Midwestern Knits

On Tuesday I had the great pleasure of receiving a couple copies of Midwestern Knits, a new book that has one of my designs in it! The editors are Allyson Dykhuizen and Carina Spencer. My design is "Michigander Mitts."

My first copies of Midwestern Knits

So lovely to see my work in print!

It is available to purchase both in hard copy or digital version at MidwesternKnits.com, or as a digital version at Ravelry.com. Click the words to open a new page that will take you to those sites. 

If you are wanting to hear more -- never fear: I shall be chatting about all the patterns in the book over the next week. In the meantime, here is a video put together by several people involved in the project.

Really honored that they highlights my Michigander Mitts!

Michigan Fiber Festival 2015

Last Thursday, I packed up the little VW and headed to my dear friend Jennie's house. Her darling daughter was home from her summer adventures attending a linguistic school at the University of North Dakota's campus and was zipping through on her way to her last semester of college. 

I got to have dinner with them (and Todd, and Claudia). Delicious, home-grown, grass-fed chicken raised by their family. Then, the two of us packed up and headed to Plainwell, Michigan, home to Plainwell Ice Cream. We were prepared for Michigan Fiber Festival the next day.

By golly, look at our back-up singers!

Friday dawned bright and early, and promised to be a warm and sultry August day. A brief shower in the night supplied extra humidity to the great outdoors. I supplied handouts, a slide show and know-how, and my lovely students provided the warmth and enthusiasm I've come to expect with fiber students!

The Skolt Sami Class

By afternoon, the day had heated up so much that I was very glad to be working with cotton, not wool. My Irish Crochet class was super fun. Students brought their own cotton yarn and our roses, leaves and stamens bloomed in a lovely array of color.

Irish roses abloom

I crawled off to the car (thank you Maggie for helping carry the teaching stuff!), and Jennie drove me back to Indiana. Thank you so much, Jennie! Because of my suspect health, I would not have been able to do the drive and teach without you! And, thank you, everyone at Michigan Fiber Festival, the organizers, volunteers, market sellers and students for a great MFF 2015. So glad to have been a part of it!

Another stitch in the wall

Time keeps ticking away in this crazy July. It is in the 50s outside and raining almost everyday. Today I had to put on a sweatshirt!

I continue to gain strength, and am so blessed that I have been able to knit all week. I have been working on a series of mittens for an Interweave ebook. The mittens are due in a month, and I have the hardest one yet to complete: 12 sts to the inch in multiple colors. It will be beautiful, but it is a lot of exacting work.

I also had a heartbreaking series of email interchange with a lady in the far north of Norway who took serious offense at my work. It weighs me down to be thought ill of, but I understand it is a frequent event when working with the Sámi, especially since I am working at such a distance. Their personal and collective history is so filled with attacks and robbery from outsiders that a defensive position is the often the first assumed stance.

My answer is good motives, good communication and full disclosure. In all my work, I seek to give back to the communities from which I have learned so much. I know full well from living in other countries that intercultural communication can be fraught with difficulties and, as a result, takes time and commitment. So, I keep working to get there... In the in-between, weeks highlight the gracious Sámi I have worked with. They are such a joy to my heart! I truly rejoice in the beautiful artists and their artistry, which I see daily in colorful mittens, dazzling jewelry and stunning carving work.

In other news, I have had some great conversations with people in Minnesota about coming out to teach. One group is at North House Folk School in Grand Marais. They are built on a Danish model of Folk Schools, stressing the building of community among the students and artisans. North House has been around since 1997, and starting about five years ago they began a more concentrated Fiber weekend in February. Next February, I'll journey out and join them for a long weekend. I'm really looking forward to it!

Michigander Mittens

I'm super excited to give a little drum roll to my next knitting pattern out...

Michigander Mittens by Laura Ricketts

Meet Michigander Mittens! I grew up in Michigan -- outside of Allegan to be exact -- and it is such a joy to have spent my formative years in a state shaped like a mitten.

There are plenty of Michigan-map potholders available for retail, but I'm the mitten lady. Where were the map mittens of Michigan? You can't find them, either? Never fear: I made my own. In August they will be available via the Midwestern Knits book, available for preorder HERE. Marvelous!

On one side is the map. On the other side is the state motto -- in Latin on one palm and in English on the other: Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice / If you seek a pleasant peninsula look about you. We learned it in fourth grade. Did you, fellow Michiganders?

This knit is done in a Michigan yarn, Stonehedge Fiber's Shepherd's Wool, and it does get a little tricky with all the color changes back and forth between the Beach and Frosty Blue yarns. The tricky part is just being mindful to twist the two yarns together every 5 stitches or so to keep the stranding inside from getting too long. That could bring about a risk of pulling one of them. But, with a little mindful knitting, you, too, could be safe with your stranding and sporting these snazzy accessories next winter.

Make them in your favorite Michigan sports team's colors! Put an X on where you were born. Or, live now. Or, have a cabin. Or, once caught a really big fish.

Michigander Mittens by Laura Ricketts, closeup

Then, you just tell them: I'm from here!