Hand-Knit Antique Car Shawl-Collar Cardigan — Cream | XS

A hand-knit zip cardigan in cream with a gray shawl collar, two antique cars racing across the front, checkered flags at the hem and a red touring car across the back. It is a classic pictorial cardigan, closed with an old Lightning zipper, and every stitch was knitted by hand.

Why it's vintage

Cowichan sweaters began with Coast Salish knitters in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, who took up European knitting around the 1860s and made heavy wool sweaters with knitted-in designs. From the 1950s to the 1970s, yarn stores in Canada and the United States sold patterns copying the look, and home knitters made pictorial versions with animals, sports and antique cars. Here's how collectors read this one.

KEY INDICATORS: what to look for

1. LIGHTNING zipper (photo 4): A silver metal zipper with the pull stamped LIGHTNING on both faces. Lightning Fastener opened its St. Catharines, Ontario zipper plant in 1937, and the plant closed in the early 1980s. Older all-metal zippers like this one are a good sign on a hand-knit.
2. Hand-knit pictorial (photos 1-2): Two antique cars across the front, checkered-flag pockets and a red touring car across the back, all knit right into the sweater rather than printed or sewn on.
3. Shawl collar (photo 3): Gray shawl collar that rolls over like a scarf, on a straight, boxy cream body with ribbed cuffs and hem.
4. Hand finishing (photo 4): Loose yarn ends beside the zipper top and no maker or size tag, both normal for a sweater knit at home.

How to check: Read the zipper pull for the LIGHTNING stamp, then check that the pictures are knit in, not printed.

The piece

• Hand-knit, Cowichan style
• Cream with gray shawl collar, red, yellow and black car motifs
• Checkered flag pockets, red dot trim
• Silver metal Lightning zipper
• No size tag; fits like XS based on measurements pictured.
• Era: older

Measurements are pictured in the photos (PP, NH, SS, PC).

Condition

1. Blue stain and faint pink marks on the wearer's right forearm, above the cuff, as pictured
2. Loose yarn ends at the collar beside the zipper top
3. Light fuzzing to the yarn consistent with age

Ships from Ontario, CA.