For January we choose another literary work, this time a poem by M.L. Smoker. I first read Crosscurrent in the publication of poems called 'New Poets of Native Nations' edited by Heid Erdrich. Out of hundreds of poems this is one that brought me back to my home land.
From poets.org, ''M.L. Smoker is a member of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana. She holds an MFA from the University of Montana in Missoula, where she was the recipient of the Richard Hugo Fellowship. Her first collection of poems, Another Attempt at Rescue, was published by Hanging Loose Press in 2005. In 2009, she co-edited an anthology of human rights poetry with Melissa Kwasny entitled, I Go to the Ruined Place. She received a regional Emmy award for her work as a writer/consultant on the PBS documentary Indian Relay. Smoker served as the Director of Indian Education for the state of Montana for almost ten years. In 2015 Smoker was named the Indian Educator of the Year by the National Indian Education Association and was appointed to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education by President Barack Obama. She currently works at Education Northwest as a practice expert in Indian Education. She currently serves as co-poet laureate for the state of Montana, alongside Melissa Kwasny. In 2021, Smoker and Kwasny were named Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellows.''
For the colorway this month we were inspired by the mental images of the Milk river and Chinook Winds. Chinook Winds or Chinooks are warm winds that often come in on the Canadian Prairies and Great Plains. There is no other smell than a chinook on an early morning. I wanted a really dynamic gray; shades of blue and silver silky against each other where you can't tell where one begins and the other ends....a Crosscurrent. We achieved this by double dying the skeins in two different color combos. The yarn is a DK weight with 231 yards/100g. I think this would be the perfect yarn for a sweater you would reach for again and again!
Patterns we love for this month yarn are:
Cargill Sweater by Rebecca Clow
We love pairing this yarn with Spincycled Dyed in the Wool! First to last slide; Slow Burn, Close Call, Cold Comfort, Space Odity, Summer Love, and The Meadows.
With every month in the Indigenous Collective you can order more of the colorway in the listing below. Please know that additional yarn will be a preorder, the listing will be up until February 2nd and will ship mid February.
This really is lovely yarn- the best steely grey and sturdy and soft. I cast on the Everyday Cowl by DRK using this striped with a stash speckled yarn. I’m loving the combination. Thank you- love this collection. Learning about the artists is really special too!
Love this color but love the poem more. It gives purpose and meaning which I appreciate very much, Thank you.
My yarn arrived yesterday, and I am still swooning— even more so now that I’ve read the poem and the description. I don’t know how you’re doing it, but every month is as amazing, if not more so, than the previous month(s)! This collection is THE BEST yarn subscription I’ve ever had, based on the yarn alone, and I love that it supports native artists!