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All Things Midwest

This past weekend, I spent an afternoon at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival with my fiber friend Lauren, which is one of our favorite regional shows to attend (second only to YarnCon in the spring).

I had a specific shopping list in mind which somehow I managed to stick to:

L-R: Cloudlover Spinning Fiber, Green Mountain Spinnery Weekend Wool, and Bijou Basin Ranch Tibetan Dream in Seaside, a limited-edition color dyed by Miss Babs.

Besides shopping the vendor marketplace, I spent a lot of my time talking to people at the show - I ran into a friend I haven't seen in a while, met up with Sarah of the excellent Knitting Sarah blog, and chatted with a few of my clients who had booths at the show. As always, there was plenty of temptation, but I was somehow able to resist.


We didn't get a chance to see the sheep shearing demonstration (though we caught it last year), but I did get a chance to make some sheepy friends and snap a few shots.




We also popped into the fleece auction right before it started, but thought it was best to remove ourselves before we filled our car with huge bags of fleece.


Per our tradition, we stopped on the way home to pick up some New Glarus Beer:


All in all, it was a fantastic day!

While I'm waxing poetic about all things Midwestern, I'd love to share my friend Allyson's latest project, which is currently raising funds via Kickstarter:


Midwestern Knits is a pattern collection celebrating the history and culture of the midwest, and it promises some great designs from both well-known and up-and-coming designers, all knit in yarns from the region. It's being curated by Allyson  Dykhuizen (from Holla Knits and the Sweatshop of Love) and Carina Spencer (designer of many great patterns, including Zuzu's Petals).


Allyson has published many design collections with Holla Knits, and the work ethic that both she and Carina have is exemplary; if they reach their funding goal, I know that the the resulting collection and book will be nothing short of spectacular.


Having done my own Kickstarter, I also know what an uphill battle reaching the funding goal can be. It's really hard work - even harder than doing the project you're raising funds for, in many ways!

If you can take a moment to visit their Kickstarter page to pledge - even $5 will be a big help to the cause (though I highly recommend taking advantage of some of their killer rewards). 

Click here to back Midwestern Knits! 

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