Description
Working With Wool: A Coast Salish Legacy and the Cowichan Sweater presents the history, economic and cultural significance of the creation of the wool sweaters known as Cowichan Sweaters for the Coast Salish women who produce and market them. Written by Sylvia Olsen as her Master's thesis, this award-winning author combines her own passion as a knitter and her 40-year experience wool-working with Coast Salish women to create a valuable and highly readable book. The sweaters developed from the goat wool blankets created by Coast Salish women for generations. In the early 1900s these women turned their talents to making creations that were durable, waterproof and fashionable. The book shows the development of this unique economic enterprise over time and its value for the people who knit the sweaters and those who wear them. This book contains numerous archival photographs, a bibliography and an index.