Hi Fellow Knitters,
It was wonderful meeting so many fellow knitters at the Tamworth and Toowoomba CraftAlive Shows. Not so wonderful was the evidence of prolonged drought. Paddocks of bare dirt not grass, dust in the air and several days of smoke from bushfires. However the city of Toowoomba still put on a gorgeous floral display in all their parks.
Our stall was enhanced by new, Ferg built, beautiful storage/travelling boxes that double at shows as shelves for our knitting kits. The most popular colourway for the Lorraine's Rug Kit was the charcoal version.
At the two shows we trialed stocking some delightful French Knitting Men - small, just the right size for small hands. They were a big hit with grandmothers eager to pass on a few skills to their grandchildren. We are currently in the process of sourcing a few more fun items, related to knitting, to add to our range of products.
 
Stopover in Grafton (between Tamworth and Toowoomba) to visit George and to replenished our stock of Rotating Yarn Butlers.
PS I managed to satisfactorily rectify the mistake in the Double Sided Cable Rug I mentioned in the August Blog. Hooray!
Knitting Snippet
A Very Brief History of Knitting
Unlike spinning or weaving, knitting doesn’t figure in any ancient myths. In fact, there isn’t even an ancient Greek or Latin word for knitting! The word “to knit” didn’t make an appearance in the Oxford Dictionary until the fifteenth century and it wasn’t part of any European language until the Renaissance. All this confirms that knitting is a relatively new invention.
Knitting is thought to have begun in or around Egypt about 1000AD.
This 12th century cotton sock was found in Egypt but may have originated in India. The Textile Museum, Washington DC #73.698
Exclusively male Knitting Guilds began in Europe in the 1300s. They were established to protect trade secrets and to improve the quality of the profession. By the end of the 16th century, knitting was an established craft that was driven by a powerful fashion trend: knitted stockings for men. These replaced cloth stockings.
If one wanted to become a Master Knitter in a knitting guild, there were six years of one's life devoted to training. Three years were spent in apprenticeship learning from the masters; another three were spent travelling the world to learn foreign techniques and patterns. A knitting apprentice would prove his mastery through a rigorous exam. Required garments included a felted cap, a pair of stockings or embroidered gloves, a shirt or waistcoat and the pièce de résistance – a knitted carpet/wall hanging!
Source: History of Hand Knitting by Richard Rutt, Knitting Around the World by Lela Nargi and Wikipedia
Happy Creative Knitting,
