Rockland woman launches magazine called Wild Fibers

If you are a fiber farmer, or consume animal fibers as a knitter or needleworker, anywhere in the United States and maybe even around the world, editor and publisher Linda Cortright of Rockland wants her quarterly magazine, Wild Fibers, to be your magazine.

“The impetus for the magazine stemmed from my own learning process and venture into the fiber world,” Cortright said. When she began raising cashmere goats 10 years ago, there was “no central source of information” about fiber farming.

Cortright launched Wild Fibers in January. She is a staff of one and handles all aspects of the magazine’s design, layout, editing and advertising. The magazine’s mission “is to help sustain fiber farming in North America though communication and collaboration, while promoting responsible use of natural resources.” Those natural resources, as the pages of the magazine attest, include cashmere goats, llamas, alpacas, sheep of all persuasions and musk oxen. I learned from reading the magazine that musk oxen aren’t really musky and are not oxen at all.

I also learned that llamas visited residents of Cove’s Edge Nursing Home in Damariscotta as part of the Animal Assisted Activities program, and the llamas did a great job maneuvering around wheelchairs, walkers and bed rails; that two Australian sheep farmers recently produced the world’s finest wool valued at more than $752,000 and are keeping a bale of it in a bank vault under armed guard; and that in January the nation’s only wind-powered spinnery opened in Hope.

Wild Fiber also will appeal to knitters. The premiere issue contains instructions for cashmere knitted lace mitts, one of Cortright’s designs; and a knitted Cyrus Hat in cashmere and silk yarn designed by Hatie Clingerman.

The spring issue contains directions for the Seaside Camisole, another of Cortright’s designs, knit in eyelet and spiral lace patterns, and instructions for old-fashioned baby booties, made with alpaca or cashmere, designed by Joan Davis of Northport, knitting teacher and guru, who often organizes sessions to knit caps to donate to those undergoing chemo-therapy.

“There are very few patterns for cashmere,” Cortright said, so future issues will feature patterns utilizing cashmere and other exotic fibers, including angora, qiviut, which comes from the musk ox, and alpaca.

Response to the magazine, Cortright said, has been very positive. The magazine is distributed nationally and is currently available at Stitchery Square and Unique One in Camden, Second Read Coffee Shop in Rockland, Halcyon Yarn in Bath and Pine Tree Yarns in Damariscotta.

To learn more about Wild Fibers or for information about subscriptions or back issues, call 785-3932, or visit www.wildfibersmagazine.com.

Snippets

. NEWAIM Farm in Waldoboro, which raises alpacas, is open to visitors by appointment by calling 832-5162, or e-mail al@newaim.com. Al Maloney and Nancy Williams own and operate the farm.

. Bernat makes a yarn called Frenzy, a blend of 37 percent nylon, 30 percent acrylic, 12 percent polyester, 10.5 percent mohair and 10.5 percent alpaca. The skein I chose looks like a strand of pink, yellow and green curly eyelash yarn twisted around a roving of marine blue – chunky but fluffy and soft as a cloud. It’s available at stores in Albion, Madawaska, Bangor, Brewer, Augusta, Calais, Ellsworth, Houlton, Lincoln, Rockland, Skowhegan, Palmyra and Waterville.

. This joke appeared in a recent issue of the Halcyon Yarn catalog: A policeman spotted a woman driving and knitting at the same time. Driving up beside her, he shouted out the window, “Pull over!”

“No,” she shouted back, “Socks!”