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Welcome to
Organic Knitwear
The
Royal Warrant
Wendy Keith Designs were honoured
to be awarded the Royal Warrant by His Royal
Highness, the Prince of Wales, as
Designers and Makers of Shooting
Stockings and
Kilt Hosiery
in 2004.
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BY
APPOINTMENT TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE OF WALES AS DESIGNERS AND
MAKERS OF SHOOTING AND
KILT HOSIERY |
Hand-Knitting on Four Needles
In a tradition that dates back to the
fourteenth century, each pair of stockings takes a
minimum of one week to knit. All Wendy Keith Designs
hand knitters and artists are 'home workers' who come
from all parts of Great Britain. This
tradition of hand knitting is passed from generation to
generation. Please see below - The Short History of
Hand-knitting.
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The Soil Association
Since 2007 Wendy
Keith Designs has been Certified with the
Soil Association,
as an authorised producer of organic wool
products.
For further information see our
Organic Collection.
Licence no: DK 19275 |
A short history of
Hand-Knitting.
In the
Victoria and Albert Museum
in London small pieces of sandal socks can
be seen, dating back to the 4th and 5th
Centuries A.D. From that time onwards the
history of knitting and weaving is well
documented.
In the Middle Ages,
when time seemed to play on country folks’
hands (not at the pace of life today!),
shepherds and rural communities would seek
clumps of wool caught up in the hedgerows,
or clippings, which they would spin it in
their fingers. Then, using four wooden
needles shaped from willow or hazel, they
would knit their winters’ supply of boot
socks and 'knitte cappes' (Caps), whilst
watching over their flocks, or in their
homes, knitting by candlelight. To fight
off the cold and poverty, the craft of
knitting became a source of survival to
many.
Groups of knitters, later to become
prestigious and powerful ‘Guilds’, could be
found scattered over the British
countryside, together with knitting
"Schools". Such was the importance of fast
knitting that knitting songs, like sea
shanties, were sung well into the night, to
encourage the knitters, both men and women,
to speed up their needles! The first record
of knitting garments, as 'businesses' is to
be found in an Act of Parliament 1488.
William Wordsworth wrote in
'Michael' c. 1800 ".... while far into the
night the housewife plied her own peculiar
work, making the cottage through the silent
hours, murmur as the sound of summer flies". |
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In 1589 the first
machine stocking-loom was invented. Queen
Elizabeth the 1st, was asked to go go
Nottingham to see the work it produced. She was
disappointed to find it only created worsted hose
and she refused William Lee, the inventor, the
patent monopoly. Th Queen commented 'I have too much
love for my people who obtain their bread by the
employ of knitting, to give my money to forward this
invention, will tend to their ruin.'
During Queen Elizabeth's reign, hand-knitted
stockings became a serious new fashion. It is said
that the Queen’s Silkwoman, Mrs. Mary Montague, made
a pair of black pure silk-spun, hand-knitted long
stockings on four needles, complete with a turned
heel (for hard wear!). The Queen was so delighted
with such quality and style, that this created a
sought-after item in the wardrobes of the rich.
These hose gave the ‘porteur’ an air of
distinction. By the 19th century, the less
discriminating wore the hand-operated machine
varieties, which, to the untrained eye, even today,
can pass off as a hand-knitted garment! But for
those who seek quality, always search for the pure
hand-knitted product, made on four needles. See 'The
Purist'
Shooting Stockings.
Today each pair of hand-knitted
stockings takes approximately one to two weeks to
knit. The knitting expresses an individual character
all of its own, as no one pair made by the many
score of knitters, is exactly the same as another.
Every knitter has her own technique inherited from
the Guilds of her ancestors. Throughout the whole
of Great Britain, Wendy Keith Designs has over a
hundred hand-knitters sitting in their homes and
gardens, creating with great love and care this
superb, high fashion designer garment. Tradition
and quality are the key word behind their
dedication.
The yarn is of a wool mix,
generally spun in a British mill. This mix
allows for softness and durability. Each pair
of stockings has a double, turned heel, and
a grafted toe, as done during all those many
centuries before.
Many of the shades chosen on the website are
aimed to blend in with the gentleness of the
fine tweeds created in Scotland, and we now have
exciting new colours also available.
Other yarns are on request, such as Cashmere,
Cashmere-cotton, Alpaca, Merino and other
blends. Please
contact
our office for further information.
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