Coast Salish Knitters and Wool Traditions

People often think of the Coast Salish sweater first: the thick wool, the weight, and the way it fits the coastal climate. That focus makes sense, but it overlooks the deeper story behind the garment. Coast Salish knitting grew out of older systems of woolwork, materials, and labour that existed long before knitting needles arrived.

Coast Salish wool traditions form a much longer history on the Northwest Coast. Woolwork was practical and community-based, shaped by weather, family responsibilities, and ongoing change. It supported daily life and carried knowledge across generations.

These traditions remain relevant because they never vanished. They adapted. Today they are studied in museums, classrooms, and documentary work, where questions about recognition, imitation, and respectful learning continue to surface.

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Cultural Life Along the Salish Sea

Social life is centred on extended families and local groups. Winter villages brought people together in large wooden houses, while summers involved dispersal for fishing, hunting, and gathering. Salmon runs, shellfish harvesting, root digging, and berry picking structured the year. These rhythms also shaped when and how labour could take place.

Ceremony and exchange were not secondary activities. Potlatches and other gatherings reinforced social relationships, responsibilities, and status. Material goods mattered, but always within a wider framework of meaning. Textiles, particularly blankets, carried social weight long before knitting entered the region.

Wool Before Knitting: Weaving, Blankets, and Exchange

Before knitting needles were introduced, Coast Salish women were already skilled woolworkers. Archival collections at institutions such as the Royal BC Museum include early photographs and woven blankets that show the complexity of this work and the central role of women in fibre preparation, spinning, and weaving. These blankets were valuable trade and ceremonial items, a point later noted in research prepared for Parks Canada when the Coast Salish knitters and the Cowichan sweater were evaluated for national historic recognition.

Two fibre sources were central. Mountain goat wool was collected in spring from shrubs and trees where goats shed naturally. A second source came from small woolly dogs bred and maintained by women across Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. These dogs were carefully managed and shorn, producing fibre that was spun and woven into blankets of remarkable quality.

Producing a blanket required extended labour. Fibre preparation, spinning, and weaving demanded skills developed over the years. These blankets functioned as trade goods, ceremonial objects, and markers of family standing.

Women held central responsibility for this work. Knowledge moved through families by observation and practice rather than written instruction. This foundation matters because it shows that knitting did not replace an absence of textile skill. It emerged from an established system.

Weaving and Knitting in Context

Aspect	Woven Blankets	Knitted Garments
Main period	Pre-contact	Late 19th–early 20th century
Fibre sources	Mountain goat, woolly dogs	Sheep wool
Production time	Months or longer	Days to weeks
Social role	Trade, ceremony, status	Daily wear, household income
Labour structure	Highly specialised	Family-based

From Weaving to Knitting Over Time

European settlement in the nineteenth century disrupted land access, economies, and trade systems, but it also introduced new materials. Sheep provided a more consistent wool supply. Coast Salish women encountered fleece through proximity to settler farms and domestic labour in colonial households.

Knitting techniques entered gradually. They were often learned informally, through observation rather than instruction. Instead of replacing existing knowledge, knitting was absorbed into it. Fibre selection, spinning, and design sensibilities were already present. Knitting became another way to work wool under changing conditions.

There were practical reasons for this shift. Knitted garments could be produced more quickly than woven blankets. They suited the damp coastal climate and could be worn daily. Knitting also fit household-based production, allowing women to work while managing family responsibilities.

This was not a simple story of loss. It was a story of adjustment under pressure. Knitting offered continuity when traditional economies were being undermined.

Historical Timeline

Cowichan Sweater in the Early 1900s

By the early twentieth century, knitters in Coast Salish communities had developed a distinctive heavy wool garment that later became known as the Cowichan sweater. These garments were designed for function. They were warm, resilient, and capable of handling wet weather without breaking down.

One defining characteristic was construction. Sweaters were typically knit as a single continuous piece rather than assembled from panels. This reduced weak points and increased durability.

Production remained family-based. Knitting stayed in homes, woven into daily routines. Materials were local. Designs reflected familiar visual languages connected to animals, water, and land. The sweaters gained recognition because they worked. Their reputation spread through use rather than promotion.

Women’s Roles in Coast Salish Knitting

Understanding Coast Salish knitting requires acknowledging women’s labour. For many families, knitting was not leisure or self-expression. It was work. Often it was done at night, after other responsibilities were met.

Income from knitting helped cover food, clothing, and household needs during periods when wage labour was limited or unavailable. This work rarely appeared in official records, yet it sustained families for decades. Children grew up watching the process, absorbing knowledge simply by being present.

Because knitting could be done at home, women remained connected to family life and ceremonial obligations. Woolwork supported cultural continuity while allowing families to adapt.

“For many families, knitting was not a hobby or an art form. It was how food appeared on the table.”

When Imitation Became a Problem

As Cowichan sweaters became visible beyond Indigenous communities, demand grew. Non-Indigenous markets embraced the appearance without understanding its origins. Over time, mass-produced imitations emerged, using similar imagery but different materials and production methods.

These imitations affected Coast Salish knitters directly. Income opportunities declined, and the meaning of the term Cowichan became blurred. When names detach from people and practices, distortion follows. What had been understood as community labour was reframed as a generic look.

This history requires careful discussion. The issue is not outside interest. It is the absence of context and accountability. When cultural work is copied without understanding, erosion replaces exchange.

Preserving Cowichan Identity

By the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, efforts to address this erosion increased. Scholars, museums, and Indigenous communities worked to document textile history and clarify terminology.

In 2011, Coast Salish knitters and the Cowichan sweater were recognised in Canada as an event of national historic significance.

Protection here does not mean freezing tradition. It means keeping the people behind the work visible.

Coast Salish Wool Traditions Today

These spaces treat wool traditions as living practices rather than relics. The focus rests on knowledge systems, relationships to land, and intergenerational continuity. Knitting and weaving appear not as isolated crafts, but as parts of a broader cultural framework that continues to adapt.

Mini-Glossary

• Lanolin
  A natural oil found in raw wool that helps repel moisture and contributes to warmth and durability in wool garments.
• Potlatch
  A ceremonial gathering among Coast Salish and other Northwest Coast peoples centred on gift-giving, social responsibility, and the reinforcement of relationships and status within the community.
• Woolworking
  The collective practices involved in processing and using animal fibres, including cleaning, spinning, weaving, and knitting.
• Knitting in the round
  A method of creating garments as a continuous tube without side seams, commonly used in Coast Salish sweater-making for strength and weather resistance.
• Household production
  Labour carried out within family and home settings rather than in factories or workshops, often integrated into daily life and shared across generations.

Coast Salish wool traditions show how textiles can function as knowledge systems rather than decorative objects. Knitting emerged through adaptation, shaped by climate, economy, and family life. Its endurance reflects the resilience of the communities that carried it forward. Approaching this history with care allows continuity to remain visible, not as nostalgia, but as lived experience.