Knitting in Middle-earth: An Hypothetical Essay

There is no direct evidence of knitting in Middle-earth, but if Middle-earth existed, knitting would have certainly existed in it. Several characters in The Lord of the Rings are mentioned as wearing stockings, which are defined as nearly always being knit garments, but knitting itself is not mentioned. In fact, almost anything said about knitting in Middle-earth is purely hypothetical.

In Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies, New Zealand was used as the setting for Middle-earth. Though the climate of New Zealand varies across the islands, one thing is nearly constant: sheep, which vastly outnumber humans. From the Middle Ages to our days, wool was one of the most popular fibers for knitting with. Sheep could live in most of the climates featured in The Lord of the Rings, and could easily be imagined in the Shire, on the plains of Rohan, or on the Fields of Pelennor in Gondor.

Another crop that could probably grow in Middle-earth is cotton. It grows best in temperate climates with well-distributed rainfall. This could probably apply to the Shire, Gondor, Rohan, the banks of the river Anduin, and Arnor, a large area between the Misty Mountains and the ocean. As tobacco, which can grow in a similar climate to cotton, could grow in the Shire and Gondor, cotton probably also could. It could as well probably grow in much of Beleriand, a continent located west of Middle-earth until it was destroyed and drowned. It would be well-suited to grow in Nevrast:

“Nevrast…was a milder land, watered by the wet winds from the sea and sheltered from the cold north winds….”

The rest of Beleriand, the land surrounding the river Sirion, was also well-suited for growing cotton. It had moderate temperatures and probably got lots of rain: it was bounded by the ocean to the west, and Ossiriand, the Land of Seven Rivers, to the east. The Sirion, a large river, and many of its tributaries flowed through Beleriand.

Hobbits would probably be able to knit. Tolkien explains in The Lord of the Rings that Hobbits “do not and did not understand or like machines more complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill, or a hand-loom, though they were skilful with tools.” Knitting is relatively uncomplicated. With their appreciation of simple things, Hobbits would probably enjoy knitting.

Elves, Tolkien’s intelligent, advanced, and knowledgeable race, would probably know how to knit. However, Elves are often referred to as embroidering or weaving, or wearing woven cloth, but they are never said to knit. In fact, across Tolkien’s works, weaving is often mentioned, but knitting is never mentioned at all. But looking at these examples case-by-case, all seem to require embroidery or weaving, and there is no place to mention knitting. The first instance of knitting in Tolkien’s world, chronologically, is when Vairë, a Valië, is mentioned weaving. “Vairë…weaves all things that have ever been in Time into her storied webs….” Vairë was also mentioned weaving tapestries. Tapestries, traditionally, are woven and depict images, which knitting is ill-suited for. Tapestries are also mentioned in Meduseld, the hall where the king of the Rohirrim resides. They are again mentioned in Tolkien’s earliest stories of Faerie given in The Book of Lost Tales I.

Stockings are also mentioned several times in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. According to dictionary.com, stockings are “close-fitting, usually knitted covering for the foot and leg made from nylon, silk, cotton, wool, and similar yarns or an item resembling this covering,”. In The Hobbit, the trolls argue over which Dwarf to eat, identifying him by his stockings:

“‘Don’t talk to yerself!’ said Tom. ‘But if you wants to sit on the last one, sit on him. Which is he?’
“‘The one with the yellow stockings,’ said Bert.
“‘Nonsense, the one with the grey stockings,’ said a voice like William’s.
“‘I made sure it was yellow,’ said Bert.
“‘Yellow it was,’ said William.”

When Tom Bombadil was described, he also wore stockings:

“[B]ut Tom was all in clean blue, blue as rain-washed forget-me-nots, and he had green stockings.”

Considering the likelihood of the races of Middle-earth knowing how to knit and of fiber-producing crops being grown in Middle-earth, knitting certainly would exist in Middle-earth. Tolkien’s silence on the subject leads me to believe that he did not know enough about it to trust himself to write accurately about it. As pv points out, “There is throughout Tolkien’s work a sense of great respect for craftspeople of any kind. So I think that a discussion of any craft that’s done by hand, like knitting, is very much in the spirit of Tolkien.”

by LadyEowyn_of_Rohan