By Hand Magazine No. 10 Montana's big Sky

By Hand is a serial produced by Andrea Hungerford three times per year that explores locations around the country that have developed their own unique 'maker communities' where people who love to make, love to learn to make, and love to support makers have found a common sense of purpose.

Each of these geographic 'clusters' has its own unique characteristics, and those characteristics influence the artists who live and work there. Each issue of By Hand is a place-based celebration of these communities of makers, focused primarily on the fiber and fabric industry, as well as highlighting artists in other media who share the same philosophy as fiber and fabric artists of functional beauty. Additionally each issue includes patterns, projects, photo essays, day trips, foodie excursions, and other write-ups of aspects unique to the featured city or region.

We are 'making communities' even where physical proximity isn’t possible, by sharing our stories and journeys and images with each other.

TRAVELING MONTANA'S BIG SKY COUNTRY

In Issue #10 of By Hand Serial, we travel Montana’s Big Sky Country, from Bozeman’s Paradise Valley to Flathead and Swan Lakes, from Glacier National Park to Swan Lake, and from Missoula's Bitterroot Valley to the peaks of the Sapphire Mountains. The Montana makers we meet embody the power of a sense of place. Not only what they make, but how they make it is greatly influenced by their home. Montana has that kind of an impact: it is still so big, wild, beautiful, and largely empty of people, even in this day and age. The artists who have chosen to make their homes here love their place deeply and passionately, and that love is reflected in what they create. Join us in exploring Montana through the eyes of a scratch sourdough bread baker; a father and son team who has built wooden canoes by hand for almost fifty years; textile, yarn, fiber, and macrame artists; a sewist who creates rugged bags built for adventure from waxed canvas and Pendleton wools; and a jeweler who uses reclaimed metal and stones mined from the earth to create unique pieces of wearable art.

The patterns and projects in By Hand Serial Lookbook No. 10 are all inspired by the hues and textures of Montana's landscapes, and the western style of the region. Kjerste Whaley has designed the perfect, wear-everywhere shrug with just a touch of mohair softness. Shellie Anderson's unisex textured scarf echoes the colors of blooming Indian Paintbrushes. Renate Yerkes uses Thirteen Mile's undyed wool yarn to create a reversible beanie that showcases the woolly, rugged feel of the yarn. Irina Pi's handwarmers use stitch patterns to highlight the glowing color of The Farmers Daughter yarn. Andrea Hungerford focuses on western flair, colorwork, and an infinite variety of yarn combinations in creating a ruana and a open faced fringed cardigan wrap. You'll also find a recipe for Autumn Panzanella, a macrame plant hanger project that is suitable even for beginners, and project buckets.

By Hand Serial Lookbook #13 showcases our widest offering of patterns and projects yet, including four different sewing projects: two apparel pieces that are both easy to fit and easy to wear, as well as attainable for even a beginning sewist, or try working with waxed canvas and create a lunch tote project bag or a makers apron, both of which will become essentials for all of your future making endeavors. The Mendocino Dress is sewn from light-as-a-cloud double gauze, with a pleat at the front neck and curved seams at the waist and back to give just the right amount of shaping. The Sonoma Overalls are so fun to make, we sewed up more than half a dozen samples for our trip, including some of our favorites from Merchant & Mills chambray and softly striped linen.

Lookbook #13's knitting patterns include Tamalpais by Julie Weisenberger, a cleverly constructed sleeveless top: a clean, classic design that goes with just about anything and can be worn year-round. Navigate Socks by Marceline Smith are the perfect opportunity to play with Sincere Sheep's rainbow of naturally dyed colors. Noriko Ho has designed Golden Poppy, a stunning colorwork cardigan knit in a subtle speckle with a complementary warm clay tonal solid - colors created specially for this project by Chase Clark of local yarn store Black Squirrel Berkeley. Andrea Hungerford, inspired by the dreamy naturally dyed palette of A Verb For Keeping Warm's Floating yarn, created a lacy ruana that marries shawl and cardigan into the perfect over-your-shoulders garment to ward off a cool breeze or the chill of a summer evening.

Our projects and patterns are rounded out by clever clay candle holders that are surprisingly simple to make, and a delicious citrusy olive oil cake, inspired by an afternoon spent among the olive groves at Black Rock Ranch.