Knitting, crocheting, etc...

HAL9000

Mrs9000 is currently doing some crocheting which got me wondering...

How on earth do things like knitting, lacemaking, etc ever get invented/discovered?

For instance it’s a fairly straightforward intellectual process to come up with peeling a cow, and then inventing, say, lederhosen.

To invent woolly jumpers someone has to realise that you need to, firstly, fleece an animal, but not just any animal, only things like sheep will do. Then you need to discover that that the fleece can be processed in such a way as to produce a woollen yarn - again a process that requires a certain amount of ingenuity and dexterity. Having discovered wool you then need to discover that making a series of knots (utilising a pair of sticks) can result in creating a garment. Again, not just any series of knots - they have to be just right.

How did anybody ever actually invent that?

Philly_Q

Aliens taught us.


But how did they figure it out....? 

Sporky

Knitting started off as net-making.

LuttiS

I questioned Mrs. L on this as she is a big crotcheteer. She suggested that it was invented and taught by You Tube. 

stimpsonslostson

LuttiS said:

I questioned Mrs. L on this as she is a big crotcheteer. She suggested that it was invented and taught by You Tube. 

She nailed it. YouTube taught MrsLostSon too. 
Same applies to many things- cheese "this milk has gone so off that it's set, smelly and has mound growing on it! Let's eat it!" 

Im a research scientist and am constantly in awe of the kit I have available- gene sequencers, PCR machines, even computers. 

CHRISB50

My family have always been big on knitting. My nan used to knit loads of stuff. I lost count of how many cable knit jumpers I had for school.

My mum knits stuff for the kids now, and she's started teaching my eldest daughter to do it. She absolutely loves it, and has already knitted a scarf for one of her dolls.

I have no idea of the origins of knitting but I've always presumed it was just invented by bored nans.

Phil_aka_Pip

It was invented by women who needed something to do while they were gossiping

munckee

stimpsonslostson said:

LuttiS said:

I questioned Mrs. L on this as she is a big crotcheteer. She suggested that it was invented and taught by You Tube. 

She nailed it. YouTube taught MrsLostSon too. 
Same applies to many things- cheese "this milk has gone so off that it's set, smelly and has mound growing on it! Let's eat it!" 

Im a research scientist and am constantly in awe of the kit I have available- gene sequencers, PCR machines, even computers. 

Yeah but what about bread, did cavemen have a conversation that went "lets eat this wheat, no wait lets grind it up mix it with yeast, salt, animal fats, water and knead it, let it rise, knead it again and then cook it for a while before then slicing it, cooking it again and having toast?"

Phil_aka_Pip

... and did they wait for half of the settlement to die of salmonella before someone had the idea of roasting a chicken?

VimFuego

one thing to remember is that wild sheep naturally shed their fleeces (we've bred that out of them so we can harvest the wool). Early man would've seen that wool lying around and maybe rubbed some between their fingers and realised you can make a kind of a string with it. As sporky said, we developed the ability to makes nets waaaay back in the stone age, so it's not a huge leap of the imagination to see them applying the same techniques to wool. 

jellyroll

I read in a book recently - I think it was Andrew Marr - who said that whilst we have a perception that we are cleverer than our predecessors, it's actually the other way round. They invented/discovered this stuff coz they were smarter than us.  

fields5069

When you live a life driven by survival, it's amazing how smart a human can be.

thermionic

VimFuego said:

one thing to remember is that wild sheep naturally shed their fleeces (we've bred that out of them so we can harvest the wool). Early man would've seen that wool lying around and maybe rubbed some between their fingers and realised you can make a kind of a string with it. As sporky said, we developed the ability to makes nets waaaay back in the stone age, so it's not a huge leap of the imagination to see them applying the same techniques to wool. 

Ah, I see. The string vest is the Missing Link between nets and woolly jumpers.

munckee

jellyroll said:

I read in a book recently - I think it was Andrew Marr - who said that whilst we have a perception that we are cleverer than our predecessors, it's actually the other way round. They invented/discovered this stuff coz they were smarter than us.  

I think its more the case that the top percentage of intelligent/adaptable people survived so over time we are cleverer on average as we get the genes from the cream of the crop.  The ones who tried to tickle lions or swim in volcanos didn't spread their genes around.

Philly_Q

jellyroll said:

I read in a book recently - I think it was Andrew Marr - who said that whilst we have a perception that we are cleverer than our predecessors, it's actually the other way round. They invented/discovered this stuff coz they were smarter than us.  

And even the less-inventive folk would have had a hell of a lot more practical skills than we do.

Winny_Pooh

Philly_Q said:

jellyroll said:

I read in a book recently - I think it was Andrew Marr - who said that whilst we have a perception that we are cleverer than our predecessors, it's actually the other way round. They invented/discovered this stuff coz they were smarter than us.  

And even the less-inventive folk would have had a hell of a lot more practical skills than we do.

Yeah, but try explaining British politics to them and they'd off themselves.

Kilgore

Archaeologists are fairly certain that the development of fabrics was closely connected to the worship of the near eastern god Nu Luk.

VimFuego

Kilgore said:

Archaeologists are fairly certain that the development of fabrics was closely connected to the worship of the near eastern god Nu Luk.

you can recognise him by his pri mark. 

Kilgore

VimFuego said:

Kilgore said:

Archaeologists are fairly certain that the development of fabrics was closely connected to the worship of the near eastern god Nu Luk.

you can recognise him by his pri mark. 

It all began in the reign of the warrior - king, Jimichu.