Bishop Richard Rutt

I mentioned a number of posts ago that Bishop Richard Rutt's wide collection knitting books, patterns, clippings and tutorials is held at the University of Southampton library. Recently I learned that a number of very old knitting books, dating from 1800 to 1911, have been digitised and are on the internet.

Have a look at: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/library/ldu/wsa.html. I've just had a cursory look through some of the pages and it's interesting to read about the knitting techniques, vocabulary and patterns and how they have changed. Which is not surprising considering how far back the collection stretches. Who knits a "Sontag" or "Cephaline" anymore? (From the 1844 issue of My Knitting Book.)

Another book, printed by The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, titled Helping the Trawlers and dated 1800, has a long list of patrons and vice-patrons. In addition to patterns for clothing to help seamen withstand the harsh weather on open ships, there is a section for donations to Labrador.