​Knitting History. Part 4.

Hello!

And again I continue about knitting history, it's quite long, but as for me very interesting!

The Industrial Revolution

The mechanical knitting machine or the stocking frame was created in 1589 and improved over time.

The English city of Nottingham was a big producer of machine knitted lace during the Industrial Revolution. The city’s profits grew with the invention of portable circular knitting machines.

During the American Civil War, knitting rose in popularity on both sides to keep their soldiers warm and protected against the elements. Knitted stockings were in high demand, particularly during the civil war.

Halfway through the Nineteenth century, most of the knitwear industry still hadn’t made the transition to factory machines.

Later, with the improvement of steam-powered machines, machine knitting moved to factories to accommodate the larger devices.

Machine knitting during the industrial revolution created many different fabrics. This led to the development of machine knitted knitwear on a massive scale, and hand knit-fabric fizzed out.

Hand knitting in the industry declined, and many hand knitters were put out of business, but it got quite popular as a hobby.