Letters
Thoughts on Field Guide No. 3
Dear friends,
Here’s what’s on my mind right now.
We have a new Field Guide on the way. MDK Field Guide No. 3: Wild Yarns is at the printer, in that delicious limbo where it’s done yet not done.
I was just looking at the proofs again, in that way you do when you need to pat something just to make sure it’s what you thought it was.
What really got me thinking is page 40 of this new Field Guide. It’s where we list everyone who worked on it. You would think that a little book of patterns would be a small thing to cook up, but it’s not. It takes a creative director (Melanie Falick), pattern designers (Kirsten Kapur, Sue McCain, Dianna Walla), a graphic designer (Will Brady), a technical editor (Sue McCain), a photographer (Sara Remington), a stylist (Alessandra Mortola), sample knitters (Julie Lindsey, Susan Mitz, and Nell Ziroli), a proofreader (Mary Neal Meador), and Kay and me in the mix, watching all this skill and talent converge in a little book that captures something pretty ephemeral.
Springtime.
We conceived of Field Guide No. 3 last year, when the season crept dark and darker, and we craved light and joy.
We talked about what sort of patterns would feel great to make at a time of year when the sun is coming back.
We found yarns that make us smile with their extravagant color. (Another important person in Field Guide production is Liz Masterson, our ecommerce manager, who chases yarns and imposes order in a frankly dazzling way.)
It’s all about light, this Field Guide. It will launch in a couple of weeks. We offer a presale now so that we can ship your Field Guide to you as fast as possible. Preview all the designers and patterns here.
If you have been wondering about MDK Field Guides, we’ve cooked up a special offer to entice you to start your collection: all three of the Field Guides (Stripes, Fair Isle, and Wild Yarns) for $30 plus shipping, basically three for the price of two. This offer runs only through April 9, so we encourage you to jump on the Field Guide love train now. Order here.
Final Thought
We are now six months into this new MDK venture. We love the daily challenge of finding things that we hope will delight you. Your support is crucial to our ability to bring talented people together—the list of folks above, for example—to create our Field Guides, to pay our many contributors, and to provide a place at MDK where we can all talk about knitting as much as we want. When you order books and yarn from us, you’re making a lot of things possible.
Including, first and foremost, a new project for you to make.
Which is kind of the point, after all! We want to be the first place you think of when you’re contemplating a new project. We want to bring you the best and most beautiful things in the knitting world. We want to earn your trust so that when we recommend a pattern, a yarn, a technique, you know that you’re getting great information.
As they say in the airline industry, we know you have many choices when it comes to yarns and patterns. Kay and I are thrilled every time you place your trust in us—and we’re going to do our best to amuse and delight you every single day.
Love,
Ann
I love the cover!!
Posting to Australia is actually very easy!
Echoing Laura: CRAZY about this cover! They make a beautiful set.
I’ve been hunting on ravelry since I saw No 3 in your shop over the weekend for the individual pattern pages to go up to check out the specs. Luckily AYOT part 2 drop day is tomorrow to distract me.
Congrats on #3, ladies. Wishing you all the success.
Great trilogy! Any chance to get the specs on the sweater somewhere?
Coming soon!
My heroes! Y’all are incredible.
You are doing an amazing job of amusing and delighting,Reading your blog is a daily highlight and your love of knitting, color, art and design are infectious and often hilarious. Thanks for taking me along for the ride.
Ditto Meredith! (feeling unoriginal but still thankful today.) xoxo to all
Ya’ll are doing such a great job. I’m enjoying every minute of it right along with you.
Fantastic cover and I’m looking forward to making the shawl and the cowl. (Not so much a sweater knitter)
Consistently amused and delighted!
Such a lovely post. 6 months! Thanks for being here, every single day.
Again, I will make the suggestion that it would be awesome to have a binder/box to store One’s collection of all the field guides, or maybe to store like 4 of them…