I'm currently reading Rose Tremain's Music and Silence (at pdr's suggestion -- thanks, p!) and it talks about how it was illegal to knit in Denmark in the 16th century. Of course I had to wonder if this could possibly be true, and went straight to my good friend google. The only thing I've been able to come up with is that in 1609 it was illegal to knit in Jersey during the harvest because it was a distraction.
Here's a link to the passage from the Rose Tremain book:
http://www.nextreads.com/display2.aspx?recid=21268&FC=1 It's about a third of the way down the page, in the section labeled "The Closed Window". I've excerpted it here:
"They say that Queen Sofie...loved to ...indulge in secret in her passion for knitting. This activity had been proscribed throughout the land as tending to induce in women an idle trance of mind, in which their proper thoughts would fly away and be replaced by fancy. Men called this state "wool gathering." ...On the morning of the twelfth of April 1577, a day of pale sunlight and a tender blue sky, Queen Sofie, eight and a half months pregnant with her third child, set out at nine o'clock with Elizabeth to cross the lake and spend the morning knitting. "
Caveat: I ask this out of my own curiousity, and not because I need the information. Please don't spend time researching if you don't know off the top of your head (unless you're just as curious as me!)
Signed,
Barb (a knitter, and coincidentally writing a story which takes place in 16th century Denmark)
Here's a link to the passage from the Rose Tremain book:
http://www.nextreads.com/display2.aspx?recid=21268&FC=1 It's about a third of the way down the page, in the section labeled "The Closed Window". I've excerpted it here:
"They say that Queen Sofie...loved to ...indulge in secret in her passion for knitting. This activity had been proscribed throughout the land as tending to induce in women an idle trance of mind, in which their proper thoughts would fly away and be replaced by fancy. Men called this state "wool gathering." ...On the morning of the twelfth of April 1577, a day of pale sunlight and a tender blue sky, Queen Sofie, eight and a half months pregnant with her third child, set out at nine o'clock with Elizabeth to cross the lake and spend the morning knitting. "
Caveat: I ask this out of my own curiousity, and not because I need the information. Please don't spend time researching if you don't know off the top of your head (unless you're just as curious as me!)
Signed,
Barb (a knitter, and coincidentally writing a story which takes place in 16th century Denmark)
It strikes me funny that one literal activity was compared to another literal activity, with a phrase that had just barely worked its way into a metaphorical meaning. And yes, I know, "wool gathering" may not be a literal translation from the Danish, but still...
