#mukluks

keeping warm

__

Manitobah Mukluks are one of the most popular and well known indigenous brands I know of and now that Indigenous things fall into trend I see more and more people wearing them now which makes me glad.

So if anyone wants to support indigenous but also get some very nice winter boots I reccomend it! I love mine~ They are a huge company now which is very monumental for Indigenous creators and absolutely ship to the states and worldwide and also have links at their site to other indigenous businesses~

The original winter boot is a mukluk and the original shoe is a moccasin. Designed 10,000 years ago to keep Indigenous people warm and allow them to thrive in the world’s coldest conditions. All our designs honour and continue the history of innovation, craftsmanship, and beauty.

******(info from the website)

Mukluks are soft boots traditionally made of hide, created by Canada's First Peoples for warmth and maneuverability in natural environments. The word 'mukluk' originated from the Yupik word maklak, meaning bearded seal – a key animal source for Aboriginal clothing in the north.

The Inuit and Yupik were the primary Aboriginal groups in the Arctic who wore mukluks (known as kamiks among the Inuit). In the subarctic, various styles of mukluks and moccasins, a closely-related, soft shoe, were worn by each Aboriginal group in Canada. When Western explorers arrived in the seventeenth century, they too adopted the traditional footwear for survival in the Canadian wilderness.

Originally, mukluks were made from sealskin, moose hide or caribou. The boots rose to the ankle or mid-calf, and in winter were insulated with the fur of beavers, squirrels, bears or other animals.

The soft, flexible design of both the mukluk and moccasin was well suited for travel in fragile birchbark canoes in summer and skin kayaks and snowshoes in winter. However, the manufacture of each pair represented a great investment of time and energy for both hunter and craftsperson. Under ordinary conditions, a pair of mukluks or moccasins might last a couple of months, but when groups travelled and conditions were bad, four to five pairs of moose hide moccasins could be required each day.

With the arrival of European fur traders, design and crafting techniques began to change. Aboriginal women, especially those in contact with trading posts, played an important role in this process, learning new sewing techniques and incorporating new materials and styles into their handwork. One reason for their acceptance of foreign innovation was sheer practicality. With ready-made fabrics, a craftswoman no longer had to scrape the skin, soak and tan it, stretch the hide and/or even sew the garment. Traders also took part in accelerating the change, encouraging the adoption of European fashions in the hopes that Aboriginal hunters would spend more of their time in the pursuit of fox, beaver and muskrat for the fur trade rather than hunting caribou or moose for clothing.

Holiday Family Mukluks, as a part of my fully homemade Christmas!  Six pairs of stripey, squishy goodness.

Pattern:  Knitting Pure & Simple #116 Mukluk Slippers

Yarn:  Universal Yarns Classic Shades Frenzy in the colorways 909 Attic Light, 910 Thrill Ride, 912 Creekside, and 914 Botanica