Arctic Lace Knitting Book

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• What’s inside?
• Errata
• Need some Qiviut?
• Get the Audio book
• Photos of patterns

Here’s what you’ll find inside the book:

A simple step-by-step introduction to knitting and designing lace, applicable to any yarn. Fifteen projects, for beginning to intermediate lace knitters. Information about the history and use of qiviut, possibly the world’s most exquisite fiber.

Stories about Yup’ik and Inupiat women and their culture.

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Preface: Following my Obsessions to the Arctic Introduction: The Oomingmak Knitter’s Co-op

Chapter 1: The Yup’ik and Inupiat People

Chapter 2: Villages and Knitters

Chapter 3: Musk Oxen

Chapter 4: Qiviut Fiber and Yarn

Chapter 5: History of the Co-op and Musk Ox Farm

Chapter 6: Lace Knitting Workshop

Chapter 7: Projects

Chapter 8: Designing Your Own

We carefully review each book to make sure that the information presented is correct. However, sometimes something sneaks past us and makes it into a book. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Below you’ll find corrections for this book presented in a PDF format. The corrections are generally highlighted in yellow or shown in bold type. Corrections are made to books before they are reprinted, so your copy may already contain some or all of these corrections.

for printing 1, 2, 3 chart correction, page 148, PDF format (71KB)

for printing 1, 2, 3 chart correction, page 124, Graphic format (75KB)

for printing 1, 2 chart corrections and decrease corrections, pages 130-131, PDF format (97KB)

for printing 1, 2 instruction clarification, pages 152-153, PDF format (94KB)

for printing 1 chart correction, page 155, PDF format (72KB)

Right click on link and select SAVE AS to download.

Qiviut, or musk ox down, may be the world’s most luxurious, warm, and lightweight fiber. People who experience it become obsessed with its exquisite softness. Qiviut makes perfect hand-knitted lace, as demonstrated by the Alaskan artisans of Oomingmak Musk Ox Producers Co-op. This book presents instructional workshops on knitting and designing lace, a sequence of projects suited to new as well as experienced lace knitters, a list of yarn sources, and comprehensive historical background.

Need some qiviut yarn or spinning fiber? Check out these sources.

Miss the blog book tour? Click hereto see the archive.

Audio book of Arctic Lace is available. “I invite you to join me on my journey in learning about the extraordinary knitters, unusual animals, luxurious fiber and beautiful lace knitting of Oomingmak.”To wet your appetite, scroll down for some project photos. You can also read about my 2004 research trip to Alaska on my trip blog. Also check out the Alaska photo album and about the 2006 book launch in Alaska.

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Praise for Arctic Lace

Donna Druchunas is an expert knitwear designer whose work has been showcased in Family Circle, Easy Knitting, Interweave Knits, PieceWork, Knitter’s, INKnitter’s, and Fiber Focus magazines. In “Arctic Lace: Knitted Projects And Stories Inspired By Alaska’s Native Knitters”, Donna has created a 192-page, single-volume workshop on knitting and designing lace with an Inuit flair. In addition to the fifteen individual “user friendly” projects provided with careful step-by-step instructions, “Arctic Lace” is enhanced with 171 b/w photographs, 91 b/w illustrations, 28 tables, 11 sidebars, an extensive bibliography, and a comprehensive index. These projects are adaptable to any yarn and demonstrate to even the most novice needlecrafter just how to make the most of luxury fibers. There is even extensive background information on the natural history of musk oxen, conservation efforts, and the fiber quality and use of their fur which is the source of Qiviut (or musk ox down), felt by many to be the world’s warmest, lightest-weight fiber and a mainstay of Alaska’s native knitters. “Arctic Lace” is a unique and enthusiastically recommended addition to any dedicated needlecrafter’s reference collection.

- Midwest book review

ARCTIC LACE is not your typical knitting book. Not only does it provide an array of native alaskan designs for every knitting level, it also offers easy to follow tutorials with templates for designing your own unique lace projects.

This beautiful book is brimming with photos and stories that depict the rich history and traditions which give insight into the unusual world of alaskan knitters.
The author provides interesting information about the history and use of qiviut, the exquisitely soft, lightweight, but warm fiber from a most unusual source, musk oxen. I highly recommend this book for all knitters who are interested in the diverse and rich historical aspects of this craft.

- Amazon Reader

I really enjoy this book. It is a unique and fascinating look at handwork in a part of the world I know little about. The lace patterns are sweet but VERY basic so if you were thinking that you would advance in your lacework, you won’t get that from this book. I also felt that some color photos would have punched up the book an awful lot.

The north star tam is a unique pattern and if you are a hat knitter,this book is worth it for that alone. I was quite impressed that the author bothered to show the hat in both a conventional wool and qiviut. Nice touch!

Don’t be put off by the qiviut discussion…the author handles this well and these designs can be worked up in fingering or laceweight yarns easily.

- Amazon Reader