The patterns and fabrics of knitting are an intricate, intimate part of a nation's history, reflecting the styles and interests, concerns and comforts that touched every homebody, newborn and newlywed, every homesick patriot - this is the history celebrated in this unique book. The first fully detailed, full-colour, comprehensive history of knitting from colonial times to the present day, this book conveys the social and historical realities that the craft embodied as well as the emotional narrative that unfolded at the hand's of the nation's knitters. With vintage patterns and designs typical of each era, the reader is taken through tragedies and shortages, historical happenings, social movements, advertising and economic developments that affect knitting and style.Beautifully illustrated with vintage pattern booklets, posters, postcards, black-and-white historical photographs, and contemporary colour photographs of knitted pieces in private collections and in museums, this is a treasury of history and craft, an exquisite view of a country through the handiwork of its knitters.