So we all get that knitting by hand has been considered a hobby for old women (though it’s the most diverse craft compared to most other techniques today). But that is a post industrial, western notion in many ways.
For example, let’s talk about bingestickning in Halland, Sweden.
Binge (pronounced bing-uh, from binda (to bind - to knit)) is a tradition of two coloured patterned knitting from the province of Halland on the Swedish west coast. Halland is a region of meagre land for crops, long sandy beaches and windswept hills. To make ends meet a strong knitting tradition, for sale at market, sprung up.
Knitting is thought to have entered Halland in the 17th century, with possible origins on the European continent since the province passed from Denmark to Sweden in 1658 after the treaty in Roskilde. But a for market knitting industry is recorded in the first half of the 18th century which means it probably had been established for years before that. Similar knitting traditions are recorded in Denmark as well.
During the 19th century a putting-out, domestic industry is recorded. This means that the salesmen provide the crafters with raw material, in this case Icelandic wool, and the crafters turn the wool into warn by spinning at home, dyeing, and knitting the parts of clothing for assembly. The whole family would get in on this, and in some villages knitting parties were held to save on candles in the evening and keep each other company.
Because knitting things like sweaters can get pretty laborious and time consuming the whole family got involved. Mother, father and children certainly, and older generations could help in ways allowed by aching hands. To save on time two people could work on the same sweater torso at once.
You’d each knit one needle at a time. Whoever was faster had to wait for the other one to finish before they both turned the work and started the next, so the faster one would teasingly smack the slow fingers with their free needle.
Knitting competitions were also common, in small scale. Children might compete in who could knit the furthest before going to bed.
At the introduction of craft societies (hemslöjdsföreningar) in basically every Swedish province the selling of Binge was organised by them. And the beautiful, patterned sweaters and hats were in high demand for a time. Even into the 1950’s when knitting machines were well established people would still buy these handmade garments.
Today the industry is behind us, but Binge is still a well known and beloved knitting tradition.