By Hand No. 10, Montana's Big Sky Country

TRAVELING MONTANA'S BIG SKY COUNTRY

In Issue #10 of By Hand Serial, we travel Montana’s Big Sky Country, from Bozeman’s Paradise Valley to Flathead and Swan Lakes, from Glacier National Park to Swan Lake, and from Missoula's Bitterroot Valley to the peaks of the Sapphire Mountains. The Montana makers we meet embody the power of a sense of place. Not only what they make, but how they make it is greatly influenced by their home. Montana has that kind of an impact: it is still so big, wild, beautiful, and largely empty of people, even in this day and age. The artists who have chosen to make their homes here love their place deeply and passionately, and that love is reflected in what they create. Join us in exploring Montana through the eyes of a scratch sourdough bread baker; a father and son team who has built wooden canoes by hand for almost fifty years; textile, yarn, fiber, and macrame artists; a sewist who creates rugged bags built for adventure from waxed canvas and Pendleton wools; and a jeweler who uses reclaimed metal and stones mined from the earth to create unique pieces of wearable art.

The patterns and projects in By Hand Serial Lookbook No. 10 are all inspired by the hues and textures of Montana's landscapes, and the western style of the region. Kjerste Whaley has designed the perfect, wear-everywhere shrug with just a touch of mohair softness. Shellie Anderson's unisex textured scarf echoes the colors of blooming Indian Paintbrushes. Renate Yerkes uses Thirteen Mile's undyed wool yarn to create a reversible beanie that showcases the woolly, rugged feel of the yarn. Irina Pi's handwarmers use stitch patterns to highlight the glowing color of The Farmers Daughter yarn. Andrea Hungerford focuses on western flair, colorwork, and an infinite variety of yarn combinations in creating a ruana and a open faced fringed cardigan wrap. You'll also find a recipe for Autumn Panzanella, a macrame plant hanger project that is suitable even for beginners, and project buckets.