In the Loop, January 2021
January 2021 In the Loop
Welcome to 2021! This year, CKC will deliver a monthly newsletter to our Members. We know your time is precious, so we will be curating the most noteworthy and relevant happenings within CKC and in the news. Our goal is to keep the content rich and the reading succinct – because, let’s face it, wouldn’t you rather be knitting or crocheting? Hoping these little nuggets will give you plenty to ponder and reflect upon while you do…
Some of the topics we plan to cover include regular updates on our CKC Board activities, CKC Member News, and a President’s Column.
We’ll also share gems from our CKC Online Resources and Collections, including CKC’s Crowdsourced Collection, Treasures from the Archives, what’s new in knitting and crochet scholarship, and features from CKC’s Blog and social media posts.
Watch for news on noteworthy exhibitions, collections, and events, and interviews with designers and scholars. We’ll be promoting equity and accessibility in knitting and crochet, and rolling out more volunteer opportunities.
Finally, we hope you’ll share your projects with us as we introduce a segment called “What’s on Your Needles?”
All CKC Members are welcome and encouraged to contribute to this publication. Our hope is that it will help us get to know each other and build a more vibrant community. All issues will be archived after 3 months on our website to make them easily accessible to CKC Members, followers, and the public.
Please email your inquiries, ideas and stories to newsletter@centerforknitandcrochet.org. We hope to hear from you.
President’s Column
At the beginning of CKC’s 2020 end-of-year fundraising campaign, we asked that you give first to those most in need, but we are honored that so many of you also chose to show your support for CKC. I am sharing this wonderful 2020 fundraising wrap-up with the deepest gratitude!
CKC Receives $5,000 Gift from the Sally Mead Hands Foundation in November 2020
The Center for Knit and Crochet’s Board of Directors is thrilled to announce a discretionary gift of $5000 from the Sally Mead Hands Foundation. We thank CKC’s Founder, Karen Kendrick-Hands, and her husband Larry Hands, a Director of the Sally Mead Hands Foundation, whose overwhelming generosity continues to secure CKC’s future, and the future of our crafts.
CKC Raises $3,422 in Donations and Memberships During 2020’s End-of-Year Campaign
Thank you to every member and donor who helped CKC raise a total of $3422 during our second annual end-of-year fundraising campaign — $2862 in donations, and $560 in memberships. Individual end-of-year donations to CKC in 2020 increased by 39%, and new and renewing members increased by 54%, compared to 2019.
We are so grateful for your faith in CKC. We promise that every donation and membership matters as CKC works to preserve and share your knit and crochet treasures and stories in 2021 and beyond!
Jennifer Lindsay, President
CKC Social Media– 2020’s Best of the “Best Nine”
If you follow CKC on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, you may remember some of our Best Nine posts of 2020. Best Nine is an Instagram-friendly app that compiles the nine posts with the most likes for a specified year.
Not surprising that the post with the most “likes” was a beautiful photo of Hazel Scott knitting a sweater for her 14-month old son, taken on October 4, 1947, and shown in the social media post below. You can find the photo hosted in CKC’s Library and Museum Collections here. Click on the photo to be taken to the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections, where this photo is currently housed, or visit that collection here.
CKC shares items related to knitting and crochet from museums and archives throughout the US via Digital Public Library of America. CKC’s knit- and crochet-specific archives were created to help makers, scholars, and members of the public more easily locate the hidden histories of the crafts we love, inspiring new opportunities for scholarship, appreciation, and enjoyment.
Thank you for following, commenting on, and liking our posts!
Exhibitions
Crochet Heritage Exhibit in Dallas – Fort Worth Metro Area
“Honoring past and present doily-makers through photos and stories; doily art quilts by Suzann Thompson; and poems by Sandi Horton.”
When you see the big, blue baling-twine doily in the window of the Grapevine (TX) Convention & Visitors Bureau, you have arrived at Celebrate Doilies: A Texas Crochet Heritage Show. You can spend a socially-distanced afternoon reading about Texan doily-makers and doily-designers, learn important points of doily etiquette, and view art quilts that incorporate doilies and other vintage and antique needlework.
When: January 15 – February 24, 2021
Where: Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau, 636 S. Main Street, Grapevine, Texas.
Hours: Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: Free
Read more about doilies and the Celebrate Doilies show at CKC’s blog:
- “Doilies and the Importance of Stories,” centerforknitandcrochet.org/doilies-and-the-importance-of-stories/.
- “The Poetry and Psychology of Doilies,” centerforknitandcrochet.org/the-poetry-and-psychology-of-doilies/.
- “Celebrating Doily Heritage,”centerforknitandcrochet.org/celebrating-doily-heritage/.
Knitting and Crochet in the News …
From the Empire State Digital Network, The New School Archives Digital Collections: Elsa Schiaparelli, Black Dress with White Crochet Collar and Arrow Design, 1935-1940, paper and graphite, KA0039_V8p27-002,
Inauguration Fashions Have Roots in Knitted “Sportswear”
If you admired Lady Gaga’s dazzling ensemble at this year’s inauguration you may already be familiar with the fashion house behind the haute couture – Maison Schiaparelli (www.schiaparelli.com), originally founded in 1927, and reopened in 2012 at its original location — 21 place Vendôme, Paris.
Designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s (1890-1973) signature style components included her sporty sweaters and knitwear which you can see in museums and fashion archives around the world including the Met, the Victoria & Albert collections, and even the Center for Knit and Crochet!
Currently CKC hosts two Schiaparelli assets in our Library & Museum Collections: Black Dress with White Crochet Collar and Arrow Design (pictured above) and a Women’s Black Wool Suit with Velvet and Crochet Accents.
If you’re curious to see more of, and even knit Elsa Schiaparelli’s sweater designs, you can find several examples on Ravelry including this One Piece Dress No. 736, Black Evening Sweater, and Bowknot Sweater. Let us know if you cast one on, or have a vintage Schiaparelli in your closet, by contributing to CKC’s Crowdsourced Archive today!
In more news …
- The Vermont Teacher who made Bernie Sanders’s Mittens is Auctioning Off a Few Pairs for Charity – Boston Globe 01/25/2021
- The Art of the Reverse Knit– New York Times 01/22/2021
- Why Meg Ryan’s ‘When Harry Met Sally’ Sweater is Back in Style – Wall Street Journal 01/21/2021
- The Crochet Hat is Spring’s Next Accessory Trend – Nylon Magazine 12/20/2020
- A Man Started a Knitting Group to Help People Like Himself Recover from Drug Addiction – CNN 12/27/2020
Upcoming events …
CKC President Jennifer Lindsay will speak to the Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 about how CKC’s online resources and collections can be used to support local guild- and community-led knit and crochet preservation efforts.
Jennifer has given similar presentations for The Long Island Knit and Crochet Guild, The Atlanta Knitting Guild, and the Madison Knitters Guild.
If your guild or group would like to have a presentation about CKC via Zoom, please contact us at info@centerforknitandcrochet.org.
Contributors to this Issue:
Marilyn Huset; Rebecca Keyel; Callie Lasch; Jennifer Lindsay; Mary Claire Phillips; Suzann Thompson
