Decorative Knitted, Beaded Collar with Bow

]]> This is a beaded collar accessory designed to be worn over a sweater or top to dress it up. I made this to support and participate in CKC's Collar-Along Make-Along activity -- a make-along held in 2025 that was created to call attention to the beauty and utility of the vintage decorative knitted and crocheted collars featured in CKC's new Maria C. Vallejo Lace Collection, and other digital collections CKC offers access to for its online visitors.

The collar is made from a pattern available for purchase on Ravelry, a social networking website for knitters and crocheters. The collar was designed by Sigrun Halla, and is called "Pearlfriend Collar," (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pearlfriend-collar).

The yarn was given to me some years ago by Marilyn Huset, a fellow CKC Board member. It is "GalPaca Farm Mixed Fiber Sport Yarn" -- an Alpaca, Corriedale Wool, and Bamboo fiber blend -- in the color "Tsunami". Since the pattern is written for DK weight yarn, to make the collar a bit heftier, I held the sport weight yarn with a strand of Rowan Kid Silk Haze lace weight kid mohair yarn in a similar shade of blue green. The beads are an unknown mix of bronze and green metallic shades I had available. I ran out of these close to the end of the knitting, and had to find a few more beads to fill in. The beads add weight, elegance, and subtle sparkle to the collar. I modified the collar pattern to include a casing for the ribbon, which is recycled and repurposed gift ribbon.

Since completing the collar, I have worn it a lot. Such accessories are experiencing a revival because they make it fast and easy to dress up a tee or sweater for a video conference call. Because of the yarns selected, and the fact that one yarn was a thoughtful gift from a longtime CKC colleague and friend, this collar feels like a warm and cozy hug whenever I wear it.

]]> Lindsay, Jennifer

]]> 2025

]]> Depth 2.5", Inner Diameter: 18". Outer Diameter: 26.5"

]]> Jennifer Lindsay

]]> Armadillo Wrap from Wild Knitting

]]> The Center for Knit and Crochet’s July 2021 newsletter, In the Loop, invited readers to join a “What’s Your Favorite Vintage?” make-along. My mind immediately went to the knitted Armadillo Wrap from Angela Jeffs’ book, Wild Knitting (1979). I had wanted to make that wrap since first seeing the book decades before. Wild Knitting was a formative book for me. The designs in the book confirmed two things: a person can knit all manner of garments and accessories, and knitted items can be fun and silly. Sally Kindberg’s illustrations added to the charm of Wild Knitting. Her drawing of the Armadillo Wrap was what inspired me to make it. Sally is on Instagram.com @skindbergia. She wrote about Wild Knitting in an October 26, 2018 post: “…The publishers biked dozens of knitted pattern samples for me to draw over a period of weeks. I’m not a knitter btw… A winter of several migraines I seem to remember” In a January 21, 2024 post, Sally wrote about how her small daughter was delighted by the bike messenger deliveries of knitted samples and finished projects. She ended by saying, “It was … a challenging commission.” So after all those years, I gathered wool and wool-blend yarns from stash for the Armadillo Wrap in August 2021. I knitted the small pieces by hand and the longer stockinette stitch pieces on the Ultimate Sweater Machine. By November the pieces were finished and the legs and tail were assembled. Then I hit a roadblock. The top of the head was bigger than the bottom of the head. I couldn’t quite figure out how to sew it together. Besides I wanted to change the ears’ position on the head to be more like ears on armadillos that live in my neighborhood. To add to my troubles, the knitted armadillo body and lining were not coming together the way I expected them to. The unfinished Armadillo Wrap went into a project bag to wait. I finally decided to get over myself and finish the Armadillo Wrap early in 2024. It went together more easily than anticipated.

]]> Thompson, Suzann

]]> 2021-2024

]]> 67 inches long, tip of nose to end of tail Body: 12 1/2 inches wide Legs: 7 1/2 inches long

]]> Suzann Thompson

]]> Pinky Bear

]]> Long-time CKC Board member and Treasurer Marilyn Huset shared a pair of crocheted bears to CKC’s Community Collection: Crocheted Teddy Bears http://digital.centerforknitandcrochet.org/items/show/28639

CKC’s Board of Directors was charmed by the bears and Marilyn’s story. Board members asked if she would write a crocheted bear pattern for CKC Members to download. Marilyn wrote instructions for the crocheted bear and also for a knitted version. In June 2023, CKC called for volunteers to test the patterns.

I volunteered to test the crochet pattern, and that’s how Pinky Bear came to be. Within weeks, knit and crochet patterns for Marilyn’s bears were available free of charge to CKC Members. To promote CKC’s free knit/crochet bear patterns, I posted Pinky Bear’s many Fall 2023 adventures on my own and CKC’s social media platforms.

In October we went to the Texas Fleece and Fiber Festival in Kerrville. At my TextileFusion booth, Pinky Bear clowned around with a crocheted butterfly which I believed was stiffened with wax instead of starch. The result: a Waxwing Bear Fly. Pinky Bear visited with Rose, the crocheted sheep mascot of Yellow Rose Fiber Markets. He stood on her left shoulder.

A few days later, we carpooled with friends to the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, and yes, we did find yarn there. Pinky and I loved Dusty’s Buttons and More, where vintage buttons were sorted by color. Since then, Pinky Bear has been at home on my desk.

]]> Thompson, Suzann

]]> Summer 2023

]]> 4 3/8 inches wide at widest point, 4 3/4 inches tall

]]> Suzann Thompson

]]> Spindles, Peru

]]> Spindles, Peru, 2017.  

As an avid spinner, I was eager to bring home some spindles from our hiking trip to Peru in 2017.  Our guide helped me find them during a visit to a weaving and textile cooperative called the Asociacion Civil Apu Salkantay, Warmicuna de Mollepata, in Mollepata, Anta Province, Peru.

Spindles were not offered for sale in the weaving shop, but upon learning of my interest in spinning, one of the women went home and came back in a few minutes with a plastic grocery bag filled with loose shafts and whorls.  We fitted a few together and I purchased 3 spindles, with some raw Alpaca fiber to spin.  I understood that she made the spindles herself.  

These spindles are "low whorl" spindles.  The shafts are sticks that, according to Abby Franquemont (https://abbysyarns.com/2011/02/peruvian-spindles-my-spindles/) are peeled and whittled into shape. The whorls are turned on a lathe, with ornamental lines burned into the wood. The tag pictured is for a beautiful handwoven gray Alpaca shawl I purchased from the shop; I include it because it identifies the name and location of the Warmicuna de Mollepata weaving and textile cooperative.

During our travels I saw men and women using spindles like these to spin Alpaca and wool yarns.  I enjoy having and spinning with these working momentos of our trip.  


]]> Unknown

]]> 2017

]]> Shafts: 12.5" Whorls: Height 3/4", Diameter 2" tapering to 1.25"

]]> Jennifer Lindsay

]]> Scotland Shawl, Hand Knitted, with Cables

]]> I traveled to Scotland with my husband in about 1998. He had cancer at the time and he wanted to make one last trip -- he chose England as his destination, and I said that if we went there, we would also have to go to Scotland, so I could enjoy exploring the knitting traditions there, and everyone was satisfied with this plan! I purchased the yarn for this shawl in Scotland in a shop that was associated with a woolen mill on the premises. The shawl features traditional cables and stitch patterns. It is still a wonderful memory of that trip.  I do not currently recall the source of the pattern I used. 

]]> Whit Robbins

]]> Ca. 1998

]]> Length: 72" (without fringe) Width 18.25" Fringe 5"

]]> Whit Robbins

]]> Maruja Noreña de Vallejo]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-2012_43_1_001]]> http://digital.library.wayne.edu/item/wayne:EM02_89_492_591/thumbnail]]> http://digital.library.wayne.edu/item/wayne:EM02_89_492_591/thumbnail]]> https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m50r9qc2h/datastream/TN/view]]> http://5008.sydneyplus.com/HistoryColorado_ArgusNet_Final/ViewImage.aspx?template=Image&field=DerivedIma&hash=0E3F87EC96365ECA5FA77A27028AC61A]]> http://5008.sydneyplus.com/HistoryColorado_ArgusNet_Final/ViewImage.aspx?template=Image&field=DerivedIma&hash=0E3F87EC96365ECA5FA77A27028AC61A]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAAHC-2014_243_30-36_001]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAH-JN2015-5144&max=150]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAH-JN2015-5144&max=150]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService/id/ark:/65665/m35e57742b0e68481aaf67ca4b2eaef887/90]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService/id/ark:/65665/m328bd4ff5d9444de9b9f7e6fc4d1b63b9/90]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService/id/ark:/65665/m37f747255a98f46309f714ace1ee1165d/90]]> https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/media/?irn=14293623&thumb=yes]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService/id/ark:/65665/m396b6871efe154f26a413f2c86ef6a32d/90]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService/id/ark:/65665/m36a524f19aa2940aca31f7bc7c45d97c6/90]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService/id/ark:/65665/m3a035252656684a9d8899dc09bed77a9c/90]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService/id/ark:/65665/m331ad162dbc1f4c2fa44ce22daf52880b/90]]> https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/media/?irn=14293658&thumb=yes]]> https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService/id/ark:/65665/m37d9d6280760f4416ba09ca139a6f265a/90]]>