Pantonal III: Tamborim

The end is nigh--er, I mean here!

Photos by Topham Photo

Tamborim is the final installation of the Pantonal pattern club. Emma's Silly Pattern Naming Theme continues! Since the color is called Samba, I went Wikipedia-ing to find related terms that also happen to be cool sounding words, et voila. A tamborim is a type of Brazilian drum used in samba music. The more you know!

This super quick slouchy hat features garter stitch triangle details on the body for a simple but effective textural detail. I love the way Laura's tonal dye work looks here, the harmony of design + yarn are really working for me. It starts with a picot turned hem (side note: I love turned hems! They look so clean!) and is topped with a pom pom--optional if you like, but mandatory if you know what's good for you. Especially if you live somewhere snowy. Pom pom is non-negotiable!

We shot this in front of some really fun graffiti of a soundwave in downtown Northampton. You can read all about the project and see more photos here!

Tamborim will be available to you non-club riffraff on June 1, 2014.

Pantonal II: Canephora

If you hate feet, look away quick!

As always, photos by Topham Photo

Meet Canephora, the second installment of the Pantonal club collaboration between myself and Gynx Yarns! This is my first ever sock design because trying new things is fun, right? So this experience was a mix of that "wow this is way easier than I thought it would be" feeling and the "wait this is TOO easy am I forgetting something important?!" sense of panic. Aside from a few minor snafus, these babies went pretty smoothly and I'm thankful for that.

The name continues in my theme for this project--the Pantone color is Carafe, Laura's version is called Cafe, and canephora comes from the Latin name for Robusta coffee, Coffea canephora. I'm not a big coffee drinker, since I try to avoid unnecessary sugar whenever I can and I'm too much of a pansy to drink my coffee black! So this is my dose of toasty coffee-brown goodness.

Available to non-subscribers on May 1st.

Pantonal I: Lecanora

Photos thanks to Topham Photo

The first installment of Pantonal, my club collaboration with Gynx Yarns, is now out! Yarn has been shipped, PDFs have been emailed, and I can't wait to see Lecanora on the needles of club subscribers.

I'm supremely happy with this lovely lace stole. While I've designed patterns with lace touches before, this is my first all-out lace attempt--charted and everything!--and it worked out fabulously. I love how the lace patterns flow into each other and get progressively lighter and more ephemeral as you work from the center outwards.

I decided to be a little theme-y with this club and based the pattern names off the color names. This color is Lichen, and Laura created a gorgeous and interesting mix of green and grey with hints of reddish flecks. Lecanora is a genus of lichen...you get the idea!

Itching to get your hands on the pattern? If you're not a club subscriber, you'll have to wait until April 1st.

Let's Get Pantonal!

My only gripe about this industry is the timing. Because everything is done so far in advance, I work on things for months that I can't share here--and I'm bursting! This seedling of an idea started long ago, in a galaxy far far away...And by that I mean I messaged Laura, aka Gynx Yarns, on Twitter and asked if she ever wanted to do a yarn & pattern club collaboration. I met Laura through the network of Holla Knits, as she provided yarn support for multiple designs including my Wallpaper Cowl. (Check out her gorgeous version, which totally made me fall in love with her yarn!) Here's our baby: Pantonal!

Pantonal is a 3 month club of semi-solid/tonal colorways based off the Pantone Fall 2013 Color Report. To go along with Laura's fabulous colorways, I've designed three corresponding patterns! Here's all the sneak peek ya gonna get:

From left to right we have: November's sock, October's lace stole, and December's simple textured hat. The patterns get progressively easier from October to December, so when you're slammed with holiday knitting these babies aren't adding to your crafting stress levels! Keep 'em, gift 'em, hoard the yarn and call it your precious like Smeagol--whatever works!

I strove to push myself as a designer for this project and I'm really proud of the outcome. While I've knit socks and complicated lace patterns before, these are my first designs for both of those categories and it was a lot of fun to test my limits. And while color is always an important part of the design process, usually I come up with a design idea and then pick a color--this time I had to work backwards, so that Laura's yarn could be showcased as beautifully as possible.

What are you waiting for? Sign up now! Spaces are limited and only available until September 16th. Colorways and patterns are exclusive for 6 months, so if you can't wait to get your mitts on these designs you better join in! Plus there are fun bonuses like coupon codes from both of us for club subscribers...and maybe we'll unveil another surprise once the club starts?

Can't wait to see you in the club!