However, the rather simple process of analyzing related crafts, historical, literary and archaeological sources still allows us to arrange events in places.
I will not write a thesis or claim to historical infallibility, but I offer you the results of my research. However, if you disagree with something, try first to get acquainted with historical sources, and only after that, arguably, supporting your conclusions with references to sources, refute these conclusions.
The main problem of the analysis of weaving and knitting technology is the fact that, until recently, there was no clear distinction in craft terminology - the words: knitting and weaving, in different languages, meant, in fact, the same thing. Knitted fabric called cloth. So, Penelope infinitely "weaved", and then dissolved the "fabric" and "weaved" it again, waiting for her Odyssey from his campaign. However, dissolving the fabric is a rather hopeless task, and even if the thread of the shuttle can still be collected, the warp threads will most likely be unsuitable for repeated work, after such a long and traumatic process for the thread as strikes the weft. And this is at least - half of the working material. Hence, most literary scholars and historians adhere to the fact that Penelope still “knitted” the fabric, and the word “fabric” was a legacy of the inaccuracy of translation, or rather the absence of absolute terminology at that time. Casual mention of the process of her pastime gives an understanding that she knitted not with needles, but knitted a cloth on a device - that is, on a comb (nowadays on a bar or bars).
There is evidence that the craft of weaving fishing gear has been transformed into knitting items of clothing, and the most ancient way is weaving gear "on the bar" (modern expression) or "on the comb" (outdated).
Knitting fishing nets developed simultaneously in several directions. From the analysis of these technologies, it is clear that they all repeat the same type of finished product using equipment developed on the basis of an already known product. However, the simplest type of weaving, creating the most authentic product, is knitting a network “on a bar”. This is the simplest and most reliable way to obtain a fishing net, which suggests the primacy of this particular technology.
In the bar, at an equal distance, in one line, holes were created to set the pegs, between which the cell loop was tightened and knit, after the set of sufficient loops for the required width (height) of the net, the lower peg was rearranged into the next hole and tied to the already connected loops next row. This continued, until the desired length of the network was reached, gradually rearranging the lower peg, and, when the length of the bar was reached, moving the work upwards. The size of the network cell was determined by the distance between the holes for the pegs. In different conditions and at different times of the year, nets with different cell sizes were required, so several rows of holes with different distances in a row were created on the bar.
This type of knitting of networks is called "nodular", because each loop is fixed by a node - this makes the network very stable, and each cell is unchanged.
However, there are no elements of clothing related by this type of knitting in archeology, but there are finds of ancient fragments of networks connected by a "sliding loop". And here it makes sense to pay special attention to this technology knitting gear.
For weaving fishing nets the thinnest and strongest threads were used, the manufacture of which was a very long and meticulous process, and the materials - the most expensive. So in Greece for the manufacture of such threads used the notorious "golden fleece", and in the southern Urals, ancient settlements - fluff unique goats bred in that region. The distinctive features of such a fiber were similar - an unusual thinness of the fiber and its unusual increased length, which made it possible to spin the thinnest threads, without fear of disentangling short fibers from the thread. Another two important features of such a thread is its unique strength when wet and translucent in water. These features imitate the most common today nylon thread (fishing line). One can guess how highly such a thread was valued and what a serious loss was damage to the fishing nets woven from such a thread. Of course, the networks were repaired, but the repair of thin networks still poses a serious difficulty.
This is probably why the ancient fishermen invented a new type of weaving of networks "sliding loop". The resulting tissue was less stable in width - the height of the net was greatly reduced when the net was stretched out, so the net was stretched on the stakes and collected ford, slowly, without straining the net, in order to maintain the maximum catch area. Such a fishing net is called "wander." However, the main advantageous quality of such knitting was that if the fishing net was damaged, it could easily be dissolved and knitted again, creating a new strong net.
In later finds in Greece and in the southern Urals, the bars have exactly this appearance - the holes are arranged in two rows, in a staggered manner, at equal distances along the three sides of the triangles that are formed. For weaving networks with cells of different sizes, different bars have already been used. The main difficulty was knitting the first two rows of the net. The pegs were inserted into all the holes of the bar, and between all the pegs at once, in a zigzag, the thread of the first row was tied, twisting the pegs of the right side of the bar (comb). The right side was called coiling, the left - pull. Then, immediately, the second zigzag of the thread was wound, a little higher than the first, and each loop of the first row was crocheted onto the loops of the second row with a hook. So on the pegs could immediately collect a large number of rows. Due to the fineness of the fishing net and the high height of the pegs, it was rare to dump the finished fishing net from the comb dowel pegs by pulling out the finished fishing net from one side of the comb and freeing the dowel pegs for new rows of the fishing net.
It is this type of knitting allowed to do two-sided type of knitting, which we today call elastic (or English elastic), which became known even before the appearance of England. In this knitting, both sides of the combs become coiled, and the fabric could be pulled sideways at once, and the knitting did not accumulate on the pegs. However, the English "merit" in this case lies in the fact that it is there that the first products of this type appear from a coarse thick thread, and for the convenience of pulling the finished knitting the comb consisted of two identical single-row combs, between which the finished canvas was pressed and pulled. This type of knitting, even from the thickest and coarsest threads, turned out to be quite soft and pleasant to the body, but due to the triple density and the large volume of air insulation in the canvas, it is also very warm. This type of double comb can be considered the progenitor of that most modern "loom". The disadvantage of this weaving was knitting each loop, as in the older version of knitting.
In the Urals (and then Yaik) a double comb also appears, but its appearance is due to the acceleration of the knitting process. Now one comb was completely wound, and the second - whipping (and remains in this form up to the most modern knitting technology). The knitting of the row was done at once, almost in one motion, by transferring the net from one to the other side of the comb: 2 rows of threads were tightened in a zigzag between the pegs of both combs, while in the first row the loops on the winding comb were twisted by entwining. The entwined loops of the first row were dropped on the loops of the second row, which made it possible to make a tight and neat knitting edge. Pull-off comb removed from the bottom, freeing the canvas. Combs turned over so that the knitting always remained outside. Tightening the thread with a zigzag of the next row and throwing the canvas on the other side of the comb, knitting all the loops at once. With this technology, knitting the net became very fast and took, as a rule, a couple of days. So there was a two-weekly "shawl" type of knitting.
Of course, men were engaged in such a craft, and the acceleration of the process led to a lot of free time while waiting for the catch. This made it possible to spin perfect threads, create a variety of patterns of fishing nets and such convenient elements as "teeth", for which light floats clung to the top, and from the bottom the weights - pebbles with natural holes. Double and triple empty loops made it possible to form enlarged cells of the fishing net using the same comb. A structure (pattern) of knitting appeared, compacting the fabric along the edges and in the places of fastening the stakes, and making the fabric invisible to the fish and strong in the catch part. The fishing nets made by small loops with openwork cells have found the stability of nodular nets, greater strength and ease of repair and rework. Such fishing nets have become not only durable and functional, but also beautiful.
There are legends that exactly in the free hours, the guys began to knit their favorite girls scarves, jewelry quality, showing off to each other - whose beloved is more beautifully dressed. Such scarves (spiderwebs) became real jewels. Signs of quality were perfectly flat loops, the same "teeth", the maximum complexity of openwork, durability and fineness of the scarf. Over time, there was even a tradition to measure the fineness and openness of the scarf by passing it through the women's wedding ring. Well, the type of knitting - two-barbed - which came to be called the "garter", although it was originally coined for weaving fishing nets. So the modern definition of the “high cost” of the Orenburg shawl by “hand” (curves) loops is fundamentally incorrect.
Of course, the development of this craft was not only in the three points of the planet, and to give primacy to this or that culture was incorrect and arrogant. The earliest historical finds on this topic belong to the Copts, but this also means nothing. Archeology is a lottery. The fact that the English finds, dated later than in the Southern Urals, does not mean that they did not exist in England before - they could simply not reach our days, or they could be found later in new excavations. To date, the picture also looks very unclear. Only the logic of development, evolution of technology is visible, which is quite understandable and conclusive. The rest - the story will show.
Separately, among these technologies are: lace-making, tatting, crocheting and knitting with knitting needles. These types of knitting are known only as a method of making jewelry and items of clothing and were not originally used for fishing. In this article, it is worth mentioning in addition about knitting with knitting needles, as it completely repeats all types of weaves in knitting with a sliding loop on a comb, but it came to Europe relatively recently, from Japan, making its way through the Asian part of the continent and mentioned in Japanese culture much earlier than European or Eurasian (Ural) knitting. It was in Japan that this type of needlework was originally considered to be a purely female pastime. Ordinary chopsticks were originally used as knitting needles, which have always been used by Japanese women as the most universal tool. It is possible that, in a historical context, it is Japan that is the source of knitting. But thoughts are material. Engineering thought is very diverse and many unexpectedly complex things were thought out at different times and in different places on their own, without peeping and copying, as the obvious result of the evolution of engineering.
So the statement that spinning and knitting is a purely female occupation is completely flawed. However, knitting with needles really was originally feminine needlework and was not accepted by men as low-quality (which is true).
In fact, all European and Slavic knitting technologies are not based on knitting needles, but on a comb, right up to the most sophisticated modern computer knitting machines.
The craft itself in Europe was exclusively masculine before the beginning of emancipation in England, where the first knitting machine was created. And only in the middle of the 19th century there are recommendations for knitting with knitting needles, as for handicrafts loved by many women.
The development of the mechanization of this process is very interesting:
The oldest machines with a comb, which allow one thread to tighten the thread and, according to the Ural type, knit a row by transferring the canvas to the other side of the comb, appear in Scandinavia. Almost at the same time, the same machines appear in Russia (who peeped at whom? - it is not known. All patents are dated much later than the appearance of the machines). In Russia, the earliest mass production of such wooden manual machines was established, which later, in Soviet times, received the Bukovinka brand and were produced in the territory of present-day Ukraine, since this area most needed technological development and placement of new productions. In Scandinavia, such machine tools were not mass produced, they were made by private craftsmen, made to order, and they were nameless, rather expensive and not very high-quality, therefore very few of these devices have been preserved now in a capable form.In Germany, the first metal machine of this type appears with a convenient slider instead of a lifting ruler and thread guide for stable winding of loops.
Such a machine allows you to knit a very stable and high-quality fabric, but only with a garter type because of the unidirectionality of the lifting slider ("Bukovinka", allows you to wind up the lifting bar on both sides, it allows you to knit in semi-automatic mode the garter type, and in the manual mode, you can use the unidirectional smooth surface, crocheting each loop). Soviet engineers are copying a German machine for an Estonian machine-building plant, which is launching a mass production of such machine tools under the Meda brand. But the Soviet engineers do not stop and try to develop their designs so that they get a machine similar in properties to the first English knitting machine. So on the basis of "Bukovinka" the machine "Chernivchanka" is being developed and the Ukrainian SSR receives new production technologies, however, having quickly lost them due to the low level of production quality. In the future, both of these machines were produced in Russian factories under the old Ukrainian brands. The “Chernivchanka” made it possible to keep the semi-automatic knitting mode for both the curly side and the garter knitting - the curly side stitched on a full machine, and the garter stitch on the removable “Bukovinka”, which was part of this machine.
But these machines are still not close to the level of automation of the process as in the English machine. At this time in Japan, on the basis of the English large-scale production development, begins the mass production of household compact, Japanese-quality and convenient knitting machines, which have become a truly high-quality standard of such devices. Soviet engineers stopped modifying the old "bicycle" and created a new type of Soviet knitting machines, strikingly similar to the Japanese :-)
However, if you look closely at the device of modern machines and the logic of the process technology, then it is obvious that the basis of their technology is not knitting needles, but an old comb for weaving fishing nets.
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