The New Zealand story of the craft of knitting is a celebration of Pakeha Anglo-Celtic heritage.
For those of us with northern European ancestry, everyday domestic crafts such as knitting are a part of our folk culture. Knitting is familiar, family oriented and usually done by wives, mothers and aunts and it is often not perceived as cultural. Until quite recently most New Zealand women knitted and sewed much of their families' clothing – because these garments were once far cheaper than bought clothing. Outgrown children's garments were passed on to others if they were still in good order, while unwanted garments were unravelled and the yarn reknitted.
But since WW11 and the arrival of cheaper, well-constructed machine-made knits which were easily washed, knitting became somewhat outdated and trivialised.
Knitting is an ancient textile craft – possibly one of the earliest of the textile crafts – but how it originated is unknown. Two thousand years ago, leather, felt, furs and woven clothes were worn but no traces of true knitted fabrics dating from earlier than about AD1000 have been found, and it is unknown who (where or when) first thought of setting knit loops along a needle shaft and working them off in order.
It is known, however, that about 1000 years ago, knitting was established in Arabic North Africa and knowledge of this useful craft drifted along trade routes to Mediterranean countries and by the 15th century knitters were skilfully creating beautiful knit fabrics in fine silk yarn. It is thought the craft was introduced into England as a peasant handicraft some time before 1400 with a few surviving fragments of humble woollen stockings, leggings and caps from this era which are now stored in London and Norwich Museums.
The early missionary families arriving in New Zealand introduced knitting to Maori. European knitting and Maori weaving were totally different, using different materials and until the missionaries came knitting was unknown to Maori. There is a delightful story about imported knitted Scotch caps being bought by Maori from James Kemp's store in the late 1820s– for use both as headgear and also to provide new materials for Maori weavers. Once unpicked, the recycled yarn was woven into fine taniko borders of high-quality kaitaka (flax coats) worn by Maori chiefs, while the red tassles provided additional decoration.
19th century immigrants to New Zealand from Britain and Europe brought with them a variety of practical clothing skills and before the introduction of sewing machines around 1860, pioneer women spent enormous amounts of time sewing, mending and knitting for their families. Sheep of course became a necessary farmed animal to provide the woolly product and these were also introduced to New Zealand by the early missionaries.
The announcement of World War 1 on 5 August, 1914, saw hundreds of patriotic groups set up to raise funds and make "comforts" for the soldiers, and in August 1915 New Zealand's first knitting recipe book was launched, Her Excellency's Knitting Book compiled by Lady Liverpool, wife of the then Governor of NZ.
The chunky little 193-page book fitted neatly into a woman's knitting bag and included recipes and hints for socks, balaclavas, gloves for the soldiers along with sections for children's and women's garments. WW1 was good for two things: women relearned the value of working and socialising with each other, and knitting became popular as an everyday domestic craft. Yarn suppliers also benefitted from the increased demand for wool. And the war sped up the completion of a major shift in dress styles that allowed anyone who could knit to easily keep up with fashion. Even children – both boys and girls knitted.
Fashion may have driven much of the 1930s knitting craze, but it was mainly economics that made knitting an extremely important part of the domestic scene as the Great Depression brought hardship to many. When the Depression was at its worst in 1932, married women were the first to be sacked from their jobs with no unemployment relief support for them, so many turned to their knitting and sewing skills not just to clothe their families, but also to provide a little extra income into the household.
The declaration of war by Britain against the growing German aggression in Europe in September 1939 started again the first of many demands for hand-knitted articles to supplement those being made by industrial machinery. Hand-knitted scarves, balaclavas, socks, and mittens were once again in great demand, as were long stockings to be worn with shorts, sea-boot stockings, and sleeveless pullovers. As in WW1, Maori women played a major role in fundraising and the preparation of large amounts of "comforts". They spun wool, dyed it with plant dyes, knitted it, and also made camouflage nets of string and flax.
The war ended in 1945 but it took years for life to return to normal. It was still necessary to queue for knitting wool and the wartime shortages, restrictions and rationing continued into the early 1950s. The low wages and high prices for manufactured goods meant that the time women spent in making their own clothes was time well spent. The post-war baby boom assured the yarn industry that young mothers would enthusiastically get on with family knitting, leading to the development of specialty wool shops. And with polytechnics starting to turn out graduates in fashion design, and a renewed emphasis on leisurewear meant that hand kits were converted from neat, restrained sweaters and baby gear into spectacularly colourful picture knits.
In 1977 a growing interest in knitting history and design was strengthened with the publication of The Art of Knitting an elegant coffee-table book providing recipes for fashion garments, and later on in the 1980s, Vogue Knitting began a magnificent series of how-to articles along with beautifully designed and presented patterns. By the mid-1980s seven out of ten New Zealand households contained at leat one knitter. Small entrepreneurs set up in business using outworkers to produce quantified of hand-kits for the local tourist market and for export to the USA and Japan. However, few lasted more than a few years because of difficulties with supply, distribution, paperwork, design and varying quality control methods.
Right now (2018) there is a future for competent professional hand knitting because many tourists hope to acquire a good, NZ-made wool sweater as well as enjoy the outdoors and many tourist attractions here. But those selling hand knits have to ensure they maintain a high standard of design and construction. And now that it is no longer an essential domestic skill, hand knitting as a craft must take its place among the other creative leisure activities available to us.
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This short summary of NZ's history of knitting was taken from a beautiful book written by Heather Nicholson of Birkenhead and published in 1998 by the Auckland University Press entitled "The Loving Stitch. A History of Knitting and Spinning in New Zealand".
Tasman Downs children knitting outdoor, Lake Pukaki, 1933. Photo NZ Herald