A Couple of Cool Fiber Projects to Fund

I don’t keep up with all the Kickstarter and similar campaigns that have to do with knitting or yarn, but a couple of interesting ones got on my radar this week, so I thought I’d share.

First, have you used Wooly? It’s an iPhone app that allows you to access some of the features of Ravelry, which does not have its own app. I downloaded it when it first came out, but at that point it mostly just let you view your project and stash lists without being able to interact with them all that much.

The app has grown up with time, making it possible to edit and add photos to existing projects or stash, share on Facebook and more. Now the makers are envisioning a redesigned and way more functional app that will work on all i devices (their stretch goal if they raise more money is an Android app as well), which will include pattern browse (!), the ability to add things to your queue, start new projects, access your entire notebook offline (!!), see your Ravelry messages and, the thing I was dreaming of all this time, the ability to add new stash!

This sounds super-cool to me and if it does to you, too, you can help fund their Kickstarter, which is open through Aug. 7 and as of this writing had raised a little more than half of its goal.

Second, the Buffalo Wool Company is a company based in Texas that makes bison and bison-blend yarns as well as selling knitting patterns and bison accessories. They travel a lot to shows (I saw them last year at the Arkansas Fiber Arts Extravaganza) and are looking for funding to revamp a truck into a mobile yarn store/dye house.

This would be the second-ever yarn store on wheels in the United States and the first (that we know of) mobile dye house, which would allow them to create custom colors on site instead of having to wait for a special order to be made after the show. If I can do math this one ends Aug. 15, and when last I looked they’d raised almost $5,000.

I love that crowd-funding makes it possible for great little projects like this to get off the ground!

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

Have you read?