Net making

Netknitting, or netmaking, has been around since colonists settled along the coast. Before people could buy twine, women had to spin their own twine from cotton grown on nearby farms. Women also knitted most of the nets, while the men fished all day for the family's dinner; however several fishermen also knitted their own nets.

Whether the netmaker made his or her own twine or bought it in skeins, as people could do in the latter part of the 19th century, netknitters would fill their needles with twine and space the holes with a "knot gauge," a tool which could measure the size of the spaces. Netmakers used an over-under stitch pattern and would measure the length of the net based on the kind of fish they wanted to catch. A spot net (used for catching spot) was about a 100 yards, usually requiring about a week's worth of work. Roe mullet nets were about 400 yards, requiring a slightly more tightly woven net than for spot. Pound nets, which stayed in the water, required a different technique.

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