7. Crochet.
History of Machine-Wrought Hosiery and Lace Manufacture. W. Felkin. London, 1867.
See Germany.
An open stitch on stockings, called the "Derby rib," had been invented by Jedediah Strutt, in 1758.
By Rev. William Lee, of Calverton (Nottinghamshire). The romantic story is well known; but whether actuated, as usually stated, by pique at the absorbing attention paid to her knitting by a lady, when he was urging his suit—or, as others more amiably affirm, by a desire to lighten the labour of his wife, who was obliged to contribute to their joint support by knitting stockings—certain it is that it was he who first conceived the idea of the stocking-frame, and completed it about 1589. His invention met with no support from Queen Elizabeth, so Lee went to France, where he was well received by Henry IV.; but the same year Henry was assassinated, and the Regent withdrawing her protection, Lee died of grief and disappointment. The arms of the Framework Knitters' Company (Fig. 162) are a stocking-frame, having for supporters William Lee in full canonicals and a female holding in her hand thread and a knitting-needle. After Lee's death his brother returned to England, where Lee's invention was then appreciated. Stocking-making became the fashion, everyone tried, it, and people had their portraits taken with gold and silver needles suspended round their necks.