In the Loop, January 2022
Dear CKC Members and Donors
In November 2022, CKC will turn ten! We are proud of shepherding an idea into an online museum for knitting and crochet, and we look forward to celebrating our anniversary year with you, from November 2022 – November 2023!
We especially thank you for your support. You have helped us reach this important milestone, and it’s incredibly exciting to imagine with you where CKC will be in another ten years!
As 2022 unfolds, we will share new collections, exhibitions, and events with you. CKC will continue to advance grassroots digital preservation of knitting and crochet by helping makers document their stories and what they have made in CKC’s Crowdsourced Collection. We are centering diversity and inclusion in all we do. We will work to increase public awareness and use of CKC’s free digital collections for enjoyment and research.
Please visit CKC’s Library and Museum Collections or follow us on social media to see for yourself that knitting and crochet are crafts shared around the globe, historically and today, and that they were and still are interconnected with every aspect of life. We hope these collections will inspire new ideas and perspectives; we find them endlessly fascinating! When makers take action to uncover, recover, document, preserve, and interpret our own histories and the history of our crafts, the future of knitting and crochet will be assured.
We have lots of interesting content to share this month! Please look for our first-ever Member Survey from Membership Chair Marina Scott in the next few days. We hope 2022 will be the year you decide to get more involved in CKC!
Jennifer Lindsay
President
New Blog Post: World Leprosy Day
Please be sure to read the new blog post by Suzann Thompson and CKC Board Members, published on January 30, 2022, in observance of World Leprosy Day. We review current efforts and treatments to cure Hansen’s disease and to alleviate the persistent stigmas associated with it. We also explore the history of charitable knitting to support those suffering from Hansen’s disease.
Your Voice Matters!
We encourage all CKC Members to contribute to CKC’s monthly newsletter. Please email your inquiries, ideas, and stories to newsletter@centerforknitandcrochet.org. We hope to hear from you!
Look for our Newsletter Archive, coming soon!
Membership Corner
Just a Few Reminders!
- Don’t forget to volunteer! We need you! As a CKC Member you can volunteer on various projects and committees. Not sure what you want to do but you would like to help out? Contact Marina Scott Membership Chair, for more information and to learn about current opportunities.
- Need a gift idea for a birthday or upcoming holiday? A CKC Membership is a great gift! Click here to give the gift of a CKC Membership to a friend or loved one!
- Enjoying the CKC Newsletter? As of March 2022, the CKC Newsletter will go out to CKC Members and donors only. Don’t miss out! Renew today!
- When Do I Need to Renew? Check your membership status by signing in to your account even if your membership has expired. If you have never used our online system, you can retrieve your account using the same email we use to deliver your monthly Newsletter.
- We want to feature you! Are you interested in being featured in a CKC Newsletter? We want to spotlight CKC Members so we can all get to know each other. If you are willing to be featured, please click this link to fill out the form! (Note: The link has been fixed!)
Collections Spotlight
Ski Sweater will be a Teaching Tool.
In December 2021, the Center for Knit and Crochet received an unsolicited donation of a child’s ski sweater made by Augusta Adelia Lehner Newman for her son, Charles Wynn Newman, Jr.* Mary Ruth McGinnis, who wore the sweater in the 1970s, provided a family history of the sweater, dating it to the late 1920s or early 1930s when the Newman family was living in Detroit, Michigan.
The sweater is knitted of navy blue wool, with bright red, yellow, green, and white Scandinavian-style patterns. The sweater is interesting because it combines circular construction with set in sleeves, as well as stranded knitting and duplicate stitch, and you can see many of these details in the additional photos we have provided here.
We welcome any ideas you may have about when combining these construction methods and decorative techniques was popular in the United States. You may even recognize this sweater pattern! Please get in touch with us at info@centerforknitandcrochet.org if you have information to share, or a similar garment we can compare this to.
*We typically do not accept physical donations because we do not have a dedicated space to preserve, store, or safely maintain collections. However, the donor of this sweater specified that it could be used for any purpose. We will use this sweater as one of the teaching tools in a workshop we are currently developing to help people add their items to CKC’s Crowdsourced Collection.
Our First Tatting!
CKC Member Cindy Cabler contributed her Crocheted Snowflakes to CKC’s Crowdsourced Collection in December of 2021. She recently added twelve tatted stars made by her grandmother, Esther Curry. Cindy Cabler recalls her grandmother this way: “These simple stars are not her fanciest work, but they do speak to her aesthetic – cheerful & homey, a soft personal touch that could raise a humble cuff, collar or hem out of the ordinary.”
We love the story of the Tatted Christmas Stars. We think you will too.
Knitting & Crochet in the News
Stylin’!
- Her biggest fan: Dad models daughter’s handmade crochet hats, wholesome video wins hearts
- Crypto crochet – digital replica of cardigan worn by pop star Harry Styles auctioned as NFT. Yes, but it will never be as cosy as the real thing
Mad bombers strike again
- More than 300 bollard buddies will be displayed at annual Port Aransas yarn bombing. Why should post boxes have all the fun?
- This massive crochet mural in Chinatown is made of over 1,500 flowers
Stitching for history
- Crochet sews up lesson on American Revolution
- From manga to bunting: year-long festival to celebrate Hadrian’s Wall. If you want to celebrate too: 1900 Bunting Challenge
…and for the future
- Kelp Yarns Are Coming to a Garment Near You. Someday we might be knitting with sustainable seaweed!
- Mexico’s “Knitting a Better Future” Project Receives UNAOC-BMW Group Intercultural Innovation Award
Pass it on
- Learning the life-skill of knitting. Never “just” a hobby…
- …as this girl already knows: 11-Year-Old Girl’s Passion For Knitting Hats Is Helping Those In Need
- And from the department of we-could-have-told-you-that: Crocheting Overwhelmingly Makes People Feel Calmer, Happier, Research Finds
Free love:
These valentines say more than those candy hearts ever could! (From Ravelry)
Your Voice Matters!
We encourage all CKC Members to contribute to CKC’s monthly newsletter. Please email your inquiries, ideas, and stories to newsletter@centerforknitandcrochet.org. We hope to hear from you!
Look for our Newsletter Archive, coming soon!
January Newsletter Contributors:
Callie Lasch, Anne Lies, Jennifer Lindsay, Marina Scott, Kay Simmons, Suzann Thompson
