British Women Knit for Animals

A couple of really sweet knitting stories have come out of the UK in recent days.

First there was Nicola Congden and her mum Ann, from Cornwall, who estimate they’ve knit 150 sweaters for chickens oven the past six months. The project was prompted by Nicola seeing a story about battery hens, who often lose or pluck out their feathers in the cramped and stressed living conditions they are under. When they’re rescued they can’t acclimate to the cold.

Nicola says she also uses the jumpers on her own chickens, and they love them, but she doesn’t leave them in them long if she’s not around. She says their behavior is the same when they have the sweaters on.

She says she’s had requests for jumpers from locals and as far away as Canada. They’re happy to share, and ask for people who want jumpers to donate to Project Primrose, a charity that gives money and support to an orphanage in Africa for kids affected by AIDS.

And Jan Brown of Sunderland says she’s spent about 4,000 hours making sweaters for abandoned dogs. She’s come up with about 300 different designs for different kinds of dogs, and she donates the sweaters — as well as hats, snoods, scarves and antler hats — to shelters around the country.

She also sells knit items for dogs and uses the proceeds to buy supplies to make more items to give away.

I just love these stories! It’s so great when people find a way to use their creativity to help others, even when those others aren’t human!

[Photo via Yahoo News UK.]

One of my favorite things to make on a circular knitting machine is scarves, because they’re a great way to use leftover yarn and certainly faster than knitting by hand.

But if you pay attention to the colors you’re using and how you are using them, you can make fun knitting machine scarves that look like something different when you roll them up.

One of the first versions of this I saw was the sushi scarf, are there are a lot of variations on this one. For example this one from Flower and Anchor that uses five colors of yarn, or this one from Three Threads NE that uses four. These generally are made to look like California rolls, but you could change up the colors to make them different things if you like. Just make sure the outside of the “roll” is black or green to indicate the nori. I found another version on Pinterest if you’re looking for a free pattern, but there’s no image of it rolled up.

Another popular variation is making a scarf that rolls up to look like a mug with coffee, tea or another fun beverage inside. This collection of three mug scarf circular knitting machine patterns from Idaho Cottage Creation includes green tea, a pumpkin spice latte with whipped cream and a candy cane colored confection (which honestly reminds me of the Grinch since it has a green mug!). Again you can change the colors of the mug part and the drink part. The little handle looks like it’s crocheted on these, and it doubles as a loop you can thread the scarf end through when you wear it.

Again there’s a version of the green tea scarf on Pinterest with crocheted elements. I also found a latte done with a striped yarn and a red mug that’s pretty cute and gives you an idea what a different beverage would look like.

I also love this pumpkin pie scarf designed by Jodi Favish Saunier. It has a bit of crocheted edging to give it a fancy crust but you can omit that if you don’t crochet. These are all on Facebook but she also has a watermelon and lemonade pattern that are super cute.

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