Check out Franklin Habit in the Lion Brand Notebook

I’m kind of in love with Franklin Habit. The knitter behind the hilarious blog The Panopticon never fails to make me smile with his views on knitting and life. (If you haven’t seen them already, go take a look at the posts about knitting and crochet patterns published in Woman’s Day in the 1970s. You’ll thank me later.)

So I’m really excited that there’s now another place on the web to find him. He’s now doing a monthly column for Lion Brand Yarn that will run in their Weekly Stitch Newsletter. You can also read it online.

The first installment was recently released, and it’s all about the virtues of knitting for yourself. I have to tell you I’ve had this exact discussion with myself about how many purchased sweaters I own when I could make something so much nicer for myself.

Go, read, and let’s make this the year we all do a little more knitting for the person who will most appreciate it — and don’t you dare call it selfish!

[Photo via Lion Brand Yarn.]

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?