Hi Saragrace,
The frame was invented by Reverend Lee in the late 16thC and
presented to Queen Elizabeth I for a patent. The story goes that she
refused, based on the fear it would put hand knitters out of
business. She did suggest that he should refine it to make fine-knit
silks.
Lee died in poverty and his brother took the frame to France and
developed it further. So it was probably through the 17thC that
framework stockings began to be made in any quantity. By the early
18th century, framework stockings were known, and handknits were
still being made.
Are you talking about how the word sock evolved and relates to
stocking? Good question! I still don't know why clocking is called
clocking, although chevening may relate to "cheve", or ankle in
French. Except that an Englishwoman claims to have invented
chevening in 1783, but I found the word someplace dated in the 1750s.
Aha, a new field of study - costume linguistics!
-Carol
> I saw some of the previous posts and links about this and was curious if
> you knew how far back knitting socks on a frame went?
> Also...having made the spelling error above in the subject, I started to
> wonder how the "t" started getting left out of stocking...or was it the
> other way around?
>
> Thanks,
> Sg
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