Wendy Keith Designs

The Studio, Upper Croft Goodworth Clatford Nr. Andover Hampshire, SP11 7QX, United Kingdom, 01264 352112, wendy@wendykeithdesigns.co.uk

TRADITION

http://www.wendykeithdesigns.co.uk

02:33 09-Sep-2010

The Royal Warrant Wendy Keith, of Wendy Keith Designs, was honoured to be                                   granted  The  Royal Warrant by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,                                       as Designers and Makers of Shooting Stockings and Kilt Hosiery in 2005.

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.

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".

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  a minimum of 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.