“Wild and Woolie”

StevenBe’s Community Volunteer Knitting Event

benefiting the International Wolf Center (Ely, MN) www.wolf.org

Sunday, December 8, 2019, 12-4pm

StevenBe’s, 3448 Chicago Ave. So., Minneapolis 55407

Spend an enjoyable afternoon volunteering with your fiber community at StevenBe’s, knitting mitten cuffs with members of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota’s Whorling Spinster spinning group using fluffy hand spun wolf fur novelty yarns provided by the Spinsters. This is a rare chance to knit with yarns created from the International Wolf Center’s ambassador wolves’ hand groomed undercoat fur and to support the International Wolf Center (IWC) with your mitten donation.

What to bring:

  • one finished pair of adult size (S/M/L) handmade wool mittens, any color(s), any style, without cuffs, which you will complete by knitting ribbed cuffs using hand spun wolf undercoat fur yarn. (please consider using wool yarn from your stash purchased at StevenBe’s).  Many of the wolf yarns will have been made using StevenBe’s novelty yarns as plies.
  • Size 6-10 DPNs or circular needles, scissors, darning needle
  • Optional: matching wool yarn to double knit with wolf yarn for a thicker, coordinated cuff

Why participate in this event?

  • To support the IWC through the donation of wolf-fur cuff mittens.  Your mittens will be sold in the annual online silent auction on March 13-22nd, all proceeds of which go directly to funding the ambassador wolf care fund initiatives.  This will be the 3rd year in which the spinners have participated with wolf undercoat fur products, garnering thousands of dollars for the IWC.  Your name will be in the product description for all to see your handiwork and to purchase! (Please note that due to government regulations and approvals needed for working with this endangered species’ fiber, all items will be finished and donated on site. The hosting spinners will carefully collect all wolf yarn remnants to be used in other finished products.)
  • To increase awareness of the IWC’s mission, which is “To advance the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.” The IWC has been given a 4-Star Charity rating by Charity Navigator.
  • To experience knitting with a rare fiber from an endangered species the source of which is the annually shed undercoat fur of the IWC’s captive ambassador wolves.
  • To meet new people and to have fun!

Our goal is 30 pairs of finished mittens.  Allow at least 1 hour to create 2 full cuffs from a selection of handspun colorful Aran/bulky weight wolf undercoat fur yarns. The ambassador wolves’ current social relationships will be conveyed by which wolf yarn is used in conjunction with another wolf yarn.  If we have more participants than expected (woohoo!), as there will be limited wolf yarn amounts available, be prepared to use the wolf yarn for a couple of knit / crocheted rows or for embellishing.

Please look for the March 2020 “Fur” issue on of PLY Magazine with an in-depth article on our “Wolf Project” that will create extra exposure for this year’s online auction.  And please join us on December 8 for a howling good time!

Further information: contact Chillon Leach

———————-

*Auction bidding and final sales of wolf undercoat fur products is only legally allowed to those living in the United States.

All photos courtesy of the International Wolf Center. Used by permission.