Vote for an Indie Dyer in Martha Stewart’s Contest

You may have seen information on Facebook or elsewhere online about Martha Stewart’s American Made Awards. This is a quest by Martha and the editors of her magazines to find 10 rising stars of small business, many of whom naturally are in the handmade marketplace.

Part of the award is the Audience Choice, a popularity contest that will net the winner $10,000 for her or his business, a spot in Martha Stewart Living magazine and a place of honor at the awards ceremony. You can check out all the finalists and vote for anyone you like, but you should know there’s an indie dyer on the list, Jill Draper of Jill Draper Makes Stuff.

She dyes yarn in the Hudson Valley and some of her wool is sourced from local sheep. She also sells knitting patterns. Her work is beautiful and well worth the support of this contest! Yo can vote daily between now and September 24; an e-mail address is required.

[Photo by Jill Draper.]

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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