I think I had islands on my mind on 12 October—the West Indies, Saint Marie, Puerto Rico . . . This pattern is also named after the letter I because I wove that variation first. (A lot of my patterns come out I-shaped; it’s one way to break up repetitive rows.)

These are all the patterns I made up 12-14 Oct. Many are variations of the “Isles” basic pattern. The whitish one shows up more dramatically on the dark background.

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Even though it’s 不行 (bùxíng) these days to talk about Columbus Day, I was raised on it. October 12 we remember him; I respect the man. No disrespect meant to any Native Americans or First Nation people; I don’t know what they call the holiday now and I respect their claim that this land didn’t exactly need to be discovered, but I’m glad we others got to come here.

The first pattern I designed on 12 Oct I called “Santa Maria,” which is funny because I was watching Death in Paradise at the time which takes place on the isle of Saint Marie.

Santa Maria

Santa Maria

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For the outline pumpkin it’s OK to use high contrast yarn. I think the Fall Banner will look better with solid-fill patterns than outlines, but this Pumpkin Outline might be useful for other purposes.

The Pumpkin Outline is a more natural pumpkin shape, not uniform from side to side.

Pumpkin Outline — Right Stem

Sample — L1-3: RHS “Tangerine,” L4: YBSS “Olive”

Pumpkin Outline — Left Stem

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For the last pattern in the Fall Banner project, you get to choose the one you like best.

When I first thought up the project idea I had already designed the pumpkin. After I started laying out my squares, however, I realized the pumpkin was the only one that was an outline—rather than a filled-in shape. I thought the outline didn’t look good with the others.

But then I had new problems.

The pumpkin shape tends to show better on the back of the square

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