Knit for the Cure

Welcome, October! As you probably know this month is designated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and all sorts of companies have special sales or pink-themed items on offer this time of year.

In the knitting world, all purchases made in the Interweave Store between now and Oct. 5 will have 30 percent of the proceeds donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Knit Outta the Box offers a kit to knit a pink ribbon bracelet, perfect to give to someone fighting the disease or to wear in a walk or to another fundraising event. It runs $12.50 for the full kit, or $6.75 for the pattern and the yarn or $4.99 for the pattern only. A portion of the sale goes to a breast cancer organization.

And don’t forget about the Calendar of Hope I told you about a couple of months ago. This calendar has 14 knitting patterns in it and all of the proceeds other than Paypal fees go to Army of Women.

Do you know of other ways knitters are helping the cause? Spill it!

[Photo by Knit Outta the Box.]

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Knitwear designers can get inspiration from almost anything when it comes to re-creating a color scheme, an image or a texture in stitches. Sometimes the inspiration isn’t always obvious in the finished project, but sometimes it’s more literal.

That’s the way it is with the Tin Ceiling Blanket from Purl Soho. Not just because the inspiration is in the name, but if you’ve ever seen one of these old ceilings you can see that the design of the blanket is quite similar to the pattern of the tin tiles.

This is also a good example of the idea that you don’t have to use fancy stitch patterns or lots of color to make a big impact with your knits. This single-color blanket (designed by Gianna Mueller and inspired by a washcloth and towel set designed by Sandi Rosner) is made completely with knits and purls, other than slipped stitches at the beginning of rows to make neater edges.

The pattern is written out row by row, but there’s also a chart, which means this project is a great opportunity to practice reading a chart where you can check your work against the written pattern if you need to.

It comes in two sizes, a crib blanket and a throw. The yarn used in the sample is an organic cotton sold by the cone, which is a great way to get a large quantity of yarn and have fewer ends to weave in. In fact, you can knit either size of the blanket with just one cone of yarn, which isn’t inexpensive but makes you a great, sturdy, heirloom quality but still washable blanket you’ll use for years to come. (Of course you can use any sport weight yarn you like to make this blanket.)

Check out all the details and grab the free pattern from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

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