Tag: Pam Knighton-Haener

I don’t want to miss to show you my Em Cabal Square. I tested this pattern – designed by Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity – some weeks ago.
The Em Cabal Square was a special design for the Ravelry BAMCAL2023 – Block-A-Month Crochet-A-Long, a group on Ravelry.
Every month, 3 different squares are featured in this group. They are chosen by the mods and / or the members and you can decide to crochet one (or more) of them. At the end of the year you will have a lovely blanket. What a great idea!

Em Cabal is the square for October. It is a 12 inch square with 39 stitches per side. The skill level is beginning advanced. As all of Pam’s patterns it has great stitch explanations and helpful pictures for each round.

For my test version I used Drops Safran (160 m / 50 g) and Cotton Kings 8/4 (170 m / 50 g) and a 2,75 mm hook. Both yarns are 100 % cotton – soft and nice to work with.

I followed Pam’s colourway and used

• A – Drops Safran, # 60, Moss Green
• B – Cotton Kings, # 41, Spring Green
• C – Drops Safran, # 71, Marzipan
• D – Drops Safran, # 11, Strong Yellow

First I was not sure, if the two green yarns would work together but I am very happy with the result. Although, the square also looks great in a single colour!

Somehow the pattern reminds me a bit on Florentine Tiles. What do you think?

The pattern is available in Pam’s Ravelry store.

Ta-Dah … – another square from Pam!

Already in April Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity has released a new design: The Jewel Square.
Fortunately I was able to test this beautiful pattern – I am a bit late with this post though.

As always the pattern is very clearly layed out with detailed stitch explanations, helpful pictures for each round and two different colour ways.

It is originally made with Aran / worsted weight yarn and will be about 11 or 12 inches, depending on the hook size you use (4,5 or 5 mm hook).

I have used Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4 again and a 2,75 mm hook. The finished size is about 20 cm / 8 inch.

My colours are a soft, light grey, two different blues and a mint.
I bought the blue and grey tones some time ago. I was thinking of using them for all of Pam’s patterns and combining the squares into a nice blanket – some day.
I love blues very much and choose the grey because the contrast to white was just too hard for me. Now I sometimes think that this colour combination, especially in photos, just looks a bit dull and boring.
So I guess I also thought I needed to spice up the colour combination a bit when I was working on the Jewel Square. That’s why I added the mint. In retrospect, I don’t think it was a good idea. When I look at the pictures now I think it would have been better to repeat the dark blue.

However the Jewel Square is a lovely pattern and I can always make a second one. Maybe using a nice Off White instead of Grey? We will see …

My Colours and Placement

I followed Pam’s colour way 1 using the following colours

Colour A 25, Pastelmint
Colour B – 29, Jeans Blue
Colour C – 97, Mist
Colour D – 28, Light Jeans Blue

All from Hobbii, Rainbow Cotton 8/4 (Fingering weight – 170 m / 50 g)

The only change I made is that I swapped the colour D for A in round 11.

In case I’ve made you curious: the pattern is available in Pam’s Ravelry store and all her other places.

Another test for Pam

Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity just released one of her new designs: Efflorescent Square. I am happy that I was able to test it!

Efflorescence demonstrates the growth and beauty of nature’s flower bloom and the personal growth and splendor of human love.

Pam

For this test I tried a new yarn: Drops Safran.
It is a sport weight cotton yarn that has 160 m per 50 g. I am very happy with this choice. It is a soft yarn and nice to work with. I definitely will get some more colours of it. It also will be a good match with my Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4!
As recommended on the yarn label I used a 3 mm hook. But it should also work with my 2,75 mm hook that I usually use with Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4.

I didn’t follow one of Pam’s colour ways this time, but created my own. Therefor I have listed the colours for each round below.

Here the details about my version:

I tested this little beauty already in August.
Once again I had the feeling that I didn’t have the right colours in my Rainbow Cotton to do justice to this design. So I used a yarn that I had actually ordered to try out for a completely different project. Drops Muskat.
Drops Muskat is a mercerised cotton yarn, classified as DK yarn with 100 m per 50 g. It comes in 45 colours and has a lovely shine that gives it a bit a vintage touch (at least in my eyes). It splits a bit, so you have to be careful when crocheting, but I’ve worked with yarns where this was worse. And the finished look is worth the effort I think.

As always Pam‘s design is rich with stitch combinations and full of texture. And again the square was designed with a Aran / worsted weight (#4) yarn. Depending on the hook size it is supposed to be either 11 x 11” (4,5 mm hook) or 12” x 12” ( 5 mm hook). That makes approx. 28 cm respectively 30,5 cm in the square.

It was absolutely fun to test it! Here some details of my version:

A new design from Pam …

Head over Heals is the new design from Pam Knighton-Haener / A Yarn of Serendipity. I had the pleasure to test this square in July.

Although I had decided at some point to do all her tests with Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4, this time I felt I didn’t have the right colours for it. So I came back to my SSDK after all. Instead of the 4 mm hook I normally use with this yarn I chose 4,5 mm this time. I think the result is better but I am still not 100% satisfied with the stitch definition.

I love the colours though. I wanted to try this combination for a long time

Cream, Apricot, Pistachio, Silver and Graphite.

For my test square I followed Pam‘s colour way 2 with some slight changes for two rounds. Hooking the square I was so fascinated by the center part that I wanted to see how it would look in another colour combination. And I also was curious how my colours would look in another arrangement. So I made a second one following my own ideas. Not sure which one I like better.

I was thinking about mounting one of the squares on a cushion cover. Unfortunately I only have one in a dark grey. So I’m already thinking about whether I should make a third square in slightly brighter colours, hm … Well, we will see!

Here some details

This year, Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity has created some new designs and so far I have already been able to test three of them. Two are already published, so I can show them. The third one is still in the testing phase and will be released in August.

As you may know I have been unsure all the time which yarn to use. Pam’s squares are designed to use a cotton yarn in Aran weight. Depending on hook size – 4,5 or 5 mm hook – the finished size will be 11 or 12 inch – that’s about 28 respectively 30,5 cm.

When I started testing for Pam in 2020 I made my first squares with Drops Paris and Love you 8 using a 4,5 mm hook. I love the colours of Drops as they are soft and subtle but somehow I don’t like to work with Aran weight. It’s probably a matter of practice, but I’m never satisfied with the look of my stitches when I use Aran. Especially since Pam often uses trebles and double trebles. Somehow it stresses me out and I have been looking for alternatives.
So, after a short excursion to Stylecraft Special DK (not as good stitch definition as cotton and harder to block), I came to Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4. It is a fingering weight with 170 m / 50 g. Much thinner than Aran but I still think my squares are a good size at around 19 or 20 cm. I like the colours, I’m happy with the look of my stitches, I feel less stressed – I’m sticking with it.
Luckily Pam doesn’t mind me using it.

The first Square I tested this year was the

Simple Wonders Square

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And the second one was the lovely

Apart Together Square

If you are interested in the other squares I tested for Pam, just have a look

From left to right:
Carter Jude Square, Brood of Angels, Margaret Square, all made with Drops yarn

Have a good time