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I I /Jf:L[) Tr · ~~~ C3 SJ.8 '"'e. I0 -- CRAFT AND COMFORT IN A NORTHERN LAND SHIRLEY A. SCOTf McGRAW-HILL RYERSON Toronto Montreal CANADA KNITS Craft and Comfort in a Northern Land Copyrtght © 1990 Shirley A. Scott All rights reserved. No part of tWs publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or data base, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, elec­ tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. First published in 1990 by McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited 330 Progress Avenue Scarborough, Ontario M1P 2Z5 1234567890 M 9876543210 ISBN 0-07-549973-8 Senior Supervising Editor: Susan Calvert Senior Sponsoring Editor: Glen Ellis Designer: Stuart Knox Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Scott, Shirley (Shirley A.) Canada Knits Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-07-549973-8 1. Knitting - Canada. 2. Knitting - Social aspects - Canada- History. 3. Knitting- Canada- History. 4. Yarn. I. Title. TI819.C3S28 1990 746.43'2'0971 C90-094906-6 Printed and bound in Canada Care has been taken to trace the ownership of any copyrtght material contained in tWs text. The publish­ ers welcome any information that will enable them to rectify, in subsequent editions, any incorrect or omitted reference or credit. Jacket Photo Credits - Front: background, Photo by George Georgakakos. courtesy of the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council and Anne MacLeod Prado; left and right, Photos by Patons Design Studio, Book 526, courtesy of Patens & Baldwins Canada; centre, Courtesy of White Buffalo Mills. Back: top, Courtesy of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. Banff. Alberta, V343/P035(1); bottom left, Courtesy of Knit­ wear ArcWtects. t For My Mother Who Taught Me To Knit CONTENTS ( ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xi 1 1 EARLY WOOLCRAFr IN CANADA 2 CANADA'S FIRST KNITTERS 2 KNITTING AMONG TilE FOUNDING PEOPLES 3 1WO COLONIAL KNITTERS 4 A Knitting Venus 4 Roughing It in the Bush 5 ~2~ ~!!~!t~~~~~~~!~~~F 6 COWICHAN KNITTING 6 The Sisters of St. Ann 7 Jeremina Colvin's Gift 7 The Materials of Cowichan Knitting 8 Knitting Method 9 Pattem Motifs 9 Building the Cowichan Sweater Industry 11 KNITTING MISSIONS ON CANADA'S EAST COAST 14 "A SMALL CASE OF WOOL, SOME NEEDLES ...AND A BARREL OF WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR": THE STORY OF NONIA OF NEWFOUNDLAND 16 The Birth of NONIA 16 NONIA and the Royals 17 The NONIA Casket 17 NONIA Nurses 18 NONIA Today 18 vii 20 20 Mittens by the Millions 20 The Quest for Warm Feet 26 Tam O'Shanters and Toques 29 Working Svveaters 31 WARTIME KNITTING IN CANADA 32 The Call to Knit 32 Service Woollies 35 Women's Service Woollies 36 Hospital Comforts 37 Fanning the Wartime Knitting Flame: Pattern Books 37 Looking Good on a Budget: The Civilian Side of Wartime Knitting 39 SPATS, SACQUES, AND SOAKERS: THE CHANGING INFANT LAYETfE 40 Knitting for Colonial Babies 40 The Layette Takes Shape 40 Knitting for Baby's Bottom 42 Togs for Toddlers 42 Knitting for the Baby Boom 44 The Royal Layette Comes to Canada 45 CANADIAN KIDS' KNITS 46 SOWMON IN ALL HIS GLORY: MEN'S DRESS SOCKS 48 Socks and Sartorial Giddiness 48 Innovations in Sock Knitting 49 YEAR-ROUND LONGJOHNS 50 THE SECRET LIFE OF KNITTING: INTIMATE APPAREL FOR LADIES 51 Hosiery 51 Accessories 51 Ladies' Comforters 52 CUTTING A FINE FIGURE: THE CANADIAN WOMAN OF FASHION 53 The Cosmopolitan Knitter 53 The Svveater Look 55 Accessories 55 Chapeaux 55 KNITTING FOR THE HOME, THE AUTOMOBILE, AND THE FAMILY PET 55 Automobile Knits 57 Fido Knits 57 viii KNITIED NOVELTIES: TilE WORLD OF TilE TEA COSY 57 Tea Cosies 59 Doll's Clothes 59 KNITTING FOR TilE SPORTING LIFE 60 Hockey 60 Curling 60 Skating 63 Skiing 63 Knitting and the Armchair Athlete 63 The Mary Maxim Story 64 ~4? ~~~~~ !~~ Yarns And How We Got Them 67 67 Wool Processing on the Family Fann 68 Today's Wool 69 NYLON: CANADA'S FIRST SYNTHETIC YARN 71 COMMERCIAL YARN PRODUCERS 71 Patons & Baldwins in Canada 71 Spinrite Yams and Dyers 73 White Buffalo Mills 74 Briggs & Little Woolen Mills 75 FARMERS WHO MAKE YARN 76 Philosopher's Wool 77 Willow Bend Fann 77 LUXURY FIBRES IN CANADA 78 Candace Angoras 78 Kaprikid Mohair & Wool 79 Gone to the Dogs in the Yukon 80 Qiviuq: The Great Northern Fibre 81 SELLING CANADIAN KNITTING YARNS 83 Charting A Path for Knitters: Pattern Books 83 Knitting and Lifestyle: The Challenge of Promotion 86 Women's Magazines 88 Canada's Yam Retailers 88 NEEDLES AND NOTIONS: TOOLS OF TilE TRADE 91 94 95 EVERYDAY KNIITERS 96 ix MENWHOKNIT 97 Russell O'Brien: Knitting With A Twist 97 Don Colvin: Knitter to the Stars 98 Mark Radigan 99 LIITLE KNIITERS 99 Knitting Readiness 99 Learning to Knit 101 Brownies and Girl Guides 101 4-H Clubs 102 Young Knitters and Their Heritage 102 THE MANY MOODS OF CURRENT CANADIAN KNIITING 103 The Fashion Knitters 104 The Folk Art Knitters 107 ~\rt? Why ~anadiw Knit 111 6 COMPETITIVE AND COMMEMORATIVE KNIITING 111 Fairs and Exhibitions 111 Design Contests 114 Knitting Canada Together 116 KNIITING FOR PEACE 117 KNIITING AND GOOD WORKS 120 Turkey Teas and Sales of Work 120 "A Little Bridge from the Island of Waste to the Island of Want": Knitting With A Mission 120 THE KNIITING WAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT 121 NOTES 123 BIBLIOGRAPHY 125 PHOTO CREDITS 128 X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I A great number of people in many different parts of the Canadian knitting world gave generously of their time and energy to help make this book possible. I would like to thank each and every one of them heartily for making my work easier and more enjoyable. Every knitter and designer who provided me with biographical information and with photo­ graphs of their work deserve extra special thanks. I hope that this book will draw attention to their talents and to their commitment to knitting as an art. Busy people working in cultural institutions across Canada gave extra attention to my unusual request for information about knitting. Some spent a great deal of time searching unfamiliar comers of their collections for elusive photographs, often because they were knitting enthusiasts themselves. Among all those who helped in special ways, I would like to particularly acknowledge the assistance of: Linda Cobon, Canadian National Exhibition Archives; Joseph Romain, Hockey Hall of Fame; Lena Goon, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies; Marijke Kerkhoven, Glenbow Museum; Birgitta Wallace, Environment Canada: Parks; Bernard Pothier, Canadian War Mu­ seum; Andrea Kirkpatrick, New Brunswick Museum; Cheryl Rielly, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame; Jacqueline Beaudoin-Ross, McCord Museum of Canadian History; Anu Liivandi-Palias, Royal Ontario Museum; the staff of Montgomery's Inn; the staff of the Public Archives of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Museum Complex; the staff of the Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation; and the staff of the National Archives of Canada. The efforts of all of these people and institutions made my work better. I also received a great deal of help from the publishing world. The following people helped me to find information for my book and gave me permission to use it: Carole Harmon, Altitude Publish­ ing; Doris Saunders and Judy McGrath, Them Days Magazine; Georgia Bent, Up Here Magazine; Anna Hobbs, Canadinn Living Magazine; and Lyn Hancock. In the craft world, I would like to particularly thank Anne Manuel of the Newfoundland and Labrador Crafts Development Association for giving me an excellent introduction to Newfound­ land knitting and all the craftspeople at the Summer Craft Fair held in St. John's in July, 1989, for giving me their time. Knitters from other parts of Canada who gave me special help also deserve a vote of thanks. They include Diane Debray and Nancy Vivian, Craft Cottage, Richmond, British Columbia; Joan Warren and the staff of Village Yarns, Islington, Ontario; George Fry, New Brunswick Crafts School; Barbara Gunn and Doreen McKnight, Etobicoke, Ontario; Gerda and Fritz Anthony, Fairview, Alberta; Wendy Chambers, Whitehorse, Yukon; Patricia Freeman, Dutton, Ontario; and Marilyn Woolridge and the staff of NONIA for their time and patience in an­ swering my sometimes difficult questions. Many organizations answered my call for help in researching their involvement with knitting and sometimes found the quest of personal interest. These include William G. Hillaby, Navy League of Canada; Lil Greene, Ontario Voice ofWomen Knitting Project; Ellen Boynton, Canadian Home Economics Association; Suzanne Williams, Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire; Harold McQuatty, Dunnville District Heritage Association; and each of the provincial coordinators of the 4-H Clubs in Canada. In the literary arena, I am indebted to the published work of other knitting historians on which I relied extensively. This includes books by Bishop Rutt, Michael Harvey, Dorothy Burnham, Janetta Dexter, Robin Hansen, Margaret Meikle, Wendy Chambers, Judy McGrath, Birgttta Wallace, Helen Bennett, Lady Veronica Gainford, and Elizabeth Zimmermann. The corporate world also gave me great assistance. Nimble Mouse Communications, Scarbor­ ough, Ontario, and Flight Lines, Ottawa, Ontario, produced graphic materials for the book. Daryl Foster of Sasquatch Trading in Victoria, British Columbia, and Judy Hill of Hill's Indian Crafts, Koksilah, British Columbia, provided helpful information about Cowichan knitting. Campbell Soup permitted me to use its Mit's Better Than A Sweater" advertisement. Patons & Baldwins of Darlington, Co. Durham, England, kindly provided me with the picture of John Paton. Mary Maxim gave me some enjoyable hours in its archives and in its offices. The wool industry was most attentive to my need for information. Many thanks to the Wool Bureau of Canada for permission to reproduce the story of the Woolmark label and for other assistance and to the Canadian Cooperative Wool Growers for the great wealth of information they provided.

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