Tried Something New This Time....

This is a very short posting this month. The online charity group to which I belong presented members with two opportunities to help others in June. I chose to create some items which will be sent to the northern Canadian territory and given to new Inuit mothers.

Inuits used to be widely known as Eskimos, and yes; these were the same people who used to live in igloos. In modern times, they choose to be called Inuits, and the 'western world' has required them to live in permanent communities now instead of living in three different residences as the seasons changed.

I didn't know much about the Inuits except for a few documentaries looked at over the years, but in writing this post I went to Google and tried to gather good sources of information and visuals so that you will have some idea of how life goes in the land of the Inuits.

I found one source on Wikipedia. Here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit, but I found an even better source from a man named John Tyman. Mr Tyman actually lived with an Inuit family for a while and got to know first hand about Inuit life. There are two links I would like you to look at that I think you will find very much informative. The first one gives a short bio and can be found here: http://www.johntyman.com/, but the real knitty gritty visuals can be found here:
http://www.johntyman.com/arctic/

Have a look; I don't think you will be disappointed. As I looked at the captions under the photos, I realized that like most indigenous peoples who shift into living the 'westernized' way of life; there are always the same problems. I felt like I was looking at what has occur ed with the Native Americans in the United States. The same bad habits of drinking excessive sugary drinks, smoking, and heavy alcohol consumption is causing health problems such as diabetes and domestic violence. Children being made to attend school and trained for jobs that are non-existent in their corner of the world causes youths to become bored, and you know what happens when youths have very little to do.

Trash is now a big problem because very little of their waste is biodegradable and just like in the so-called modern world, disposable diapers now litter back yards and waste dumps where they will sit for thousands of years.

Enough of my yammering...... on with photos of what I have knitted.

The most widely used method of transportation, especially in the winter months is the dogsled. Snowmobiles are also used after the snow has melted, and some have all-terrain vehicles.

Here is a photo of an Inuit mother and baby.

Here is an overview of what I've knitted. As you can see, there is a sweater, hat with earflaps, a pair of socks and mittens. The sack-shaped article is a baby Cocoon. Rather than putting a blanket around a baby and trying to keep the legs and arms wrapped up snuggly, you simply insert baby in the sack and that's it.

Here is a close-up of the sweater. As you can see, I have used my old batwinged baby sweater pattern, but I gave it a collar for warmth and embellished the collar and one side of the sweater with little 'nubbies' for decoration and to keep me from getting bored.

Here is a slightly different angle. I also added a little extra do-hickey shape along the bottom hem of the sweater. I altered the baby Cocoon pattern as well. It was supposed to be knitted in two colors and have a smooth stockinette stitch throughout. I knitted it with four or six rows of purl stitches then switched to two or three knitted rows. It gives a wavy look to the pattern, and I also placed some of the 'nubby' decorations and embellished with clay buttons just for "creation's sake."