Cowichan Knitting: History and Continuity

In this post I will focus on the a bit more on the background history of the Cowichan knitters and their techniques and how contemporary artists are responding to this history and honouring it.

Feldur by Hildurhak

The word feldur is Icelandic and means a skin from a living or a dead animal.

The Cowichan Women’s traditional sweaters, issues of intellectual property and cultural appropriation.

A flurry of media reports concerning the Cowichan Tribe’s claim that their famous sweater designs were being used illegally by the Hudson’s Bay Company for the 2010 Olympics held in Vancouver, BC Canada raised important issues around intellectual property and cultural appropriation. The outcome of the issue highlights the limits of legal, artistic and economic protection for creators of cultural products in this age of globalization.

Warping a warp weighted loom

In December 2015 a good friend gave me her old warp weighted loom, these photos document the adventure of learning to set it up, warp it, and weave with it.