“Knitcation” Planned in Nuevo Vallarta

We all know about staycations, but have you ever heard of a knitcation? I don’t know if the folks putting on this giveaway made up that word or if other people have used it in the past, but it’s a wonderful term for a knitting-related vacation.

And this trip to Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, slated for September 14-20, certainly sounds like an amazing experience. It would be awesome enough to gather with other knitters for this seven day, six night trip to a fabulous resort (attendees will have private rooms in a shared villa with kitchen and wifi) with three pools, a spa and beach access. Add to that the amazing swag bags, which will include yarn, books and other goodies (they’re sponsored by the likes of Bijou Basin Ranch, Quince & Co., Three Irish Girls and Never Not Knitting, among others), and three workshops from designer Stephen West, and you’ve got a great opportunity for learning as well as meeting new friends who are as passionate about yarn as you are.

The classes will include a top-down shawl workshop, a lesson in different ways to play with color and how color choices affect the look of a design and a tips and tricks session with West and his design partner Malia Mather.

No word on how much this extravaganza will cost, but there’s an e-mail contact on the site if you want more information.

[Photo of the resort via Knitcation.]

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

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