What does your sweater say to the world?

MAR. 17/27

Kristine Keren was a little girl living in Poland when the Second World War broke out... and her extended family, including her grandparents, were murdered in Nazi concentration camps. Fearing for their lives, her remaining family members fled to the only safe place they knew - the sewers. And one of the few possessions Kristine had in the sewers became a kind of security blanket for her. It was a little green sweater knit by her grandmother... (You can read more about Kristine's story at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website, or watch the trailer for the movie about her story - In Darkness - below).




Every day for the last 30 years, Roch Carrier has been given some sort of reminder about his Toronto Maple Leafs hockey sweater. Just this week he received a pile of student stories based on his short story. All because Monsieur Eaton messed up. We'll get the whole story from the author of the iconic short story "The Hockey Sweater." (You can watch the NFB short based on the story below.)




Sometimes a sweater is more than just something to keep you warm. Sometimes, it's... magical. Jose Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenco tells us about his amazing "chick magnet" sweater... and the woman he lost it to.

Sook-Yin tells us about the sweater that became a part of her - when she ate it - and heads out to find out what the sweater you're wearing says about you.

A sweater is a sweater is a sweater...until it's also an emotional time bomb. DNTO's Tori Allen unravels the symbolic meanings we weave into our sweaters.

Few things are more Canadian than the Cowichan sweater - but Sook-Yin explains why having one of her own didn't make her feel very Canadian at all.

The gift of a sweater is a wonderful thing, right? Not always. Jim Kinney tells us why the sweater he was given became his "hairshirt."

Think your knitting circle is intimidating? Try being a white girl who moves onto a reserve and joins a group of Aboriginal women making the iconic Cowichan sweater. Sook-Yin will talk to Cowichan sweater expert Sylvia Olsen about her life-changing experience, and the history of the sweater (as well as with Sylvia's son Adam - who besides being a Cowichan fan, runs West Saanich Woolworks).

What do Eric Idle, Carol Burnett, Andrea Martin... and New York photographer Stephen Mosher have in common? A humble sweater. The photographer behind The Sweater Book will tell us about the well-travelled - and well-photographed - garment. (Below: The trailer for Stephen's latest - non-sweater-related, but still great - project, the documentary Married and Counting).




Can a sweater be a hero? Linda Ballantyne thinks hers was. She'll tell us its story.

Two words: penguin sweaters. Not sweaters made from penguins, mind you, but sweaters made FOR penguins. We'll hear from New Zealand super-crafter Maree Buscke of Skeinz.com, who brought the world together to make tiny sweaters for penguins in need. (Below: the fruits of Maree's labour. Photo courtesy Maree Buscke.)


We'll hear about the mohair sweater that got private schoolgirl Anna Speke sent straight to the principal's office... and earned her anti-conformist notoriety.


And here's this week's music playlist:

Ingrid Michaelson - "Way I Am"
Stompin' Tom Connors - "The Hockey Song"
The Cardigans - "Love Fool"
The Lovin' Spoonful - "Do You Believe In Magic?"
Zeus - "Anything You Want Dear"
The Archers - "Out Of My Hands"
Said the Whale - "Lucky"
Lyle Lovett - "Penguins"