2012 Wall Calendar from Interweave!

SQUEEEEE! I’m so excited. I got my copy of the 2012 Interweave Wall Calendar. The one I had from last year is almost used up! 😉

What I love about the calendar… It’s a standard 12×12 size, and the squares are HUGE to write stuff in. But that’s just calendar stuff.

This one is cool. Picture a design board featuring sweaters and all of their probably and possible elements.

January starts out with the advantages of seams, gives you tips and techniques and a drawing to keep people like me who are blonde on track.

Fast forward to July (don’t I wish!) where they explore colorwork and color combinations, tips, techniques and drawings (you know, for me!)

and December closes it all up with zippers, buttons, toggles, hooks and eyes, and again, tips, techniques and pictures. In between there is sleeve details, cable ideas, shoulder treatments… and it’s chock full of colored pictures of some of Interweave’s best work.

Seriously the only thing that could make this calendar any better is if it were on sale! Wait! What??? It is on sale!

Regularly priced at $14.95, now it’s $7.47. I’m not that good at math but that speaks to me as being about 1/2 off.

Don’t know how long it will be on sale so hurry and get over there! HERE!!

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

Have you read?