Early history of knitting

Items

• Sock
  Earliest example of double-needle knitting. Made in North Africa during Islamic rule as assumed from the indigo and white designs that echo color combinations found in most islamic ceramics of the time. The sock was most likely worked from toe to top with difference in needle size accounting for the change in gauge. 
• Pair of socks
  The Romano-Egyptian socks were excavated from ancient Oxyrhynchus, a Greek colony on the Nile in central Egypt at the end of the 19th century. They use a technique called nålbinding which predates modern knitting. The socks were made with red wool and each sock has a divided big toe so as to be worn with sandals. The construction of these socks, which have a turned heel, began at the toe and finished at the ankle with added stitches in the front to form an under-flap, ending in a loop, for fastening or tying.