It was the Industrial Revolution. The late 1800’s. An economy of manual labour was quickly being replaced by an age of machines. To some this was a bright time, a time of progress and invention an ushering in of new things to come. Machines were taking the place of men in many occupations, among those knitting. There was an explosion of knitting machines being invented and put into use. From the small hand cranked sock knitter up to large industrial knitters.
In this age of new technology and machinery, there was a man who thought that knitting was an art best left to the hand, not machine. His name? William Paley Stewart purveyor of the Stewart Knitting Specialty Manufacturing Company, and inventor of a line of ‘crochet-knitting machines’ today known as knitting looms.
Mr. Stewart said: “a machine limited by an automatic law is not that which is demanded by the times, but rather the means for defining at will individual thought as expressed in individual art.”
He was basically bucking the system, in a time when machines were thought to be progress, the end all be all, he saw the value in an individual expressing themselves through the art of hand knitting.
He made it his mission to uphold knitting as a high art. I have been given a window into his thoughts and dreams for holding up the art of hand work and improvements in knitting…
By some miracle I found the book that goes along with that little 123 year old loom! I was so excited when I saw it on the website that I had all four kids pinch me! Literally! I am amazed that a 122 year old instruction manual for an obscure set of knitting loom tools has survived.
And better yet that I found it! See that little loom on the cover? That is the one I got! It’s TOO cool! The book is in decent condition. The covers are a bit tattered but inside the pages show little wear. There is a bit of discoloration with age but if I look that good at 122 years old. I am gonna be most happy!
My plan was to make copies of this book and offer them to you to preserve this knowledge and pass it around. However after consultation with my husband we feel that the book is too fragile to make copies or scans and that to do so would end up destroying the actual book. So if I want to share the wealth so to speak, I will have to actually copy it by hand and type it all in, get the best photos I can of the images in the book and make a copy in that manner.
There is such a difference in the language structure at the time compared to now. Language was so much more formal and ‘floral’. So this is making it interesting in trying to sort out the meanings and directions in the manual.
One word sticks out in particular: Loopation. I love it! I just love that word! I am going to try to have some fun with it. Here is how Mr. Stewart defines it in his book:
Loopation.-A generic term denoting the art of knitting or knotting patterns by means of loops cast over subjunctive loops.
And that is one of the most clearly worded definitions! I can tell you this, some knowledge has been lost in 123 years, some gained! They did not have the purl stitch but there are other interesting stitch patterns an methods that I will attempt to ‘translate’ and understand! As I do this I will share them with you all! It’s so exciting to have this opportunity to learn a little bit of something old and make it new again!
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