Help Knitters Produce a Book Inspired by the Midwest

Knitters Allyson Dykhuizen and Carina Spencer are lifelong residents of the midwestern United States, and they know there’s a lot special about that part of the world (as do I, being born as I was in Iowa).

They’re working on a project with a bunch of other midwestern designers called, appropriately enough, Midwestern Knits. The book will feature 12 or 13 designs inspired by the history and culture of the midwest and using yarn from local producers.

Essays will be included in the book to explore the inspiration behind each design as well.

The project is being funded by a Kickstarter, and there’s about a week left to contribute if you’d like to see this book become a reality. There are all sorts of great thank yous involved, from free pattern downloads to kits, or even having a sweater knit for you. All pledges of $25 or more include a copy of the book when it comes out, which is expected to happen next fall.

I hope you’ll check the project out and give if it moves you.

[Photo via Kickstarter.]

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn.

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small.

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches.

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come.

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you.

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?).

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry.

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns.

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]

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