At Dayna Scoles Designs ñ- “original patterns for the knitting loom” ñ- you will find a design for Scoles’ Black Forest Wrap.It is a tribute to the place she calls home; she and husband Darren moved to Black Forest 20 years ago. Many of her other patterns are also named after spots in Colorado, from her Larkspur Infinity Scarf to her Leadville Shawl.Scoles got into loom knitting after her kids, who were little at the time, gave her a set of Knifty Knitter round looms for Christmas. “As I started messing around with it and trying to understand how it worked, I found there’s a whole little niche in the knitting world that knits on these looms,” she said. “But at the time, there were not very good patterns out there for someone like myself to learn and follow.”So she created her own pattern, matching a creative spirit with her knack for numbers as a certified public accountant.ìKnitting is very much numbers,î Scoles said. ìIt’s very analytical, it’s very algebraic.”Over the years, she has created well over 100 patterns. She sells them for $3.99 each at her website, daynascolesdesigns.com, and elsewhere online.”It provides a bit of spending money to play with,” she said. Her day job, though, is chief financial officer for the Colorado Springs Philharmonic.When her kids, Emily and Toby, were growing up, she was largely a stay-at-home mom. But after Toby went off to college a year ago, “We were officially empty nesters, so I couldn’t think of any good excuse anymore to be a kept woman,” Scoles said, laughing. She went to work for Crystal Clear Solutions, an all-woman CPA firm that caters to nonprofits; in June, she began working at the Philharmonic.Scoles has a degree in accounting and business management from Biola University in Southern California. The Los Angeles area was a long way from where she grew up in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania ñ home, of course, to famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil. But living in L.A., she said, “I got addicted to sunshine and said, ëI can’t go back east where it’s gray and overcast.í” She set her sights on the Rockies and ended up in Colorado Springs. She met Darren, an engineer and a native of the area, at an Air Force Football game; they were married in 1993.Their move to Black Forest was inspired, in part, by a desire “for a little more elbow room.””It’s just so pretty out here,” said Scoles, who lives on the eastern edge of Black Forest, with more meadows than trees.Scoles served as president of the Black Forest Saddle Club in 2013, the year of the Black Forest fire. She had been serving on the club’s board, a role she took to support her “horse-crazy daughter.””Darren and I are big believers that if our kids are involved in something, we’re going to volunteer, we’re going to help, because we want to be involved, too,” Scoles said.It was a rewarding time to head the Saddle Club. After the fire, the club appealed for donations to help those who had lost their homes and their barns.”So many horse people had lost everything,” Scoles said. The Saddle Club helped collect and distribute roughly $75,000 in donated materials: “Everything from saddles and tack to barn supplies to fencing.”Daughter Emily hasn’t lost her love of horses; she is set to graduate from Colorado State University in December with a degree in equine sciences and reproduction. Her dream is to be the breeding manager for a barrel horse breeder, Scoles said.Toby, meanwhile, has started his sophomore year at the Colorado School of Mines; Darren Scoles is a graduate of the school. Toby, a chemical engineering major, plays baseball for the school. He also played baseball, as well as football, as a student at Pine Creek High School.Between Emily’s horse activities over the years and Toby’s sports, “Darren and I don’t do anything but chase around after the kids,” Scoles said with a smile.
