Celebrating the Winners of Cashmere on Ice

On March 21, 2025, Long Thread Media and Wild Fibers announced the “Cashmere on Ice” contest, a competition to showcase the best that can happen when fiber artists and exquisite natural fibers come together.

Our goal: To support fiber producers around the world and raise awareness of the United Nations International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation. Shrinking glaciers affect the availability of fresh water and put physical and financial strain on the herders who rely on it. We asked fiber artists to use their hearts and creative hands to help promote awareness about the harsh realities of climate change among the herders who provide us with natural fibers.

Each project showed the creativity of fiber artists working today and helped raise awareness of the threat to fine fibers worldwide. Thanks to everyone who submitted a project, and congratulations to the winners!

Winner - Best of Ladakh

Glacier Inspired Buff Mittens by Carol A. Pearsall
Prize: $500 cash prize, sponsored by Friends of Ladakh

"In the early 1800’s mittens with added loops, either cut or left whole, came into popular use, their multiple layers keeping hands warm during the cold winter months in the northeast. In the Adirondacks these are known as Buff mittens." "The mittens are 50 percent Cashmere blended with Merino from Whitefield Farm in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont for the white of the glacier and 50 percent cashmere and a merino/silk blend that looked like the color of the stream."

From the designer: “This entry was inspired by a picture of a glacier and a stream. What I recall is the clearness of the water and the grays and browns of the stones in the stream bed with just a touch of the reflection of the blue sky on the surface. Upstream rivulets from the glacier must have been joining to create the stream. The solidness of the glacier became the buff back and the rivulets of the water the flat palm in these handspun mittens.”

Winner - People’s Choice

Glacial Story Shawl by Kirstie Dye
Prize: $200 gift certificate from The Cashmere Goat

"To knit cashmere is very new to me. I used two colors that match the colors I most frequently saw in melting glaciers. I designed a purposely pattern shifting shawl to go through time of moraine ridges, to striated rock, to lace work representing mountains with caught boulders." Photo provided by Kirstie Dye "I had the privilege of living for over a decade in walking distance of the Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska. I have touched and trod over striated rock, observed the ridges of moraine, and hiked eerily in ice caves below and avoided crevices above. Glaciers are alive and have power to hold boulders, bones and ancient forests. They are constantly shifting."

From the designer: “To knit cashmere is very new to me. I used two colors that match the colors I most frequently saw in melting glaciers. I designed a purposely pattern shifting shawl to go through time of moraine ridges, to striated rock, to lace work representing mountains with caught boulders.”

Winner - Best Wearable

Tree of Life Faroese-Shaped Shawl by Myrna Anne Itzen Stahman
Prize: Ginger Interchangeable Circular Needle Set from KnitPro

"My favorite shawl shape is that of the traditional shawls knit for many years in the Faroe Islands. Traditional Faroese shawls have shaping in the shoulders and in the back, making the shawls fit wonderfully without the use of a shawl pin. They may be worn with the ends free or wrapped around and tied in the back, leaving hands free to do whatever is needed." "The Shetland Tree of Life motif, which can be knit in many various sizes, represents the need for preserving the glaciers to save the environment. This shawl uses three different sizes of the Shetland Tree of Life motif."

From the designer: “I visited the Nomads in Ladakh with Linda Cortright of Wild Fibers before the Cashmere Center had been built. When Wild Fibers began selling the handspun cashmere, I wished to support the wonderful spinners working at the Cashmere Center, so I invested in a fair amount of handspun cashmere. Designing for “Cashmere on Ice” is the perfect use for this wonderful cashmere.”

Winner - Best Art or Décor

Glacier Break-up by Sandy Bot-Miller
Prize: $150 gift certificate from June Cashmere

"The irony was not lost on me that while I enjoyed the luxury of weaving with the warm soft fibers of cashmere, the goats and their caregivers are in serious jeopardy of losing their ability to produce this cashmere if glaciers, their primary source of fresh water, continue to melt and disappear at their current rate." "The lavender shapes are 100 percent cashmere, White shapes are 45 percent cashmere, 55 percent silk, other areas include sheep wool, bison wool, linen, cotton warp and a minuscule touch of mixed fiber content."

From the designer: “In this piece I decided to explore both the bright white beauty in the shapes and colors found in the glacier cracks, crevices and chunks of ice, as well as the sad, sad reality of glaciers melting.... The irony was not lost on me that while I enjoyed the luxury of weaving with the warm soft fibers of cashmere, the goats and their caregivers are in serious jeopardy of losing their ability to produce this cashmere if glaciers ... continue to melt and disappear at their current rate.”

This contest was made possible with the support of these partners:

Wild Fibers | Friends of Ladakh | KnitPro | June Cashmere | The Cashmere Goat

Whether you submitted a project or spread the word about this contest, you helped celebrate and raise awareness of the connection between endangered glaciers and cashmere fiber.

Thank you for being part of Cashmere on Ice, and we invite you to enjoy the full gallery of submissions.