Patamanta Minis

Posted on March 29, 2023 by Jen

I have taken a pause from new design project, to put together a gift for a friend’s grand-child who is turning three soon, and taking this opportunity to augment my recent Patamanta pattern into a small collection. Not sure, probably will just add some thumbhole “sleeves” or long fingerless mitts & legwarmers, as well as more variations of the original chullo, with augmented charts and sizes. I managed to sample these mini sizes just by using the smallest of the sizes and odd bits of sock-weight yarn. Thus far at least I have the present ready on time, but as yet I still must knit some adult sized samples in heavier weight un-dyed alpaca, before it is complete. Who knows what else I will knit from it, because I am unable to stop as these little colorwork pieces are so fun to knit, and completely addictive!

Christmas Knitting

Posted on December 9, 2021 by Jen

Dear Nora and Fin-ster,

I want to tell you a little story about the Christmas hats I made for you. I wrote the pattern for this chullo in Spring of 2017 when your PopPop, Papa & Aunt Zan were in the Andes Mountains of Peru, walking the Camino Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I started when PopPop left, knitted a pile of them, wrote and submitted the pattern, and by the time he got back home a week later, I had finished everything! I named the design Camino Inca Chullo and there are many ways you can make them, but I knitted the improvisational variations for yours, making it up as I knitted along, from bits of yarn I had in a drawer, some that I overdyed with colors I thought you’d like. Nora, your Papa thought I ought to put kitty ears on yours, so I did, and positioned the ears where they worked best, as the top of the hat tends to slouch back. A soft slouchy chullo with cat ears sounds like a great hat I think , but the ears can be easily taken off if they’re not behaving. Fin-ster, I just want you to know that in the traditional dress of the Peruvians who live in the Andes Mountains, especially near Machu Picchu, only the men and boys wear these style hats, and usually have many very big fluffy tassels and pompoms, yours only has one rather small one by comparison, so wear it with pride Little Man! PopPop wanted me to make them for you, so I did, they are made of superwash wool, so they won’t shrink if you throw ’em in the washing machine, and also, the wool was grown from sheep in the Peruvian Mountains! I better get them in the mail now, I hope you like them, and Happy Christmas! Love, Nanna.

All posts Camino Inca.

One and a half days…

Posted on December 23, 2018 by Jen

a Christmas chullo.JPG

Hey! Its a chullo!!!

A totally improvised piece, the way I’ve been making them for decades.

One and a half days before Christmas,

and I am now finished with all of my gift-making!

jenjoycedesign© chullo

Now where’s the Irish Cream? I want to party!

Azul

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Jen

jenjoycedesign©Azul chullo2

Today I tripped over a jewel forgotten since the wildfire! Looking in my design computer files I discovered a partially written pattern, along with a few photos of a hat that I knit for my brothers birthday. The pattern was almost finished except for a few details which needed doing, and so I spent most of yesterday finishing the pattern. Wow, I am amazed. I did that?

It is an intensely colorful folksy chullo, and which I posted about way back here. It one of my best colorwork pieces in my opinion, inspired by South American motifs, in four shades of blue, from very dark to very light, complete with tassels & knitted braid! Intensely blue I tell you! But it could be any other color as well, in four shades.

I think I’ll knit up another one of these!

jenjoycedesign©Azul detail

The design is completely my own colorwork motifs, and had originally some very poignant meaning, and a series all in queue as I recall that much, but of which now I can not remember (since the disruption of the wildfire), only that there were some discussions with a long time writing friend of mine from Argentina who lectures on varied subjects of philosophy from time to time at a Seminary in a small town called Azul.

Seminario de Azul

I therefore had named it at the time “Azul” .

jenjoycedesign©Azul chullo

The actual knitted Azul chullo has long disappeared into my brother’s possession, but as I had detailed photos I was able to assemble the pattern. Voila! (( There is-was a vest pattern in the works too, but that is another matter )). For now, there is Azul Chullo. And as it is presently the middle of winter in Argentina, I will make haste…

pattern is LIVE on Ravelry ~~~ HERE !

♣ ♣ ♣

Edit in: After discussing with Alejandro just now about what we may have been discussing at the time I designed this colorwork pattern, and as our topics of discussion often have reference to the Andes Mountains, and as I personally echo the sentiment of such a new title, this chullo will now be officially named “Montañas Azules”, meaning “Blue Mountains”, as are the Andes of Argentina!

Mountains & harsh elements seem to be the thread which is woven into most of my life it seems, so I hope to pick up that series of the design in the near future to work it through. Forthcoming, perhaps more Azules.

An old beloved brown thing…

Posted on April 12, 2017 by Jen

jenjoycedesign© 'the original' from Peru My brother has for decades worn this authentic Peruvian hat, the Incan motifs have become signature shapes on his head, almost like fiberous tattoos…

jenjoycedesign© original detail 2

I am not sure where he got this beloved brown thing, but it is a cherished possession of his, and he lent it to me over a year ago asking if I might repair the moth holes (again) and… “maybe ‘add some color’ to it?” he asked , “or maybe just knit it over?”.

jenjoycedesign© repairs

Made of alpaca, and badly moth-eaten since being repaired long ago, it has become a part of his life, and all of our lives, for as we know him, we know this hat.

jenjoycedesign© original detail

This favor asked of me to ‘fix it’ has apparently grown feet and evolved into a project of my trying not to entirely replicate the original, nay, but to design the Quintessential Brother Article, as he does actually wear these Peruvian style hats ( known in trend as a ‘chullo’) pretty much every day, tucking the ear flaps behind his ears. They are as he puts it, his ‘hair’.

Well folks, if you wonder where I am going with all of this back story, the thing is, I have been working on trying to emulate the original, and made a chullo for his birthday, with indeed more color, and a little bit accessorized with little tassels too.

jenjoycedesign© birthday chullo 2017

Actually, I have made him so many of these, but still he is over the moon whenever I make him a new one.

jenjoycedesign© 009

So, my scheming to create an authentic replica had changed to become something I should really call a design inspiration, more of an impression of the original.

jenjoycedesign© 021

The design is in process, and a forthcoming pattern soon available!

jenjoycedesign© 022

The pattern release will be aimed symbolically around a big trip Jeff is taking in May with his son & daughter to Machu Picchu in Peru, and so I have a lot of work to do until then!

jenjoycedesign© detail (2)

So here is the first in the series of prototypes ~~~ my brothers Birthday Chulo!

Pattern: forthcoming.

Yarn: Malabrigo Rios

Details: on Ravelry HERE.

A little something I’ve thrown together…

Posted on March 25, 2016 by Jen

jenjoycedesign©Azul chullo2

This colorful & folksy chullo I knit up in the last few days for my chullo-wearing brother, complete with chuflín and Latvian braid, and four hues of blue. I have decided I like it a lot and am considering writing a pattern for it. . .

jenjoycedesign©Azul chullo

Meanwhile, I’ve got my nieces all queued up for a photo shoot for Spring Tees tomorrow morning… I can’t wait! We’re having a bout of brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures after a ton of rain for weeks!

Now all my deadline knitting is finished, I am working on something really interesting, but I will not speak about it until it’s finished in it’s many variations. Its a big piece of work for me. Here’s to Vernal Knitting, chillin’ with cups of tea and coffee and enjoying myself , having reached my recent knitterly goals, and well… life is good.

Otro Chulo

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Jen

Otro chulo (another chulo). Chulo de Primavera ! (Chulo of Spring). Here he is, just dry from a bath, so bashful in front of the camera. Ah ! Otro Chulo shows his nice color-work, what the heck , how nice, with his little legs sticking out right & left…

Otro Chulo sits up a little more confidently, and sees the world around…

Okay, now with legs outstretched, quite happy with himself, begins to hum a little tune

(shhh listen…)

About now Otro Chulo is feeling a little sassy, really winds it up for the camera…

tied up & twisted !

But feeling already sleepy again , and dreaming of the day next week when he will stand proudly on my brother’s head ! A linen-cotton blend which is a perfect Faded Blues sort of theme for late Spring thru Summer ~~~ a hybrid style of Peruvian Chulo and sherpa hat ~~~ my brother’s favorite whacky thing to wear.

Anyway, my brother is getting quite the collection of chulo hats which I have made him (you can see some of them here ), but honestly I see no reason to stop, and I’m almost certain my brother would agree.

Seven Days

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Jen

Seven days left to make things.

Leafy green is finished !

As is the sea critter . . .

As is the mint-licorice . . .

and also the sherpa hat ! ! !

A dandy one indeed. Wool shell & cotton ‘lined’. I will have to show you sometime how I accomplish this.

Until then I’ll keep you all guessing.

Okay , but that’s not the whole list. There is one more thing I must make, and I will not post until Christmas morning. In the mean time, I will show you the progress of my first lace project . . .

Yes , my first, oh the glorious fun I am having ! And it’s no surprise to me that lace work is so doable while walking the ridge! As this progresses, is blocked out, you will see the lace pattern so much better. Until then, oh the suspense is a little nice. Well, I appear to be ahead of the game and can relax and do some gift wrapping now ! I hope all of you Elves out there are blissfully making.

* All project details on Ravelry HERE .

Lupinus Albifrons

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Jen

Lupinus Albifrons. Known as just ‘ lupine ‘, it is one of the more populated native wildflowers of Northern California, and in April fills the mountain meadows, between grape vines in the rows, and trail-sides with deep blue & purple variegation. A small woody shrub when mature, however, where grass is mowed annually (as in the vineyard rows here on the mountain) and where seed is planted from the wind, you’ll see it popping up everywhere as young single stemmed flowers . . .

I luckily had just the perfect yarn handy when I became inspired from my walk of last week. I had a bunch of green which I over-dyed from grey wool which perfectly illustrates the ‘silvery’ grey-green leaves of the plant. The rich deep blue and purple played illusive games however with the camera, which wasn’t able to distinguish the two, and both came out as blue tones in most of the photos. But here it is , un chullo, for my brother’s birthday tomorrow!

I absolutely go wild photographing still-life knitteds ~~ its just one of the things I love doing, in every light possible , which enables me to make an assemblage of photos that catches different tones and characteristics of the yarns and knitted shapes . . .

The detail with which I experimented for the first time on this chullo hat, was to add a running crocheted chain just inside the typically chullo-esque double-crocheted edge, to neaten up the edge.

I love to make my chullo hats a bit of a hybrid with gnome hats by decreasing into a point, then finishing with a braid extending off of the top . . .

They blossom into a hat with a lot of character and playful whimsy . . .

The crocheted edges tame the curling tendency of the stockinette stitch. . .

Braid finishes being made on both ear flaps . . .

(the purple really pops in this photo below !)

Un chullo, inspired from the lupine flowers in the fields of Northern California. To be given to my brother tomorrow, and there could be nobody more appreciative than he, who wears them everyday , and who is also a botanical wizard !

NOTE : I have taken notes as I knit this one, so if anybody is interested, I could assemble a pattern of sorts from it.

Details on Ravelry HERE

Well, I’m off to walk the mountain with Emma, but I will leave you with a little slide show of the early morning walk of last weekend, from which this chullo’s lupine photos were taken . . .

Lupine of Northern California

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Jen

The other day I took this photograph while knit-walking , the fields bursting with wildflowers, always the first being the blue-ish purple and green lupine.
So it inspired the colorway of this chullo hat (which I’m knitting for my brother’s birthday, as he is a chullo fiend) I am delighted how rich the tones are with my over-dyed green yarn from last autumn, and the blue & purple work together. . .

Happy Easter holiday everyone !

Sherpa Nouveau

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Jen

A remote little monastary tucked beneath peaks of Tawache, Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, and Thamserku, by the name of Tengboche.

Tengboche Village ~ built 1923

And perhaps the most significant sherpa in history, Tenzing Norgay, the fellow who assisted Edmund Hillary on his ascent of Mount Everest. Tenzing Norgay was born and brought up in Tengboche.

Tenzing Norgay ~ 1953

Now, I will show you a design I have named “Tengboche”, inspired by the colors of the monastary and blues of high altitude sky. The hat with an attitude, as well as altitude. Versatile. Confident. An overstatement anywhere below treeline. My attempt to merge my love of knitting with my love of mountains, what emerges is a lined sherpa-worthy chullo-esque hat, designed for comfort above all. A favorite for those who’s skin is too sensitive to wool, it can be lined with cotton or silk layer (or some other soft barrier that is hardy for wear). Now the question might be stirring “What is going on here? “

Backstory : My brother, a mountaineer in his youth, he loves his sherpa~chullo hats ! Loves the wool and homey-spun ethnic ones, but he wants some kind of cotton liner for them, he says. He looks at me as a young child looks at the mother, and with a hopefull expression which seems to ask ” … there must be a magic trick for this????

I have taken it unto myself to be my brother’s Provider Of Knitted Hats, and to come up with a way to make them cottony on the inside and woolly on the outside. Sherpa Nouveau is my solution. And now, for a fun little frolick in the woods of my home…modelling a hat two sizes too big for me (I have a very small head, and my brother, for whom it was made, likewise) .

A hat with real personality , looking like a cross between a Tibeten headress and South American chullo . Soon I will assemble a pattern-instruction-tutorial sort of thing where I will show you how it is done. ( Sherpa Nouveau is the finished version of which got hang-dried in this post)

Hang-Dried

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Jen

Chulo madness.

I have knit, ripped, knit again, washed and ( hang ) dried in the sun

( you know, the way Patagonians do it)

… Un Chulo.

Now knitting another, quite colorful one, which makes

dos chullos.

( In fact , it has so much color that a little black and white feels soothing)

Plus the one I knit over here …

tres chullos.

Mountains Of Alpaca

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Jen

I am face-to-face with a mountain of natural colors , just off the line, washed & hung-dried skeins of handspun alpaca, spun up from raw loose alpaca locks I have acquired from three different friends of mine who raise alpacas . Three !

This Wind-Off launches the beginning of knitting for the second April Birthday Project , which is the Andean chullo / Himalayan sherpa hat, and for which last week I began spinning my alpaca stash . My brother loves these hats, has a bit of a collection , and for whom I intend to take the design for a twist of a sort, sherpa chullo and which I want to be a pleasant mix borrowing design from Andean, Himalayan, and Fair Isle , this project calls for alpaca, handspun, in order to give it the touch of stylish authenticity.

I thought alpaca would be the perfect fiber.

During the spinning of the alpaca, a couple things developed.

One, I really enjoy spinning alpaca, whether raw and weedy or in fine roving. I have in fact, dyed some and am going to spin up a couple of skeins for the mother of Nora , who has delightedly become a knitter !

Alright, item number two. An amazing thing happened, similarly to when I posted ” What do I have in common with these women? ” a short time ago, marvelling in the acquired skill of double tasking while knitting, well, I have found that I can double task while spinning too ! Even more difficult. The yarn turned out rather more “rustic” than if I were watching with hawk eyes, all the fibers going into the draft, but no, I wanted to read up on my new edition of Textisles and became adept fairly quickly at reading -while – spinning.

* * *

Edit : Here is the almost-finished product, as I’m running out the door, photographed in bad lighting … was in a rush. I didn’t have a chance to edge it and put tassles on . 😦 I’ll have to add them later….

A Wee Sherpa Hat

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Jen

Emma and I have been busy.

Recently I visited an old friend in this post and decided it was time for me to do more totally improv hats again. I am very interested in using up bits of stash yarn , perfecting these hats ! My brother is wild about these and well, his birthday is in April. But this little hat for little I decided yesterday afternoon to make for a present, as the one for who it is made is two months old and I’m attending a party for her tomorrow. This wee hat is first in a series of “Sherpa Neuveau” hats I will knit up lots in the foreseen future… my brother’s to be next.

Here it is, inside out.

In nice dappled light on the piano, angled so you can see the relief of the purl rows

I’m very satisfied with my improvising, though the crocheted edge is done badly (I don’t crochet, I improv’d that too, I was trying to tame the curling ear flaps !

It’s quite a cute little hat, perfect for a 2month baby-sized head. The colors don’t seem as vivid in the photographs as they are in person ( I need to get the hang of lighting in photography). The light purple and green backgrounds are alpaca , with little filled in color from various wool and wool blends I have hanging around. Adorable I might say myself.