Cowichan Sweater

Cowichan knitting is a form of knitting developed by the Cowichan people of southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The distinctively patterned, heavy-knit Cowichan sweaters, popular among British Columbians and tourists, are produced using this method. Cowichan knitting is an acculturated art form, a combination of European textile techniques and Salish spinning and weaving methods. From this union, new tools, techniques and designs developed over the years.

Sheep were introduced to Vancouver Island in the 1850s, providing a more plentiful source of wool. Around the same time, the first European settlers arrived in the Cowichan Valley. Knitting by native women probably began in a number of ways shortly thereafter. The most organized instruction in knitting was provided by the Sisters of St. Ann, missionaries who came from Victoria to the Cowichan Valley in 1864 to start a school for the Indians.

In time, Cowichan knitters began to embellish sweaters using the Fair Isle technique. The teaching of patterned sweater knitting is generally attributed to a settler from the Shetland Islands, Jerimina Colvin. Mrs. Colvin settled in Cowichan Station in 1885, raised sheep, and hand-spun and dyed her own wool.

Unlike Fair Isle or Shetland garments, however, Cowichan sweaters are always hand knit of thick, handspun, one-ply natural-coloured yarn in two or three colours (generally cream, black and grey), producing a warm bulky outer garment that is heavier than the multi-coloured Scottish garments made from lightweight two-ply dyed yarn. (Wikipedia)