It's all in the blood: Natives must knit!

I finally got around to reading the brilliant article "Cowichan Sweaters: Durable & Enduring" By Bethany Lyttle in the Fall 2008 issue of Interweave Knits. The article examines the history of the Coast Salish woman of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, who are members of the Quw'utsun Tribe (known as Cowichan), and their brilliant work knitting elaborate sweaters which have become synonymous with Native knitwear tradition, sheer craftsmanship, and, well, the obvious--warmth.The heavy-wool knit sweaters, made for hundreds of years by Cowichan women, always feature elaborate geometric and animal design, which you have most likely seen at some point or another and probably not realized where and how it came about.The Quw'utsun Tride is the largest in British Columbia today. About half the tribe's 4,000 members still live on the reserve allotted as part of the Indian Act, established by the Canadian government in 1876 to establish what constitutes "being Indian" and regulates the land reserved for those Indians. The rights established under the act were meant as protection from challenge and to protect any aboriginal treaties and their corresponding rights.I highly recommend anyone who receives Interweave Knits or has an interest in history, crafting, and its relation to aboriginal culture read this article because its a nice, concise history of the tribe and its famed knitwear.The sweaters are knit using raw sheep's wool with lanolin kept in tact and waterproofed. The raw wool is "walked and danced" on in large tubs in order to clean it and prep it for spinning and knitting. The spindles used were like large crank pulls and would be made by Native men--and while this process isn't necessarily done in the same ways as it once was, Cowichan sweater production is still very much a handmade "cottage industry" endeavor. Drools.To learn more about the Quw'utsun Tribe, then by all means take a gander.To check out some traditional--and authentic--Cowichan sweaters, please, please do. They are beautiful. You too can support Native craftsmanship and buy one if you like. Just a thought. Each tells a story, and welp, it will cost you since they are handmade, and rightfully so.File Under: Perhaps my blood insists that I must knit and must not stop. Runs for the new bits of yarn she just finished balling yesterday and heads for the hills...