These instruments of torture now on display in Toronto, as the CBC says:
They must be looking for footnotes...
“TORONTO – It’s an article of clothing that is widely used, rarely researched and frequently misplaced – and now has its own museum exhibition.
The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto has opened an exhibition called Socks: Between You and Your Shoes. It includes about 40 rare socks, including a 13th century pair made of human hair.
There’s also a sock that illustrates one of the earliest surviving examples of knitting – a 900-year old sock excavated in Egypt.
Also on display are linen socks worn by King Charles I during the first half of the 17th century and a pair worn by Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile on St. Helena in the early 1800s.
There are also pale pink silk stockings worn by Queen Victoria.”
Human hair? I cannot even imagine wearing a pair of socks made out of human hair. Of course, if you think it cannot get worse, it does.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
4 comments
April 14, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Elizabeth
Hi!
The sock made of human hair on view at the Bata Shoe Museum was created 800 years ago by an Ancient Puebloan woman (most likely) in what is now the American Southwest and let me assure all that no human was hurt in the making of this sock! The Ancient Puebloan people did not have access to any wool-bearing animals prior to the arrival of Europeans— who introduced sheep on to the continent—so they made use of what was available, their own hair. Regarded as exceptional artisans, the Ancient Puebloans often used their own hair, an accessible and renewable fibre, to craft things such as nets and socks. The sock on exhibition is just such an example; it was made by knotting strands of hair and may have been worn alone or with a sandal. Check out the exhibition at http://www.batashoemuseum.ca
Thanks!
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April 14, 2010 at 2:20 pm
The Dark Side on Display: Sock Museum of Horror! « Dead Wild Roses
[…] Visit link: The Dark Side on Display: Sock Museum of Horror! « Dead Wild Roses […]
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April 18, 2010 at 10:01 am
Ben Hoffman
That’s on my list of places to visit… right after the lint museum. :)
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April 18, 2010 at 10:43 am
The Arbourist
I just hope that future archaeologists do not unearth this particular museum (the lint museum) because they are going to wonder exactly what substance we were on.
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