Nancy Bush
Salt Lake City, UT USA
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Books |
Folk Socks, Follk Knitting in Estonia, and Knitting on the Road
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| Specialty |
I am interested in knitting history; traditional, ethnic patterns and techniques. My passion is Estonia; the knitting, the landscape, the traditions. I am trying to learn all I possibly can about this interesting country.
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| Contact Information: |
PO Box 58306 Salt Lake City, UT USA
801 581-9812
nancy@woolywest.com
The Wooly West
downloads.php
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| Favorite Knitting Book |
oh dear...this depends on my mood!
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| Favorite Cast-On |
I use a long tail Continental cast on as my 'default' cast on, but find a Double Start cast on very good for socks.
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| Classes |
3 day Workshops
Three Small Projects With An Estonian Accent
Knitting Norwegian
The Fine Art of Knitting Socks
9 hour Workshop (one 6 hour day and a morning)
Discovering Estonian Knitting
6 hour Workshops
NEW! Estonian Edges
NEW!! Tvåändstickning/Twined Knitting
NEW! An Overture to Estonian Lace
Estonian Traveling Stitches
The Traditional Estonian Mitten
The Nordic Køfte
As The Heel Turns
The Good Thumb Guide
3 hour Workshops
Clues for Casting On
Overcoming the Fear of Cutting
Heel to Toe
Estonian Traveling Stitches and Estonian Edges can also be offered in 3 hours, in abbreviated forms.
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| Biography |
I found my way to traditional hand knitting via a degree in Art History and post graduate studies in color design and weaving in San Francisco and Sweden. I have worked as a free-lance designer and consultant for several yarn companies and as a contributing editor to Knitter’s Magazine. I am currently Knitting Contributor to Piecework Magazine (Interweave Press). My designs and articles have also appeared in Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting, and Threads. I have taught at Stitches, Needleworks in Coupeville, WA, and SOAR, as well as workshops for many guilds and groups in the United States and Canada. I am honored to serve as the Knitting Guide on The Interweave Press Knitters Tours of Scandinavia (in 1998, 1999 and 2001 and will again in 2004). I own The Wooly West, a mail order yarn business in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a knitter, my focus has been on traditional knitting techniques and uses of ethnic patterns. My three books include; Folk Socks (Interweave Press, 1994), Folk Knitting in Estonia (Interweave Press, 1999), and Knitting on the Road, Socks for the Traveling Knitter (Interweave Press, 2001).
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| What is your knitting mantra? |
If you have to stop and think about it, you'll probably need to rip it out.
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| What inspires you? |
I am inspired by pattern and color and also places and events. I like to commemorate experiences and special people with my knitting.
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| Confess - when it comes to hiding your yarn, what are your secrets? |
I don't hide it, I decorate with it!
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| What is your idea of knitting heaven? |
A snowy day, a wood fire and good friends...somewhere in Northern Europe...
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| How many UFO's (Unfinished Objects)do you have going at once? |
Oh, dozens, if you count unfinished spinning, books, curtins that need to be hemmed, as well as knitting.
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| My yarn stash equals the GNP (Gross National Product) of ... |
Hard to say - it really isn't very big - by comparison to some I have seen.
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| Whom would you like to see accept an Academy Award wearing your creation? |
Well, we aren't likely to see Mel Gibson wearing a kilt (with kilt hose) again at an 'Awards', so I'll have to think about it.
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| What knitting commandment do you most like to break? |
I find I am inclined to knit more than five stitches between a color from time to time...not many more!
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| What frequently-asked knitting question do you hate to answer? |
I don't think I hate to answer any knitting question...the most frequently asked, I think, is "What is an SSK?"
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| When and how did you learn to knit? |
I was knitting a bit as a kid, but 'discovered' knitting while I was studying weaving in Sweden in the 1970's. It was there that I found what depth of technique and interesting history knitting offered.
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| What is the most unusual place you've ever knitted? |
I don't know about unusual - but my favorite places have been; on the beach of a small Estonian island in the Baltic - in the summer sunshine, on top of the mountain at Fløyen in Bergen, Norway, in the cafe there, and on a houseboat on the Canal du Midi in France.
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| How long can you last without knitting? |
Usually if I can't or don't have time to knit, I don't have the choice, so I put it out of my mind. I just get back to it as soon as possible.
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| If you were stranded on a deserted island, what one yarn, book, or gizmo would you want along? |
I would take along Satakieli from Finland (every color), Barbara Walker's First Treasury and a set of #1 double point needles... and it would have to be a Baltic island!
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| How many hours have you knitted non-stop - and why? |
Five comes to recent memorty...to complete a sock foot for a magazine article.
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