I Caught the Spinning Bug
Notes from the Needles #7
Knit Jon Purl Jon - Knitting History & Essays
Essays about knitting and the history behind it, with a particular interest the lives of everyday knitters.
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How 'English' Is English Knitting, and How 'Continental' Is Continental?
A look at why we call them English and Continental knitting styles, and how school curricula in England, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia shaped them.
Victorian Stockings: Casting On and All About the Seam Stitch
Notes from the Needles #6
The Knitting Sheath: The Forgotten Tool Behind Hands-Free Knitting
A carved stick that let a knitter walk to market with both hands free, and the reasons it eventually went out of fashion
Tampere Yarn, Welsh Stockings & a Substack Update
Notes from the Needles #5
Going A-Sitting: The 200-Year-Old Knitting Circles That Came With Their Own Songs
The rotating knitting nights that turned an evening chore into the social life of an entire community.
Knitting Doohickeys, First Spins & a Newspaper Rabbit Hole
Notes from the Needles #4
The Hidden History of Knitting: Poverty, Workhouses, and Survival in England
The knitters in the historical record are not doing it for pleasure. They are doing it because they have almost nothing else.
Custom Cables, Cat's Paw & Finnish Midsummer
Notes from the Needles #3
What a 13th-Century Knitting Mistake Reveals About Medieval Technique
One wrong stitch in a 13th-century Votic mitten, and why it tells us more than all the correct ones