It has been one year since the launch of the CBC Gem documentary feature, The Cowichan Sweater: Our Knitted Legacy documentary and its a great time to give it one more spotlight. Last year I connected with the director Mary Galloway and producer Tiffany Joseph and launched a one year Pay-It-Forward campaign in support of the cowichan sweater knitters. To date this initiative has generated the donation of 231 cakes of Briggs & Little Country Roving yarn (~$3,700 value) including 80 donated directly Canada’s oldest running woolen mill, Briggs & Little.

210 of these have already been sent to the community for distribution by the kindness of one of the film’s producers who lives in the community, and this initiative also gartered the rehoming of two beautiful Canadian-built country spinners, wooden spinning wheels built specifically to spin thicker yarns such as those used for these wearable art pieces; which have also been directed to the cowichan artisan community.

We aim to get the final installment of this Pay-It-Forward campaign donations to this community by the end of the year, and as such will keep this campaign running until Dec 31st. If you haven’t already had the pleasure to view this film, please look for it on the CBC Gem online app and maybe add to our collection before the end of this year. Thank you to everyone who has contributed, and I look forward to seeing more of these west-coast treasures make their way into the world in years to come.