Inspiration
Knit a Sweater for Your Cow
There are so many unanswerable questions in life. Why are we here? What gives life meaning?
And, sometimes, the beginnings of an answer to those questions begins with a fiberglass cow.
Lisa Cohen lives in Hardwick, Massachusetts, a tiny town about 20 minutes from Sturbridge. As a fundraiser, Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum, decided to put on a Cow Parade. Artists would decorate life-size cows, which would then be auctioned off.
“I could knit a sweater for a cow,” Cohen thought.
“I started giggling and I went to talk to my husband and I said, ‘Look, you need to talk me out of this. This is a bad idea. I don’t have time to do it. You have to talk me out of it.’”
Reader: he did not talk her out of it. Instead, he said “you should totally do it.” He even provided the name for her project: Yarning for the Past.
Along with a couple of hundred other artists, Cohen applied for one of 25 cows. She was chosen.
“Then I basically had to actually do this thing and make a sweater for a cow, as one does,” she said.
She did have a loose plan in mind.
“I live in a fairly small, rural agricultural town. We’re fighting to keep farmland so I wanted to knit a sweater that had all of these farming motifs and incorporated local wool that was spun from Hardwick sheep.
“Of course, I had no idea how I was going to actually pull it off. It’s not like you can go to Ravelry and search for a sweater for a life-size cow,” she said.
“But I figured if I had the measurements and a lot of patience, I could sort it out.”
MDK’s own Dana Williams-Johnson’s column about translating human sweater patterns for a four-legged creature offered some guidance.
“I found that at the beginning of this project and it helped me visualize the cross-section, and that was super helpful. It’s sort of the same measurements really, because 80% of the circumference is the back of the shoulders and 20% is the front, kind of, sort of.”
The bulk of the project was knitted in Alafoss Lopi—five pounds worth—because it is hard wearing and great for colorwork. Cohen knitted on size U.S. 10 needles. She tried 10.5s but they proved bulky enough to be hard to hold.
Another reason to choose Lopi is for its natural stickiness, which is useful when you opt to go the extra mile, steek your sweater, and turn it into a cardigan. For a cow.
The horn warmers, Cohen said, were not part of the original plan.
“Somebody in town had a relative who actually used to work at Old Sturbridge Village and had some yarn they spun from the sheep there. It was not quite sock yarn, but not DK, somewhere in the middle. It was too thin to use for the body, so I thought, ‘Well, I really wanted to use it.’”
And she did, even if they were still in process during her cow’s photo shoot.
This and header photo by Carley
Now that her cow is out in the wild, so to speak, the response has been amazing.
“People who know me (after they stop laughing), say ‘This is the best thing ever.’
“People online have just really loved it, and that’s been super exciting for me. You get the obligatory, ‘Do you take commissions?’ at which point I laugh right back at them.”
The great American writer Kurt Vonnegut, when asked about the meaning of life, would often say, “I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different.”
And what better way to do so than to work out how to knit a cardigan that celebrates rural life in order to clothe a fiberglass cow?
Cohen documented the entire process (including blocking, which required some creative problem solving and the repurposing of lawn furniture) on her blog.
If you’re in the area, you can see Yarning for the Past at the Old Sturbridge Village Visitor’s Center through September 28. All 25 cows will be on display on the property.
Love this. Well done!
Holy Cow! That only took 59 days to knit? That’s amazing! Well done@
Oh my goodness; the timing of this article is amazing! We are headed to Sturbridge today for a 2 week visit! I can’t wait to see, “Yarning for the Past” in person!
You’ve started my day here in Oslo Norway with an udderly milky mooing LAUGH!! Bravo! Inspiring, somehow or other!
What a great project from inception to completion. Well Done!!! Moo on.
I love love love this! Hope to go see her is person!
You made my day! The sweater is lovely and as knitters we KNOW how much work it took. Bravo!
Holy Cow ! That’s impressive.
Brilliant! See you at the Hardwick Fair- can the cow come?
Roughly a million years ago, I was a dairy science major in Upstate New York. You cannot imagine how much I love this! Would you mind telling us what pattern(s) you pulled the motifs from? My grandchildren need sweaters with tractors and apples and all of the things. At least the ones I can fit on a small human, rather than cow, sized sweater.
This is so great! Congratulations on a wonderful idea and an amazingly successful out!
I love this!! A crazy amount of work and yarn We need this to make us smile through the chaos.
It would be great to see this sweater and horn warmers on the Wall Street Bull in front of the stock exchange.
What a great memory maker for your community!
Yes!
Love to come across something magical when I am visiting a place…..this will make alot of people smile…..
Insane. INSANE. Funny. Beautiful. Whimsical.
So—how long did it REALLY take to knit this???
I LOVE this!!! I am so impressed with your success with this. Just Amazing!
Absolutely amazing! And I agree with Kurt Vonnegut
What a terrific story. Say yes to more farting around. Look where it can lead. Way to go Lisa!
I miss old Kurt.
I love this story. Made my day
This made my day. I look forward to reading her blog. Thank you!
What a gutsy gal you are to take on this amazingly creative project! I wish I was going to Sturbridge Village, I’d love to see it in person! I think you get “Knitter of the Year” for this! Let us know where it ends up….any knitting shops out there need a cow in your shop? I’m in Wisconsin, surely someone here needs this❤️
We have this cow project in vermont,too. Your sweater is amazing.
Just proves the ingenuity of your spirit, i doubt a cow sweater was on your to-do list, Well Done!
Just amazing.
Brilliant; so absolutely brilliant!
I want to come up with something clever to say, but nothing compares to this! How wonderful!
A trip to Old Sturbridge just got added to our summer plans! I have to see this.
I love your cow and the designs in its coat. I love the green as your main color. It sets the patterns up nicely!! Congrats!!
Bunnyhenge, a circle of bunnies, in Newport Beach CA need sweaters!
This amazing! Congratulations on completing such a huge project
I’ve been looking forward to this piece, Adrienne, but I did not expect the appearance of Kurt V! Too right.
Also: it’s incredible (but totally makes sense) that Dana’s recipe for a chihuahua would be instructive on knitting for a cow!
Wowie zowie, that is for sure The Sweater of The Year! Fabulous!! What a lot of work geesh. Reminds me of the Fair Isle Sweaters for Shetland ponies in Shetland, of course, a while back. But I do think this one is bigger. Love the horn cozies too!
Great fun! What a great way to start the day. And the cowdigan is beautiful.
LOVE this—the combination of knitting, guidance from Dana and a fiberglass cow. Years ago there were dozens of cows decorated in Chicago one summer, but I’m pretty sure none of them had a sweater!
Exceptional job!! LOL It looks totally natural on the cow. Hoping to get there to see it in person!
This made me laugh out loud with joy. I adore knitters and, especially today, Lisa. Thank you, Adrienne, for sharing. I will never complain about sleeve island again.
What a wonderful project…congratulations to Lisa Cohen! Thank you for telling us about it, Adrienne.
I love this. I wish I was that great of a knitter, I have a real cow I would love to make one for, not sure how I would get it on her though I don’t know that she would stand still long enough to put it on.
This made me smile, so awesome!
This is the best thing I’ve seen in quite a while! Congratulations on a perfect FO, horn warmers and all!
SO. MUCH. FUN!!!
Moo have made my day!!!! What a wonderful thing to wake up to! I love cows, sweaters and knitting, and here it is all wrapped up in one! You are awe inspiring!
I have an old Lopi book with a pattern for a horse
This is so wonderful!!
Wow! Just Wow!
What length of circular needles did you use?