conveniently ignoring that way back when people would have like 18 kids in the hope that 2 or 3 would survive to adulthood and also the mothers often died during labor
maybe not something we should retvrn to

Apologies, I meant to say that the sweater is knitted using four or five knitting needles, as that's how you knit "on the round." Traditional guernseys are knitted the same way. This method allows the knitter to create the body like a tube with no side seams.

This sparked a market for Cowichan knockoffs: retailers selling Cowichan-inspired patterns that knitters could produce at home. You can find these knits today on eBay. Since the yarns were likely purchased at local craft stores—not hand-spun—they're softer and more uniform

From about the 1940s through 70s, the Cowichan sweater was an international hit with frenzied shoppers in the United States and Japan. Celebs such as Marilyn Monroe and Steve McQueen were seen in the knit; it featured prominently in Starsky & Hutch.

The sweater is then entirely hand-knitted using nothing more than two knitting needles. The body is knitted "on the round," which means it's one entire piece with no side seams. Designs typically feature traditional motifs, like snowflakes or eagles.

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For mass-market sweaters, yarns are produced on industrial machines. But for a Cowichan knit, the yarns are hand-spun on old wooden spinning wheels powered by foot. Industrial yarns are uniform; hand-spun yarns have character.

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When the animal is sheared (given a haircut), the wool is dirty and tangled. This material is then hand washed, dried, and carded. Carding is a process that puts wool through rows of prickly needles, which separates and straightens the fibers, preparing them for spinning.

The Cowichan is distinctive in a few ways. First, the term handmade has been abused to mean anything in marketing materials, but real Cowichan sweaters are *truly* handmade. By that, I mean it's made from undyed wool in the natural color of the sheep—cream, brown, black, etc.

The Cowichan sweater is technically a sweater because it's knitted, but it's not really a sweater in that it's not like any you've likely encountered. It's rough, rugged, and wears more like outerwear than the merino pullovers or cardigans you find at the mall.

Business dried up in the late 19th century as the market was flooded with Hudson Bay Point blankets, so Coast Salish people picked up knitting needles. This was the birth of the Cowichan sweater, which combined old Coast Salish weaving practices with European knitting techniques.

Before Europeans landed in North America, the Pacific Northwest was populated by the Coast Salish people, who had been here for thousands of years. During the 19th century, many made a living by selling woven blankets to traders. The blankets typically featured geometric designs.