November 7, 2008

uddled under a blanket today, not so much as I am cold, but it is a mental thing with all the snow and the fire going. It is what one does in the winter and winter has arrived. 

I worked until 1 am this morning, as it is a 3 day weekend and I have to get the paper out for next week, this week. I am back at it this morning and am hoping it will be done by 2-4pm. 

While I am at a 'stand-by' for the second, the thought crossed my mind about telling you about the wonderful wool blanket I am curled under as I type away here and for the newspaper. Bren has a couple of these antique blankets (his father owed them and I think this one is from about the 1950's) and this one is used quite often. These blankets were first introduced into the fur trade by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1780.

 The famous "classic" pattern featuring green, red, yellow, and indigo stripes against a white background. These blankets have a large history in Canada. A Hudson's Bay point blanket is a wool blanket traded by the Hudson's Bay Company during the 18th century and 19th century. The blankets were typically traded to Native Americans in exchange for beaver pelts. A common misconception is that each point indicated a quantity of beaver pelts or Hudson's Bay Company money. In the point system, a blanket of higher point value would supposedly be larger and warmer.

The wool is dyed before it is spun, then air and sun dried to brighten the colours. The blankets are woven 50% larger than their final finished size. The points are the short black lines woven into the blanket just above the bottom bar or set of stripes. They are about 4 inches in length, unless they are half points, in which case they are 2 inches in length. The "point" system was invented by French weavers in the mid 18th century as a means of indicating the finished overall size (area) of the blanket.

The colour scheme means nothing intentional. The four traditional colours (green, red, yellow and indigo) were simply colours that were popular and easily produced using good colourfast dyes at the time. However, these colours have always had special significance for aboriginal people, who were, after all, Hudson's Bay Company's original customers.

Green is taken to mean "new life", red often stands for "battle or hunt", yellow relates to "harvest" and "sunshine" and blue represents "water". Aboriginal people were very discerning about the colour patterns.