Knitterati: Destinations Arne and Carlos

Scandinavians Arne Nerjordet and Carlos Zachrison are highly regarded designers, textile artists, and authors. They are best known for their original, colorful, and visually striking designs as well as their craft books. Their work is highly influenced by their Scandinavian background and their everyday life in rural Norway. They work under their artist name ARNE & CARLOS, which they established in 2002. In 2010, ARNE & CARLOS’s first craft book, Julekuler (55 Christmas Balls to Knit), became an immediate Norwegian bestseller and consequently went on to become a bestselling book in North America, Europe and Asia. Today, ARNE & CARLOS have published 10 books that are enjoyed by people all over the world. Their books are available in Norwegian as well as English, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.

The two Scandinavian designers have collaborated with many prestigious international brands, including Urban Outfitters (2009) and high-end Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons (2008). Today, they design for and work closely with Rowan, Regia, and Schachenmayr yarns. ARNE & CARLOS’s creative base is located 170 kilometers north of Oslo, Norway, in the mountainous region known as Valdres.

I am the third born of five from a small rural village, Offatedo, located in Osun State, Nigeria. My mother is a trader and my father, a farmer. Although my family was rich in spirit and culture, we were poor in capital, and I sponsored my own education throughout my years. From a very young age, I realized my artistic potential. I would attend social gatherings (weddings, naming and burial ceremonies, and other cultural parties), offering to sketch portraits of the guests for a small donation. My sketching career, combined with long, hard days working on the village farms, provided adequate income for me to successfully complete my academic education through high school. I discovered the Nike Center for Arts and Culture in 1990, where I remained for six years. The first two years at Center were spent mastering the arts of batik painting on fabric, indigo dyeing, quilt making, embroidery, applique and batik painting on rice paper. During the next four years, I spent long days teaching these skills to incoming students.

Eventually, the popularity of the Nike Center grew, and hundreds of people came to Osogbo, Nigeria, from all over the world to study and enrich their knowledge and understanding of the arts and culture of the Yoruba people. I spent much of my time conducting workshops and training people in the crafts of my culture.

In 1995, my long years of service and dedication to the Nike Center paid off, and my artwork was exhibited in Bayreuth, Germany, alongside the work of five other artists from Nigeria. People who were exposed to my work later commissioned me to do quilt work and other pieces, and my artistic career truly began to bloom.
In 1996, the opportunity arose to travel outside Nigeria for the first time in my life. A woman named Karen came to Osogbo through an exchange program with America. We did workshops together. Impressed with my work, Karen invited me to the University of Iowa to do a series of exhibitions and workshops. The Octagon Gallery in Ames, Iowa, took notice of my work and offered to exhibit it. I was also invited to work with a group of teenagers to share with them, through workshops and storytelling, the traditions of my own Yoruba culture.

These experiences in Iowa opened the door to greater opportunities. I have traveled across the U.S conducting more workshops and exhibitions. I plan to continue to travel worldwide, sharing the arts and culture of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. I currently reside in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Antonio and Molly Manzanares operate the state’s only certified organic sheep ranch near Los Ojos in Rio Arriba County. The ranch is located about 100 miles north and slightly west of Santa Fe, at the foot of the San Juan Mountains. Antonio and Molly Manzanares's family ranch in the Tierra Amarilla area originally belonged to Antonio's grandfather, Carlos. Their 900- ewe herd grazes open range. The couple sells lamb and wool products under their farm label, Shepherd’s Lamb. Antonio and Molly emphasize wool production much more than when they started ranching 30 years ago. “Meat used to be around 95 percent of our income. Now it’s more like 65 percent, and wool is 35 percent,” Molly says. Their ewes are Rambouillets, known for fine wool, and Navajo/Churro. Read more about them here when Antonio was named Sheepman of the Year in 2016.

My name is Monica Rodriguez and I can’t stop fidgeting with yarn. I am the blogger behind Knit's All Folks! a website dedicated to celebrating diversity one stitch at a time. I’ve been learning about knitting and it’s power to get you though difficult times since 2014. I also specialize in web design and management, and am a certified administrative professional. I live in Albuquerque, NM with my husband. We belong to two terriers who manage to cuddle us just enough to keep us from revolting.