of £50 was laid out for the persons who committed the murder and robbery. One person suspected of such was marked with small pox, between 30 - 40 years old, about 5 feet 8 inches and wore a Knit Cap on his head. The other person was a small thin man about 20 years of age with a light coloured coat without pleats and a light wig - a description of the horse they stole was given and the great coat they stole from the deceased. Stamford Mercury 1 July 1734 A description of a runaway apprentice, William Stains, a boy of near 15 years, pale complexion, a grey coat and waistcoat, a pair of leather breeches and a light natural wigg or Knit Cap. The master, Thomas Horn, took the opportunity to also advertise that he was a malster and sold Hops, Tobacco, Soap, Mustard Powder, Grits, Cheese, Glass Bottles, Flint Glasses, Delf and all sorts of Potters' wares at reasonable rates. Newcastle Courant 23 september 1752 Wanted for house breaking near Morpeth , John Little, who was described as near 25 years of age, five and a half feet high, of sullen countenance and had a great scar on the left side of his head. At the time of his disappearance he wore a Bad Hat, a Knitted Cap, a very mean light coloured coat, a pair of white stockings and a pair of pumps. He had formerly served in the army but was discarded for some scandalous practices. Chester Courant 18 August 1818 Lieutenant Colonel Johnson had journeyed overland from India and described the Don Cossacks that he encountered - The men and women all dress in long upper garments: the men wear a thick woollen great coat with a little cap: the women have a dress somewhat resembling a night gown, opening down the front, under which appear a pair of loose drawers. The upper garment is made of silk, damask, satin or coloured cotton. On their heads they wear a knitted cap of the same form as a night cap, having two stripes, or being otherwise ornamented with coloured figures on the top. This is secured by a coloured handkerchief bound tight round the forehead, the long corners being left to fall down the back .... I am not sure if this Cossack gentleman is wearing a knitted cap or not. He comes from An illustration from Fyodor Solntsev, 1869 courtesy of the New York Public Library collection and is on Wikipedia. Now we will look at the knitters. I was interested in this article - Westmoreland Gazette 16 July 1825 An account of a thief apprehended at the Kendal fair reported that he had with him implements for picking pockets or knitting caps on him. Now as I travel about by public transport I nearly Always have some knitting with me. Might I be accused of having implements for Picking Pockets????! I never quite thought of knitting needles in this way but I use short needles that can easily go in a handbag or pocket. This is the Busby Stoop Inn near Thirsk, very familar as I lived close by for many years, sadly now no longer a pub and called the Jaipur Spice. However, in the days when it was an inn it was broken into as retold by Mrs Kettlewell, who noticed what the robbers wore on their heads - Yorkshire Gazette 18 July 1840 The Ripon Burglaries. George Atkinson, 35, Thomas Atkinson, 33 and John Sanderson 23, were charged with breaking and entering the dwelling house of Ann Kettlewell at Busby Stoop and stealing a great coat, a Macintosh coat and other articles the property of Christopher Spence.... Mrs Kettlewell deposed - I am an innkeeper at Busby Stoop in the township of Sandhutton, parish of Thirsk... she was awoken in the early hours of the morning by three men plundering her bedroom, one had a knife and a candle, another had a stauncheon from the kitchen window - I took notice of the manner in which they were dressed, they had on a sort of knitted cap with a tassel which hung over the shoulder. They had on either Guernsey frocks or striped jackets . I observed something peculiar about their faces, they were disguised with sheep red ..... I am not quite sure why it was headlined the Ripon Burglaries as it was only about two miles outside Thirsk. This painting is called The Knitting Lesson and is by Pierre Jacques Dierckx [ 1855 - 1947] and is at Touchstones, Rochdale. There is a great difference between knitting for pleasure and knitting for your living. It was often the poorest who earned their keep by knitting. We only catch glimpses of them here and there. Brighton Gazette 1 September 1831 Inquest on the body of Mary Dunn who had met a violent death. One witness was Elizabeth Kelly, a Catholic (she did not swear an oath but kissed the Bible), a widow who knits caps. She had been in the company with the deceased (and Elizabeth's small child) when they had gone out drinking and begging to pay their rent and possibly also soliciting as two young men, also the worse for drink, accused the deceased of taking their money, but were then accused of manslaughter. This gives a very sad insight into the life of some women at the bottom of society who knitted and perhaps earned money from prostitution. Another glimpse at a woman who knitted and begged - Saint James Chronicle 30 September 1841 Mr Martin stated that the prisoner was the son of a blind woman who sat in the streets knitting caps and begging. This is a Kilmarnock Bonnet and is from the website of the Future Museum of South West Scotland. This design was very popular and knitted by the dozen, score and even hundreds in the Yorkshire Dales. White's 1840 Trade Directory has this information for Hawes - The knit hosiery made here consists chiefly of sailors' shirts, caps, jackets, drawers etc, the knitting of which gives employment to many poor families here and in the surrounding dales; but their wages are small, only about three pence ha'penny being paid for knitting and scouring a pair of men's stockings. Hartley and Ingleby in their book on the Old Hand Knitters of the Dales include excerpts from the ledgers of Hebblethwaite Hall in the Howgills, just a little to the west of Hawes and not far from Dent. The two authoresses had access to considerable correspondence and the accounts for a mill at Hebblethwaite Hall from 1819 - 1835, run by a family called Dover, when wool was put out to local knitters and brought back to be fulled before being sold. Knitting yarn was sent out once a week by carriers cart into Dent and finished garments collected and then fulled at their mill. They had to be made large enough to allow for shrinking. The finished goods were then sent on, either overland to Stockton and then by sea to London, or overland to Lancaster and onwards by sea or canal. One customer in London took 3,000 Kilmarnock caps at four shillings a dozen. http://www.hebblethwaites.net/aboutplaces_Hebblethwaite_Mill.htm This is a description of the fulling process as recorded by one of the Dover family in 1826 - we mill from 30 to 36 dozen in one stockful, they are put loose into the stocks and milled with about 8 lbs of dry fullers earth dissolved in water, when they are about half milled they are taken out and well stretched out, after they are sufficiently milled they are taken out and put upon boards and raised wet with cards, they are dried upon the boards, and after they are dried they are a little raised up before they are packed up. The price we pay for knitting is 3/9 to 4/- per stone ... they are sold at about 7/- per dozen. In another letter dated 1828 - we have forwarded to you by canal a bale of Kilmarnock caps ... we are rapidly increasing in the manufacturing of these goods and shall be able to supply you with any quantity you demand ... Another letter of 1832 to the wholesaler in London - we have this day forwarded you by way of Stockton 4 bales of goods ... we have about 200 dozen Kilmarnock caps on hand, if you could favour us with an order for the whole we shall put them in at 5/- per dozen, our prices for indigo blue Kilk caps is now 5/9 per dozen ... we employ a few of our best knitters with them. Bobble hats from my very, very ancient book by Patons Woolcraft, a Basic Guide to Knitting and Crochet.
So if you want to get ahead this winter, knit yourself a hat, you are following a very long tradition. Post Script - do any of you remember wearing a bonnet style knitted headpiece in your child hood that had a horseshoe shaped metal band threaded through the brim to hold it onto your head, and a tassle down the back?
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