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85-Year-Old Vet Shows Craftiness Knows No Age, Gender

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Vet loom knits hats, to take part in ManCraft show in Colorado.If you need a feel-good story to start of your week, check out this one from the Denver Post about Orville “Mark” Skattum, an 85-year-old National Guard veteran (he served during the Korean Conflict) who has taken up loom knitting hats for vets and others and is participating in the Holiday ManCraft show in Denver and Boulder this weekend.

Skattum said he started the hobby when he saw a woman loom knitting hats while watching a football game, and he said he likes to be doing something while he’s watching TV. He can knit a hat in three hours or so and aims to finish five a week.

After giving hats to everyone in his family he started making more hats and donating them in bunches of 50 to his church and the Denver Veterans’ Administration (tagged “Made By a Vet for a Vet”).

After attending the ManCraft show last year, his daughter joked that he should get involved. He took her seriously and has amassed more than 150 hats to sell at the events. He intends to donate whatever he earns to charity.

The event takes place Dec. 5 at the VFW Post 2461 in Denver and Dec. 6 at American Legion Post 10 in Boulder.

[Photo by Kathryn Scott Osler for the Denver Post.]

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Christmas Stocking Knitting Patterns for Your Pets

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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