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Knitting sheath elaborately carved, bearing the initials 'DY', 'AI' and the date '1783'. With 2 short lengths of wooden chain attached to it.
A wooden knitting sheath, elaborately carved and bearing the initials 'DY' and 'AI' and the date '1783'. It has two short lengths of wooden chain attached to it. A knitting sheath was used as support for long needles to enable the knitter to work more rapidly, and the chains and hook were used to support the completed knitting. Knitting sheaths were often given as love tokens to mark a betrothal or wedding, and the initials on this sheath suggest this was the case.

1 knitting sheath: wood; mainly good condition

MERL Catalogue Form (temporary) – ‘Object name: KNITTING SHEATH // Class: CRAFTS TEXTILE // ... // Notes: Further description:– Knitting sheath carved wood – bearing the initials DY AI and the date 1783. A small length of carved wooden chain is attached at one end. Another short length of carved chain exists separately – the last link forming a hook. The three hollow portions of the sheath contain carved wooden beads. The purpose of this knitting sheath was to support the long knitting needles and enabled rapid working. The chains and hook were functional, as the hook was attached to the apron band and also helped to support the completed knitting. // (As this example bears the carved initials it was probably a 'Love Token' to mark a betrothal or wedding)’, Letter, MERL to Donor, 8 March 1974 – ‘The carved wooden object which you kindly presented to the museum last week is, as I suggested then, a knitting sheath. // The purpose of the ‘tool’ was to support the long knitting needles in order to enable the knitter to work more rapidly. Usually it would have been attached to the users’ apron band. // They were often carved and given as ‘love tokens’. This example, with its initials DY and AI is no doubt of this type, probably carved to mark a betrothal or wedding. // I am enclosing a copy of an illustration from Sylvia Grove’s book The History of Needlework Tools showing various types. // Miss Groves explains that the wooden chain was functional as well as decorative, because the hook at the end was fixed into the completed knitting and thus helped to support it.’

1783 - 1783