How to correctly bind to a dependency property of a usercontrol in a MVVM framework

Question

I have been unable to find a clean, simple, example of how to correctly implement a usercontrol with WPF that has a DependencyProperty within the MVVM framework. My code below fails whenever I assign the usercontrol a DataContext.

I am trying to:

1. Set the DependencyProperty from the calling ItemsControl , and
2. Make the value of that DependencyProperty available to the ViewModel of the called usercontrol.

I still have a lot to learn and sincerely appreciate any help.

This is the ItemsControl in the topmost usercontrol that is making the call to the InkStringView usercontrol with the DependencyProperty TextInControl (example from another question).

<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Strings}" x:Name="self" >

    <ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
        <ItemsPanelTemplate>
            <StackPanel HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Orientation="Vertical" />
        </ItemsPanelTemplate>
    </ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>


    <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <DataTemplate.Resources>
                <Style TargetType="v:InkStringView">
                    <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="25"/>
                    <Setter Property="HorizontalAlignment" Value="Left"/>
                </Style>
            </DataTemplate.Resources>

            <v:InkStringView TextInControl="{Binding text, ElementName=self}"  />
        </DataTemplate>
    </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ItemsControl>

Here is the InkStringView usercontrol with the DependencyProperty.

XAML:

<UserControl x:Class="Nova5.UI.Views.Ink.InkStringView"
         xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
         xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
         xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" 
         xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" 
         x:Name="mainInkStringView"
         mc:Ignorable="d" 
         d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300">
    <Grid>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition/>   
            <RowDefinition/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>

        <TextBlock Grid.Row="0" Text="{Binding TextInControl, ElementName=mainInkStringView}" />
        <TextBlock Grid.Row="1" Text="I am row 1" />
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

Code-Behind file:

namespace Nova5.UI.Views.Ink
{
    public partial class InkStringView : UserControl
    {
        public InkStringView()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            this.DataContext = new InkStringViewModel();   <--THIS PREVENTS CORRECT BINDING, WHAT
        }                                                   --ELSE TO DO?????

        public String TextInControl
        {
            get { return (String)GetValue(TextInControlProperty); }
            set { SetValue(TextInControlProperty, value); }
        }

        public static readonly DependencyProperty TextInControlProperty =
            DependencyProperty.Register("TextInControl", typeof(String), typeof(InkStringView));

    }
}