Knitting

A Knitter’s Boon: Wyoming Wool

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Gray wall, skeins of gray-toned yarn, with basket on top of cream yarn. Text, "A Knitter's Boon: Wyoming Wool, Petticoats & Pistols"

Confession time. I’m not a knitter.

I would like to be one. I’ve tried knitting. My grandmother taught me the basics when I was eight or nine years old. Much like my messy handwriting, my knitting only produced oblong shapes, instead of tidy, neat rows.

Crocheting, on the other hand? Love it!

Yeah, I produce oblong shapes sometimes when I crochet, but I just unravel the rows and start over. I find crocheting to be relaxing.

One of my favorite parts of a crochet project is picking out the yarn. There’s something so satisfying about standing in front of an aisle of yarn. All those colors! All those textures! I want them all. I could spend a LOT of money on yarn.

An article in the Cowboy State Daily recently caught my eye, “How Two Wyoming Women Turned a Hobby into Largest Wool Mill in the West.” Everything about that headline made me throw out a YEEHAW!

Wyoming wool? Yes, please!

Here’s what I learned from the article.

Two enterprising women–avid knitters–from Buffalo, Wyoming, wanted to open a craft store that sold yarn made from Wyoming wool. Apparently, Basque sheep abound in their area. But when they purchased a large bale of wool from a local rancher, they couldn’t find anyone to process it. They found a mill in Canada to process their 400-pound bale and ended up with about 200 pounds of white yarn that they then dyed and sold at farmers markets and similar outlets. Crafters loved the yarn, and Karen Hostetler and her friend set out to expand their business.

It wasn’t easy. They had to research and apply for grants. They even toured mills overseas to learn the ins and outs of production. In time, they purchased a no-longer-in-use T-shirt factory, sourced the equipment, and hired people. The business has only grown from there.

These two ladies buy their wool from six Wyoming ranchers, and they’ve set up a custom dye shop. One nice thing about Wyoming wool? It’s soft, not scratchy.

Mountain Meadow Wool has expanded since those early days. They’re producing 60,000 pounds of wool annually and introducing 30-40 new colors this year for the three types of yarn they produce–a fingering weight yarn, a chunky worsted, and a three-ply. They also sell wool products online.

For “100% American Made & Wyoming Grown” yarn, head to Mountain Meadow Wool!

Do you like to knit or crochet? What’s your favorite hobby?

Enjoy your day!

Knitting in the West

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kari trumbo header

I’d bet a lot of you, like me, assumed that knitting was probably done by every able-bodied woman in the West. Likewise with sewing. I’ve even had a few of my characters knitting because I readily assumed that was just the way things “must” have been.

But I was wrong.

Let’s start with a little knitting lesson, because I love knitting. The first stitch was the garter stitch.

This is what it looks like. Children would’ve started learning the garter stitch (all knit stitches, front and back) as their very first project.

garter stitch image
Image courtesy knitpicks.com

That very first project would’ve been garters to hold up their socks/stockings. Seems appropriate, don’t you think?

It was said that before the Industrial Revolution, every child had to know how to knit and sew because there was no way one mother could keep all her children in socks and garters, plus keep up with all the other tasks involved in keeping a house. And if they lived in a colder climate, mittens and sweaters, too.

The same actually goes for sewing, before the Industrial Revolution, all clothing was hand sewn by either someone in the family or a tailor, but the fact is, after the Industrial Revolution, even middle class families would’ve just purchased these items and the poor wouldn’t have been able to afford yarn and needles by then. By the Victorian Era, knitting was a hobby for wealthy women with a lot of time on their hands.

The second stitch a child would’ve learned is stockinette, which again makes sense because it would’ve been used to make stockings. The stockinette stitch is knit stitches on the front side and purl stitches on the back

Stockinette stitch image
Image courtesy of Pinterest

This stitch is the one that is most commonly seen on sweaters and socks because it makes such a nice, flat fabric. The interesting thing is that knitting needles were costly. Unlike today where I have an entire drawer of needles to create the gauge and look I want, they probably had a more limited supply since needles were costly and artistic. This might explain some of the reason why Elizabeth Zimmerman was more concerned with measurements than telling knitters which needles to use. One blog I read suggested that fine gauge needles were used most often since they create a more delicate and expensive appearing garment.

Want to see some of those needles?

old knitting needles
Image courtesy of ebay

They came in bone, wood, or metal, though metal was least desirable. I’m not sure I would love to have that poking into my hand as I knit. Interestingly, the gauge seems to be burned into the ends, which is really cool. I am, frankly, a big fan of circular needles. The first patent for those was made in 1918.

Whether or not the Victorian women (for those of us who write historical novels) knitted or not, it’s really fun to look back on the history of this fun pastime. The fact is, just like we can’t say that “no one sewed their own garments anymore” we can’t say “no one knitted anymore”. There will always be people who make time for a craft, even with a busy household or too much work to do. I hope you have a hobby that you really enjoy too, and I hope you have a chance to pass on that love to someone else.

What’s something you enjoy doing that someone else might too?