It is my pleasure to host the Midwestern Knits Blog Tour today, and welcome to my blog!
Midwestern Knits was released just a week ago, and has received some rave reviews. Thirteen patterns inspired by our beautiful part of the States, curated and edited by Carina Spencer and Allyson Dykhuizen.
I contributed the Michigander Mittens -- so honored to represent my home state! It is a stranded set of mittens using Stonehenge Fiber Mill'sShepherd's Wool, a lovely fingering weight yarn milled in East Jordan, Michigan, not too far from the ski slopes.
Here are some images of the mittens.
The back of the hand features a map of Michigan with geographically correct rivers, and the palms have Michigan's state motto: one side in Latin and the other in English. I put a robin (the state bird) and a Eastern White Pine tree (the state tree) in open areas, as well. And, "X" marks the spot and answers the question: "I'm from here!"
For those of you feeling overwhelmed by a stranded project, never fear! Editor Allyson Dykhuizen is leading a Knit-along (KAL for short) over at the Midwestern Knits Ravelry page, beginning mid-October. For those of you who are Ravelry members, just click the link and join the group. For those readers who are unfamiliar with Ravelry, you may wish to join. Ravelry is a dynamic knit and crochet online community that is a wonderful place to research and plan projects, meet people and learn new fiber knowledge. Consider joining: it's free!
On the Midwestern Knits Ravelry page, there will be KALs for each of the 13 projects. I will be leading a Cave Point Hat KAL on the same group page mid-September. Sara Gresbach of FrontPorchKnitting.com designed the hat based on a beautiful place near her in Wisconsin. She also hand-dyed the yarn and has kits made up for it. I am over-the-top excited about knitting with her beautiful yarn I have for the hat. (I will finally have something to match my fancy gloves!) That is going to be the hardest part -- waiting to cast on!
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!
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!
