Pam Allen Honored as One to Watch in Maine

Each year MaineBiz names a handful of “women to watch” in various categories, including women-owned businesses. For 2012, the woman to watch who owns her business is Pam Allen, owner of Quince & Co. yarns.

The awards presentation is next month, and you can read more about how the business got started and watch a video with Allen talking about why her business is successful (hint: because she is her customer).

If you don’t know about Quince & Co., it’s based in Maine and uses American-sourced fiber to produce its yarn, which is spun in Maine (the story indicates they’re setting up their own dye company, too, which will also be in Maine). The colors are gorgeous — though Allen says she’d only produce neutrals if she were really just making yarn for herself! — and the yarn can be purchased in a couple of stores in Maine and one in the UK and otherwise is available direct from the company.

Allen says this is one way to keep the cost of the yarn low when faced with the higher production costs involved in using American fiber and doing what they can to keep their footprint small. If you’d like to know more you can sign up for their weekly e-newsletter. (There’s a box at the top-right corner of the home page.)

[Photo by Quince & Co.]

Next Pattern:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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