A History of Knitting

By Ashleigh-Ellan Kavanagh

In The Secret History of Knitting, the familiar rhythm of needles and yarn becomes something far more urgent. Beneath its soft, domestic surface lies a hidden world: stitches used to pass messages in wartime, garments shaped by the pressures of industry and class, and generations of women making not just clothing, but space for themselves in a world that sought to contain them. This is not the story you've been told before. With evocative, sensory prose and fresh historical insight, this book uncovers overlooked moments and reinterprets well-known eras, casting knitting as both witness and participant in social change. What has long been dismissed as trivial emerges instead as a subtle, enduring form of resistance, woven through everyday life. Blending lyrical storytelling with sharp cultural insight, it reveals knitting as a living archive: a language of care, a tool of protest, and, at times, a quiet refusal to comply. Past and present intertwine, showing how craft continues to sit uneasily within systems of productivity, consumption, and visibility. Rich with original perspective and threaded with quiet, rebellious humour, The Secret History of Knitting speaks to anyone who has ever made something with their hands and felt that flicker of meaning beneath the surface. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. Knitting was never "just knitting".

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1036142620
• ISBN13: 9781036142629
• Release Date: May 2027
• Publisher: White Owl