http://www.elann.com/Commerce.web/forums/messages.aspx?TopicID=150285 Elann Community Chat Center - Previous Website Chat - Wool for Cowichan sweater - Messages en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Jitbit AspNetForum Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:44:01 GMT Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:44:01 GMT http://www.elann.com/Commerce.web/forums/messages.aspx?TopicID=150285 Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:44:01 GMT http://www.elann.com/Commerce.web/forums/messages.aspx?TopicID=150285 Jamie]]> Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:22:43 GMT http://www.elann.com/Commerce.web/forums/messages.aspx?TopicID=150285
All that said, if you want to knit yourself a Cowichan-style sweater, not for resale, have a look at Priscilla Gibson-Roberts` Knitting in the Old Way (my edition is Nomad Press, 2004 but the book came out originally in 1985 from Interweave Press). The older sweaters were more tightly knitted than today and had mainly geometric motifs. These were like fair isle designs with thick wool, because a number of Scottish settlers showed the native women how to knit patterns and used the ones they were familiar with. The bird and animal motifs came later. The yarn was loosely spun but as it received fairly minimal processing except for a bit of washing (not enough to take away all the lanolin) it held together firmly. The sweaters were very warm, mostly waterproof, and wore like iron. I have a photograph taken about 1930 with one of my brothers wearing one. It was not new, so he received it from at least one older brother and maybe two, by the time I was wearing it in the 1950s, it had been through two more of us. So I was the fifth or sixth to wear it and then it was handed down to the next generation. We wore them for everything - in mud, brambles, in the woods, for chores, fishing. We probably smelt like unwashed wool by the end of the winter.
For yarn, most people use Buffalo, but homespun is great if you can get it. Consult with Ann and Angela about the closest Elann yarn - you never know what might be coming.
Alice
Salt Spring Island
(I was born in the Cowichan Valley)]]> Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:42:47 GMT http://www.elann.com/Commerce.web/forums/messages.aspx?TopicID=150285
Thanks for the help.]]> Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:43:03 GMT