Karen Allen Cashmere grew out of my love for knitting and for beautiful textiles, which started when I was a child. In 2003 I moved from NYC to the countryside in Massachusetts to raise my son and decided to start a small studio design company. I had studied textile and clothing design at FIT in NYC when I was 17 and I returned in 2002 to FIT to learn how to operate Japanese knitting machines. From that period of study grew a wonderful collaboration between me, cashmere yarns, the endless possibilities of color, and these extraordinary machines.

My sweaters, scarves, shawls, hats and gloves are made from 100% fine Scottish and Italian cashmere yarns. I design, knit and construct them in my Great Barrington studio, working on hand manipulated and motor driven Japanese knitting machines and using unorthodox methods to make unique patterns and combinations of color. Many pieces also come from my collaboration with dye artists and crochet artists.

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