Flavia Nessi-Yazitzoglou
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Greece found itself at the crossroads of numerous influences and traditions regarding knitting techniques, coming from both the East and the West. A close look at the history of sock knitting using a set of four or five needles brings to attention the fact that in northern Greece pastoral women still knitted in the Eastern way, an archaic method descending from the Arab world used for making heavy handspun woollen socks, whereas on the islands women were knitting with the yarn wrapped around the neck or pinned to the bodice, which were still old-fashioned knitting postures, in order to produce more refined cotton or handspun monochrome silk stockings. In Europe already by the 18th century cottage-industry knitters were knitting in a more professional way using knitting sheaths, small every-day tools that consist of a wooden or metal staff usually between 25 – 35 cm long that serves to immobilize one of the knitting needles during the sock knitting work.
Yet, the arrival of these tools in Greece came much later on, in the 19th century at a time when their use was declining in Europe. The industrialization of yarn processing and the arrival of novel women’s magazines designed to explain all the available stitches with practical instructions announced the emergence of new ways of knitting in Greece. Rapidity and precision of execution in a more scientific type of knitting suddenly became new features that prompted Greek knitters to adopt European knitting sheaths that they christened kaltsovelona [καλτσοβελόνα, sock needle] or kaltsoxylo [καλτσόξυλο, sock stick], clearly referencing their use in producing socks.
On the Ionian Islands, to the contrary, the knitting sheath went by the name rokoxylo [ροκόξυλο] or kaltsounoroka [καλτσουνόροκα] designating a type of wooden distaff used for making socks, which adds yet another dimension to the tool. A parallel can be drawn between the Ionian knitting sheaths in the shape of standing women and small hand distaffs from Calabria, which bear a striking resemblance to one another even though the two tools are different in nature. (Fig. 1)

Fig. 1. Hand distaff in the shape of a standing woman, three pieces, Calabria, early 20th century, carved-in-the-round coloured fruitwood, h. 29.7 cm, Mucem Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations, Marseille
The oldest knitting sheaths found in Greece date back to about 1830-1850 and appear to be extremely valuable silver-plated objects, that flaunt the craftsmanship of professional silversmiths. They were found mainly on the Ionian Islands, although we cannot validate they correspond to what was a local production, or if they were imported from Epirus instead, a region which was famed for the excellence of its silversmithing. Perhaps the Vlach tradesmen with their very efficient commercial network contributed to the introduction of these precious objects from Central Europe to Greece through the Balkan roads as seems to confirm some Slavic inscriptions found on certain tools. (Fig. 2) But the silver-plated neoclassical Ionian sheaths were from the very start intended as elegant embroidery tools designed for the needlework of upper-class ladies.
Fig. 2. Extension sheaths (details), Left: inscribed and dated AΣΣ 1839 [ASS 1839], Right: Serbian, inscribed with three names.Silver-plated slender tube type, h. 29 cm B, h. 39.5 cm (private collections).
However, the majority of Greek knitting sheaths are wood-carved tools probably introduced in Greece at the end of 19th century by sailors who were famous for their prowess in woodworking. Due to the absence of any satisfactory written sources, researchers can merely speculate on its beginnings, yet it is quite certain that the emergence of these tools in insular Greece issued from commercial trade along the Italian and British shipping routes as suggested by the similarities between the fish models on certain British knitting sheaths, mainly produced in Wales and Scotland, and their Greek counterparts. (Fig. 3)


Fig. 3. Knitting sheath in the shape of a fish, Greek, inscribed and dated Εριφὐλη Λ. Κομνηνού 1909 [Erifyli L. Komninou 1909], chip-carved wood, h. 29.5 cm (private collection).
According to the account offered by Gerassimos Papatrechas, one of the last woodcarvers of Xiromero, we know that the sheaths were also called filakissia (φυλακίσσια), “prison-made,” which in turn informs as to the origin of their production. Thousands of identical models of tools have been carved by inmates in Greek prisons over a 50 to 60-year period (c. 1890/1900-1950). It is most likely in prison that Greek craftsmen came into contact with European sailors and shared their common knowledge in order to develop the prototypes of these new tools gradually advancing towards the implementation of their own innovations. For example, the Corfu prison fashioned its own kind of engraved stamp bearing the name of the establishment, ΚΕΡΚΥΡΑ [Corfu], a sort of registered trademark that testified to the authenticity and origin of its entire output. It undoubtedly answered to a pragmatic necessity to supply homemakers from all over Greece with practical implements. (Fig. 4)

In Corfu we found another category of wood-carved knitting sheaths, different from the more elaborate models produced at the same time for the islanders, which corresponded to the first local attempt to create a tourist souvenir industry for travellers on the Grand Tour. They were distinguished by the classic ΚΕΡΚΥΡΑ prison stamp with multilingual inscriptions. (Fig. 5)

Fig. 5. Knitting sheath in the shape of a blade, mid-20th century, relief-carved and carved-in-the-round wood, Front and reverse sides depicting a woman in traditional costume, the Tree of Life and the emblem of Corfu, inscribed Ricordo / Souvenir DU CORFU / ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΕΡΩΣ ΕΛΠΙΣ [Faith love hope; ΑΙΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΗ ΠΑΔΟΒΑ [Aikaterini Padova], h. 32 cm (private collection)
Greek carved wooden knitting sheaths, through their beauty and diversity of sculptural decoration, reveal the complexity of their usage. If in Europe the variations in form of those tools reflected mainly regional specificities, in Greece the spectrum of morphological differences corresponded to another logic, that is to morph into clever “multitasking” tools used to measure, draw and calibrate, not to mention their role in various small-scale weaving techniques such as braiding, finger looping and card weaving which were instrumental in carrying out the domestic handiwork that clothed the family. (Fig. 6)

According to their morphology acquired through the carving process the Greek sheaths could be employed in a variety of ways, depending on whether women were using the upper or lower part of the tool. In general, the upper part of the tool was carved in the round and pierced to accommodate a needle for knitting, and the lower half of the tool was immobilized, either under the armpit or in the waistband of the apron. But the upper part of the instrument could also be used as a handle and its lower section could be used as a weaving sword or beater. Yet there are other case scenarios in which the sheath served as an autonomous tool, free of a grip, thus allowing it to be propelled by its own weight under the effect of the rotation of twisting thread in plaiting, braiding and knotting techniques, or else it could slide along the surface of a fabric to trace or mark sewing measurements.
The Greek knitting sheaths were more innovative in their conception than their fellow European models. By combining several distinct functions in one instrument, they allied tradition with modernity by bringing technological advances to ancestral know-how.
References
Angeliki Hatzimichali, La sculpture sur bois, Collection de l’Hellénisme contemporain, Athens, 1950.
Kitsos A. Makris, Λαϊκά και μεταβυζαντινά ξυλόγλυπτα [Popular and Post-Byzantine Greek woodcarving], Athens: National Organization of Greek Handicrafts, 1962.
James Norbury, Traditional Knitting Patterns: From Scandinavia, the British Isles, France, Italy and Other European Countries, New York: Dover, 1973.
Irena Turnau, “La bonneterie en Europe, du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle,” Annales. Économies, sociétés, civilisations 26, no. 5, 1971, p. 1118-1132.
Irena Turnau, “History of Folk Knitting in Europe: A Framework for Research,” Textile History 17, no. 2, 1986, p. 167-180.








