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Yarn Companies Make Finals for Martha Stewart American Made Awards

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martha stewart american made awardsDo you know about the Martha Stewart American Made Awards? This is a program, now in its third year, that honors companies in craft, food, design and style. Companies are nominated to take part, then the finalists are chosen and ultimately 10 awards are given, with most chosen by the Martha Stewart crew and one reader’s choice award.

In the craft category this year there are three knitting-related companies that made the finals:

  • Feel Good Yarn Co., maker of SilverSpun cotton and silver yarn (which allows you to wear it on your hands while interacting with touch screens) from Washington, D.C.
  • Mountain Meadow Wool, a Wyoming-based mill that produces wool yarn in as environmentally friendly a manner as possible as well as finished wool products
  • BagSmith, maker of giant knitting yarns, needles and other supplies, finished home decor objects and garments, which is based in Ohio

I’m not sure if they’re done picking finalists yet, because the calendar on the site says it will happen through Sept. 8. (It also says nominations are accepted through Aug. 29, so if you want to nominate yourself, get going!) Then online voting for the reader’s choice award happens between Sept. 15 and Oct. 13, with the winners being announced on Oct. 17. If more fiber-related companies make it into the mix I’ll let you know.

Winners receive $10,000 to help their business grow, a trip for two to New York for the awards ceremony and a feature on MarthaStewart.com, among other prizes.

This is a really interesting program that at least brings interest to thinking about American made products. Have you ever heard of or voted in it before? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

 

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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.