Arctic Lace

Arctic Lace by Donna Druchunas was not what I was expecting, but I still enjoyed it. The small collection of native Alaskan folk tales and bits of history fleshed out Ms. Druchunas' account of her visit to one of the tiny Alaskan villages associated with a knitting co-op that knits various items from qiviut, the soft and extremely warm fiber from the musk-ox. Ms. Druchunas emphasized several times that she was able to visit only one village because of the great expense entailed by travel to remote Alaskan villages - it's pretty much all by airplane. She included quite a few patterns of different lace, based on items knitted by the Oomingmak Co-op, suggested different fibers that could be used (since qiviut is rare and pricey), and gives much encouragement for the reader to develop her own lace patterns. (No color photos.)