Karen Alfke—designer and instructor. Born of German parents in New Jersey, Karen now lives in Port Townsend Washington. Mom was a confident crocheter, but Karen learned to knit from her Aunt in Germany. Over the years, Karen would visit family in Germany for holidays and summers. The year she graduated from high school, Karen stayed with her Aunt that summer, and was really taught to knit. Her Aunt would knit sweaters without using a pattern, and that was how Karen was taught. She was taught to knit in the round, and she loves the top down method.
After her summer in Germany, Karen attended college and graduate school back in America, and her knitting slowed considerably. By this time, her family was living in California, she returned from her years in college and learned of a knitting conference up near San Francisco; well, it turned out to be Stitches. Karen joined the knit list on the internet and was back on track with knitting in a major way. Life took hold for Karen and she found herself living in Port Townsend Washington. It is here where her career really takes off, all starting with joining the Seattle Knitters Guild and making some friends.
Karen loved the linen stitch and started teaching at the local level. She still works at the Churchmouse Yarns & Teas on Bainbridge Island and helps the store with their class organization. Karen enjoyed her teaching and decided to publish her own patterns that could teach knitters the independence of design for their own sweaters, hence, Unpatterns were born. You can now get these patterns across the country in lots of local yarn shops. These patterns basically teach sweater construction. They are like, as Karen would say, “someone holding your hand” through the process. Karen felt her aunt had given her a gift of how sweaters went together and she wanted to share the basics of sweater construction through her patterns. Karen now teaches at the national level giving workshops on the “unpattern” way.
Port Townsend, where Karen now resides, is a very unique community with a fantastic collection of Victorian homes and historical buildings. Being the Victorian seaport that it was, you can imagine the boating and maritime culture that this town owns; their annual Wooden Boat Festival is a major event. It is also a haven for artists and musicians. The town is chock full of eclectic shops, coffee shops, fun restaurants, and they even have their own brewery, The Port Townsend Brewing Company. The movie, An Officer and a Gentleman was filmed in this town starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger back in 1981 hitting the box office in 1982. The town also has a strong knitting community with two yarn shops.
When I was interviewing Karen, she was getting ready to go on vacation. She was leaving the next day for the Vogue Knitting Tour of Canada. She was very excited to go and especially excited to visit Koigu. Karen said, whilst describing knitting, that it was a fine balance of creativity and inspiration and that starting a new project is a gesture of optimism. Karen, I hope you had a great time on your trip, I’m sure you have lots of stories to share. Please visit Karen’s website to see where you can purchase her Unpatterns and also checkout her blog.
After her summer in Germany, Karen attended college and graduate school back in America, and her knitting slowed considerably. By this time, her family was living in California, she returned from her years in college and learned of a knitting conference up near San Francisco; well, it turned out to be Stitches. Karen joined the knit list on the internet and was back on track with knitting in a major way. Life took hold for Karen and she found herself living in Port Townsend Washington. It is here where her career really takes off, all starting with joining the Seattle Knitters Guild and making some friends. 