Discover a Digital Home for Knitting and Crochet History

For this month’s A Place to Come To series, highlighting remarkable textile exhibitions and collections, Join founding Board member and current president of the Center for Knit and Crochet for this virtual tour.

What Is the Center for Knit and Crochet?

The Center for Knit and Crochet (CKC), established in 2012, is a nonprofit, open-access digital museum supporting preservation, research, and enjoyment of knitting, crochet, and related arts.

Its goals are to highlight the expertise of makers in CKC’s collections, exhibitions, and activities; to preserve and share a more complete and inclusive history of knitting and crochet; and to redress persistent inequities of access and representation in the field of craft. CKC’s collections and exhibitions are freely available, 24/7, to anyone with a smartphone, tablet, or computer and a Wi-Fi connection. CKC’s digital collections can be searched individually or simultaneously, restoring continuity between public, private, and personal collections for the first time and creating unlimited opportunities for inspiration and discovery.

Gateway to Research

CKC’s Library and Museum Collections offer access to knitting and crochet in the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), a vast open-source repository with objects and archival materials shared by a wide consortium of collecting organizations. CKC developed a custom search that points visitors to all items in the DPLA related to knitting and crochet. Clicking on the links redirects you to the original institution’s website to see images and learn about each object, making research on these crafts easy and accessible to anyone.

Beaded Drawstring Purse with Peacock Design. Early Twentieth Century. 15 1/16 x 13 x ⅞ inches. Glass beads, metal beads, cotton, synthetic fabric. Collection of Dorothy Porter Wesley, American (1905–1995). Unknown maker. Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Accession No. 1997.0020.0002. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution

The benefits of using CKC’s Library and Museum Collections to access knitting and crochet in geographically diverse collections are outlined in “Dorothy Porter Wesley: Changing How Books About Black History Are Catalogued.” We hope students, educators, museum professionals, and makers will learn about and explore these collections.

Showcasing Hidden Collections

The Maria C. Vallejo Lace Collection, photography by George A. Leinonen, is a private collection of more than 350 lace textiles revealing the skill and ingenuity of the mostly unknown, unnamed makers Maria C. Vallejo cares so deeply about and wants to honor and celebrate. CKC catalogued this collection, which opened online in November 2024. George A. Leinonen’s spectacular photos allow visitors to zoom in to see the textiles at the stitch level, ensuring they are an important resource for craftspeople and anyone curious about how they are made.

Center for Knit and Crochet’s graphic for the Maria C. Vallejo Lace Collection, Photography by George A. Leinonen. 2024. Created by Callie Lasch

A biography of Maria C. Vallejo and much of the information about the collection is available in English and Spanish. CKC created a Gallery of Lace Techniques to help visitors identify the different types of lace textiles in this extraordinary private collection.

Private collectors and institutions can email CKC to learn about sharing their collections digitally.

Preserving Your Craft History

CKC’s Community Collection is a crowdsourced resource that anyone can add to for free. Please join CKC in building the Community Collection to reach its fullest potential. For knitting and crocheting to receive the scholarly attention and public appreciation they deserve, we must document and preserve our own histories, objects, and stories, in our own words. It is rare to know anything about the makers of historical textiles; often, only the object itself and the history of ownership survive. Digitizing your personal collections takes time but preserves your items and stories against loss, ensures that your family and community know their history and significance, and gives a generous gift to future makers. You retain ownership of what you add to CKC’s Community Collection; you can edit or remove your entries at any time.

CKC invites contributors to determine what is important to preserve and share with future generations of craft enthusiasts. CKC’s Community Collection already has over 150 original works of art, family heirlooms, swatches, sample books, toys, garments, home décor, and much more added by individuals who believe that preserving these items with their stories is vitally important to craft history. A few highlights:

The daisy loom afghan Jolie Elder added to the Community Collection of the CKC. Photo courtesy of Jolie Elder

First Knitted Pieces by a Seven-Year-Old Girl, circa 1966, added by Suzann Thompson. Pride in learning a new craft inspires those learning to knit or crochet alone and online. Your work doesn’t have to be perfect or finished to be important and meaningful to craft history. CKC Community Collection #2022.010.

Layover Daisy Loom Afghan, circa 1970, added by Jolie Elder. A multigenerational family project breaks narrow assumptions about who crafts and why. CKC Community Collection #2025.033.

Set of Baby Garments in Rainbow Yarn, 2018, added by Rebecca Keyel. Documenting the evolution toward gender-neutral outfits for infants. CKC Community Collection #2019.002.

To add your items and stories, visit CKC’s new Community Collection support page where you can gain confidence about what to add and learn how to photograph and upload your items. Use the downloadable worksheet to organize information, draft and save a copy of your entries, and copy and paste entries into the online submission form. Then fill out CKC’s survey; your feedback helps CKC continue to improve this resource to better serve you and makers everywhere. If everyone who reads this article adds just one item, photo, or story to CKC’s Community Collection, it will grow by leaps and bounds—fulfilling its purpose as a critical resource for craftspeople now and for future generations.

Visit the Center for Knit & Crochet to explore what the Center has to offer. Follow CKC on social media, donate, join the organization, or apply for CKC Board service or volunteer opportunities in researching and cataloguing collections.