At the last minute a couple of people cancelled and I was asked to join a group from the Minnesota Machine Knitters Collaborative at the Minnesota History Center today. If you haven’t been to the MN Historical Society’s History Center, it’s worth consideration for a summer trip with or without kids. Minnesota Historical Society
Jane Niemi, a founding member of the Machine Knitters Collaborative, planned the trip with Lynda McShannock, former Textile Curator at the History Center. For over 28 years Lynda developed the wonderful collection (should I say stash?) of textiles that depict daily life for early Swedish, German and Norwegian farmers as well as fancy dress for the well-to-do ladies and gents of the upper crust in the Twin Cities early industrial boom years.
The storage room, all 40,000 square feet of it, not just for textiles) is kept under strict climate control. Special metal storage wardrobes have large pull out flat file drawers and hanging space. At the end of each row tall fixtures store quilts and blankets wound into big rolls separated by special paper safe for aging textiles.
We saw daily clothing such as knitted socks and shirts from the 1800s and some contemporary pieces one of which was made by a member of the tour. Lori Ihnen designed and hand knit a beautiful piece from one of her books, A Garden Stroll. Included with the sweater are the five gauge and stitch pattern swatches Lori knit and construction paper cut-outs she made to used to design the flowers on the sweater. A Garden Stroll
We also saw a huge knitting machine from the old Munsingwear manufacturing floor which is now the International Design Center on Glenwood Ave. in Minneapolis. What a beast! It stands about fifteen feet tall. The conservator said it took almost a year to clean it up and get it back into order. He was fortunate that there are still niche supply houses that carry bolts for a knitting machine that is over 100 years old.
The museum is open to individuals for personal research. It’s very exciting to tell you that one of the pieces in the next Almanac is a Historical Society commissioned piece. I think you’ll really like it when you see it! It’s all about Minnesota!!
Skol!
Jenny