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Stitches Giveaway for Fiber Arts Fans

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stitches east contestSpeaking of giveaways, here’s another chance to win a really great prize. Do you know about the Fiber Arts & Mixed Media community? It’s a place for fiber artists to share pictures, posts, news and other information, and they regularly have great contests going on as well.

Right now members of the site can win a $595 gift certificate to a future Stitches show, which includes admission to the fashion show, banquet, classes and more. The certificate is good through 2015, so you’ll have plenty of time to decide which conference you want to attend (travel and accommodations are at the winner’s expense).

All you have to do to be eligible to win is to join the community, check out the classes being offered next month at Stitches East and leave a comment about which one you’d most like to attend. (Mine would probably be Swatching for Success, because Deborah Newton is my hero and her swatches are amazing.) You can get extra entries by liking the group on Facebook or sharing information about the contest.

The winner will be chosen Sept. 25. via random drawing. What fun!

Comments

  1. I have always wanted to learn felting so I’d pick Go Felt a Fish. It sounds interesting even though I can’t see any of the pictures of the classes. They start to load then quickly turn to a red x.

Have you read?

Beyond Basic Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

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.