Knitters and Hand-Knitting in the 18th Century
Pages elsewhere on this site focusing on 18th century knit clothing and accessories include mitts, muffatees, knit gloves, mittens, stockings, pincushions & pin-balls, Scots bonnets, men’s caps, and babies’ shirts.
You’ll also find resources on knitting sheaths, as well as knitting in the 10th-17th centuries.
Additional Resources
A History of Hand Knitting
No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting
Historic Knitting group on Facebook
Knitted Garb - Inspired by Originals: Designs for Plimoth Patuxet Museums and Beyond (16th-17th century patterns)
TRICOTER, v. act. (Bonneterie.) action par laquelle on travaille à former avec de longues & menues aiguilles, ou broches de fer ou de laiton poli, certains tissus de soie, de laine, de coton, de chanvre, de lin, ou de poil, en maniere de petits noeuds, boucles ou mailles, tels qu'on les voit aux bas, bonnets, camisoles, & autres pareilles marchandises de bonneterie.
Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 1765
Young Knitter Asleep by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, c. 1759
Courtesy of the Huntington Art Museum, San Marino, California
Adele S. Browning Memorial Collection, gift of Mildred Browning Green and Honorable Lucius Peyton Green
Young woman sitting on a chair by Edme Bouchardon, 1730s
A girl knitting/A young girl knitting by Philippe Mercier (also Domestick Employment: Knitting
A girl knitting, attributed to André Bouys
The governess by Jean-Siméon Chardin, 1739
The prude, c. 1740s-1760s
Lady Maynard by Paul Sandby, c. 1757
Young Knitter Asleep by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1759
Madame de Chamilly, femme du premier valet de chambre du Roi by Carmontelle, 1760
Countess Tolstaya, née Lopukhina by Ivan Argunov, 1768
Lady Chambers by Paul Sandby, c. 1770-1780
Interior from Näs estate by Pehr Hilleström, c. 1775
The Uncultivated Genius by David Allan, 1775
An old lady knitting, 1776
Lotte hands pistols to Werther’s servant by Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, 1777
In der Nähstube by Daniel Chodowiecki
A girl seated by a window knitting, c. 1780-1799
My grandmother knitting, c. 1780-1812
The gypsie fortune-teller, 1783
A visit to the grandmother, 1785
View of the Eagle Tower at Caernarvon by Paul Sandby, 1786
Les Malheurs de l'amour (The Sorrows of Love) by Louis-Léopold Boilly, 1790
Two old people sitting on a couch, c. 1790-1810
Les Tricoteuses Jacobines, ou de Robespierre by Pierre-Etienne Leseur, 1793
Woman from La Rochelle, 1796
A knitting lady by Warner Horstink, 1799
Figure studies by Nicholas Pocock
Madame Gérard, wife of Henri Gérard by Marguerite Gérard
Italian woman in an interior attributed to Jacques Sablet
The grandfather, 1811