] Jus to prove that hand knitting did still exist, as a craft, here are the Knitters of Wensleydale, 1814, and some of the local sheep that provided the wool.

] Actually, tradtional spinning and knitting of wool was often carried out by shepherds.

Lead miners also are known to have knitted while walking to and from their jobs in the mines (as if hard labor underground wasn't enough, which apparently it wasn't from a financial point of view). I have just returned from Swaledale and Wensleydale and read about this practice in a museum there.

Here's a link you might find interesting. (Click on the page numbers at top to read the whole thing.)