the third...

...this is the third version of a design I've been playing with...

...this one done in Rowan's Purelife organic cotton...a leaf in Lenpur tops it off...

the pattern is almost ready for testing!

join the knitters' retreat...

from the Mendocino Yarn Shop website:

Spring Knitters' Retreat

April 22 - 25

Thursday afternoon through Sunday noon

"Designers on Designing"

 

Meet 3 local knitwear designers - Pamela Allen, Lenora Shepard and Sandra McIver. Pam designs hats and children's patterns. She will talk about color and fibers and how she uses both in her designing. Lenora has written a pattern for a beautiful sideways knit cardigan with oriental overtones. She used variegated yarn - Noro's Silk Garden - as her inspiration. She will talk about using the sideways technique, shaping for fit and intarsia. Sandra is writing a book based on her design for a very unique sweater. It is knitted circularly, with lots of drape, and can be worn in many ways. Sound intriguing? Sandra has attended Cat Bordhi's seminar for designers and recently spent time with Jared Flood and other well respected designers who all loved her book. It will be published soon - so we will be the first ones on our block to get a chance to see the designs and to knit one. All of the designers are glad to help you get started on whichever project you choose and answer questions about their patterns. Even if you have no aspiration to write your own pattern, you will have a new appreciation for how it is done.

Cost: $350 double, $450 single (1 available). Cost includes all meals (except Sat night), lodging, and materials provided by the designers.


We will be staying at an ocean view vacation rental home in the Pt. Cabrillo area. Come ready to relax, knit, eat, meet other knitters and experience the beauty of the Mendocino Coast!


Retreat is limited to 12. Please e-mail questions or your reservation to yarnshop@mcn.org or call 888-530-1400 and ask for Annelle.

drive by...

...a glorious spring day...clear, intense colors...everything refreshed by a recent rain...the perfect day for a drive by photo shoot...

taken on the move with the little purple Kodak..my eyes on the road, one hand on the wheel...random shots out the car window...

drive by photography...

 I love it...

prototypes...

...for a new pattern...

purples...

the first iris of spring...

"emryk" a beanie in alpaca...

easy to make but hardly boring...perfect for our chilly, foggy coastal summers...watch for the pattern...it's coming soon!

intentions...

a flower hat...

in bamboo and cotton

...my intention is to write the pattern down...it will be part of a collection of baby hats with a floral theme...

let's see how long it takes me to get this done...

what do you think?

brain tangle...

...my brain is quite a lot like my knitting basket...sometimes...sometimes it is neat and tidy and full of beautifully wound skeins of softness neatly stacked and ready for the next project...but mostly it is a tangled and knotted confusion of color and texture and bits of debris and a button here, a needle there, cashmere muddled together with a half used ball of cotton and an odd ball band from a discontinued yarn...

sea song...

the idea for a border that travels up and around the body of the hat came to me one night as I lay in bed, unable to sleep.  Though the design still needs refining, I quite like the possiblities of this simple detail...

on the needles...

...the yarn is Sea Song...a blend of cotton and kelp fiber by Fibra Natura...

...the brim of the little hat curves up and around...

happy birthday, little guy...

my tiny party-crasher, born eighteen years ago today...impatient little Warren Emryk, who insisted on arriving in the middle of his sister's fifth birthday party.  It was wonderful fun, his birth, and it has been a joy watching him grow into a handsome, talented, and intelligent young man...

happy 18th birthday, WARREN!

I

....I love you so, so much....

Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that suppose to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing.

-- Toni Morrison

happy birthday, miss baby...

She arrived at dawn, twenty-three years ago, on a snowy Yorkshire morning...Rilke Aurore, my first born, and one of the true loves of my life...

why, I love her even more than knitting!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Rilke! 

rilke's blue sweater, made in 1987...

strawberries and chocolate...

In an effort to hone my pattern-writing skills--and to share my love of knitting with all of you--I have decided to offer a free pattern EVERY MONTH this year...the patterns will be simple and fun, most of them perfect for beginners and all of them, I hope, will be enjoyable, quick knits.  So...here is my March entry...an homage to my two March babies (who are no longer babies, I might add...). 

© 2010 pamela w allen designs

chocolate strawberry stripes

                                                                
This is an easy knit, and lots of fun--so many possible color combinations!  I offer the hat in three sizes—one for baby (12”), one for child/small adult (15.5”), and one for an adult (20.25”).  If done in wool, it will stretch about 3".  The hat pictured was done in Nashua Creative Focus worsted, but you could use any worsted weight wool from your stash...in fact, this is a great stash-buster! 

gauge:
4.5 stitches and 7 rows per inch (or per 2.5 cm)


materials:
Nashua Creative Focus Worsted (or any lovely worsted weight wool)—one skein each of color A (lt. pink), B (fuchsia), C (espresso)
1-size US7 / 4.5mm circular
1-set of size US7 / 4.5mm dpn’s
darning needle and sharp embroidery needle (if adding stars)


stripe sequence:
knit 3 rounds C
knit 3 rounds A
repeat twice for baby, 3 times for child, 4 times for adult…end stripes with three rounds C.


HERE'S HOW TO DO IT...


With your circular needle and color A, cast on 56 (77, 91). Join the work (make sure it isn’t twisted!) and knit for ¾” (1, 1).

band:
Rnd. 1: Knit with color B
Rnd 2 & 3: Purl with color B
Rnd 4, 5, 6: Knit with color C
Rnd 7: Knit with B
Rnd 8: Purl with color B

Now, with color A, knit around and around for about 2 (3, 4) inches. This is a good time to try the hat on, if possible, and adjust for length. Knit one round and purl two rounds with color B, making a ridge.

crown:
Let the stripes begin! Knit the stripe sequence, as above. At the same time you will be shaping the crown thus:
Begin decreasing on the second row of the first round of color A-- *knit 6 (9, 11), K2tog repeating from the * seven times. You will have 49 (70, 84) stitches remaining. Continue decreasing in this way—seven stitches evenly around—every other row until you have 21 stitches remaining, then decrease every row. When you have finished the last stripe of color C, pick up color B and knit k2tog until you have 4 stitches. Knit these four stitches in i-cord for about ½ inch (or longer if you wish—it is really cute with a knot on top!). Pull yarn through these four stitches and through the i-cord to the reverse side. Tack down well. Weave in all ends (unless you did that as you were knitting...there is an excellent tutorial on this method by fellow Raveler Cailyn Meyer HERE) and wet block.  Embellish if desired.

Et voilà

© 2010 pamela w allen designs I am happy to share this pattern with knitters. It may be used for non-commercial personal or charity knitting. It is not to be used in any publication, nor should it be reproduced in electronic/digital format without written permission.     



         

I welcome feedback...let me know what you think!