Afghans for Afghans Looks to Shower Babies

Afghans for Afghans is a longstanding knitting-related humanitarian organization that provides hats, blankets, socks and other warm knit goods to the people of Afghanistan.

Right now they’re in the midst of a June baby shower campaign and are seeking socks mittens and hats.

All the details are on their current campaign page, but basically they’re looking for wool (or other warm animal fiber) hats for newborns up to one year and age 7 to adult, socks (not booties) for babies up to one year and age 7 to adult and mittens for age 7 to adult.

They note that they get a lot of baby hats and would love to have more of the other items and sizes. Also, preemie sizes are not needed.

From their site:

These items have been requested by Trust in Education for babies born at Malalai Women’s Maternity hospital in Kabul.The hospital performs 85 deliveries a day, on average, serving the poorest families in Kabul. All services are free. Our wool gifts will accompany the distribution of birthing kits arranged by Trust in Education.

Clearly that’s a lot of babies and parents in need!

If you can help, get your items to Afghans for Afghans by July 3. Learn more about how and where to send your items.

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.

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