Good work ! It's inevitable that sometimes a piece of work will go wrong. A bit frustrating, but nothing to beat yourself up over.
Funnily enough I've made quite a lot of re-enactment uniforms and period clothing from the Napoleonic period, which inevitably involves quite a lot of research, yet there is hardly any evidence of anything knitted from then apart from a few socks, it's almost all sewn together from woven cloth. I've seen a theory that at the time knitting was a hobby for wealthy women to fill their time rather than a means of mass production for clothing, but I don't know how true that is.....
!BBH
Gunnister man thought to be from the late 18th century had knitted garments and a knitted colour work purse. The knitted socks or stockings were quite a coarse gauge, common for ordinary folks (ie not the aristocracy), and had been repaired many times.
Roxanne Richardson talks about the history of socks/stockings in this video at about 14 mins (there are time stamps in the description box). There's also a link to a video about Gunnister Man.
Silk stockings and knitted silk shirts, knitted in a very fine gauge (about 25 stitches per inch, modern firm gauge hand knitted socks have about 8 or 9 stitches to an inch), were worn by the aristocracy during the 17th century (possibly earlier), Charles 1 was executed in a knitted silk shirt (on show in, I think, the Museum of London).
There was a thriving knitting industry in London, I don't think they would have been wealthy women 😜, although I think the silk garments were imported from Italy. The knitting frame was invented in the 16th century but I think it was sometime before it became widespread. Sorry, my history is a bit patchy! Knitted textiles don't always survive, so it's difficult to know how long they've been around.
Knitted hosiery was big in Leicester and we have a dedicated museum. It's years since I've been and they've developed the historical resource a lot since I went.
Oral History Archive Hosiery Industry
Framework Knitters Museum
Awesome information - thank you !
25 stitches to the inch is insane ! I aim for 10-12 when I'm hand sewing melton with linen thread, and even the Emperor's habit at Stratfeld Saye (which is so beautifully made it makes me want to give up and go cry in a corner...) doesn't get to more than about 15-18.