A lux ear warmer with large cables, named after a favorite Central California wine growing region.

Mendocino, a gently shaped ear warmer with leafy accents, perfect for the chilly, briny days of the beautiful Northern California coastal town.

Lovely Claire, modeling in her backyard next to her ancient California Live Oak.

This girl could not take a bad picture.

So, here's the story.  A few months ago Rowan sent each of the 15 ambassadors two skeins of their newest yarn, Kidsilk Amore and Kidsilk Amore Shimmer and asked us to design up to two patterns and enter them into a contest.  I love KSH and this is a bulky weight version of that lovely stuff, but only 40 yards per skein.  I was stumped and could only think of a hat or a cowl and was not feeling terribly inspried.  My son happened to drop by and after I showed him the yarn he immediately said, "Mom, make those ear warmer things the girls wear.  All the girls in San Francisco pop them on before going outside."  I thought, hmm, an ear warmer is perfect really.  San Francisco gets chilly, and maybe you don't want to mess your hair, but just keep your ears warm.

After that it was easy.  Paso is designed with a big cable with large button details, Mendocino is knit in plain stockinette stitch with leafy accents.  Each takes little more than an hour or so to knit and is a perfect gift.

I needed to get the pattern written and the ear warmers photographed pronto because there was an entry deadline.  Even something as simple as this took me ALL DAY to write up.  I don't think designing is in my future, but this was a lot of fun and I'm glad I did it.  My adorable young neighbor, Claire, came to my rescue and modeled for me in her back yard next to their ancient California Live Oak.  She was the most delightful and perfectly sweet model, and she's gorgeous, right?  She made the simple designs stand out.  Thank you Claire.

And I won something!  Something great!   I won one full bag of Kidsilk Amore in the color Chiarosuro, a blend of black, purple and blue.  The yarn is very easy to work with, has the same luxurious mohair/silk composition as the original KSH and has a lofty chain construction.  Even though it is a bulky weight, it feels very light.  I will let you know all about it when I knit it up.  Searching now for the perfect project.

Both Mendocino and Paso are part of an On-line Ambassador Collection by fellow Rowan Ambassadors with free pattern downloads of accessories knit with Amore.  Next week I'll share all the patterns with you and more about the yarn and the ambassador program.