We bought a wonderful selection of hand knits during our trip to British Columbia in April of this year. In British Columbia we met with trade representatives of First Nation knitter communities in order to collaborate on small series of traditional Cowhichan sweaters. Cowichan knitting goes back centuries when British Columbian tribes used their knits to exchange with other native people for spices, food etc. The original sweaters were made out of handspun yarn made of sheep- and dog hair. Later on, when British colonialism brought settlers to the West Coast European knitting traditions were blended with existing ones. The patterns are a combination of local wildlife elements and geometric shapes. Often these elements refer to values like personal strength (bears), eternal wisdom (eagle), elements (sun, whales) and are combined in many different ways. Cowichan knitted cardigans often close with (2way) zippers or sometimes with buttons, have no sides seams (round knitted), knitted pockets (horizontal or slanted) and a beautiful rounded collars, with or without color details.
This year has been a horrific year for all of Canada. Wildfires have destroyed triple the size of the Netherlands, specifically in the provinces of British Columbia, Northern Territories and Saskatchewan. Smoke reached NYC and the Azores, just to illustrate how extreme these fires have been. First Nation People communities have been hit hard by the fires, losing their villages, their cattle and their houses. This is why our designed capsules are running late and we have decided to sell our archive sweaters which are new products which have been knitted year after year in different combinations and colors.