Crafty Help for Fire Victims

Reports out of Colorado are that the biggest fires are now mostly contained, thank goodness, and thoughts turn to helping people recover who may have lost everything. Craftsy, which has its headquarters in Denver, recently reported that it made a $3,000 donation to the Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department and was hoping to help raise $10,000 through First Giving (as I write this they hadn’t quite raised $4,000, so help them out if you can!).

I talked to a pal at Interweave, located in Loveland, last week, and she said no one at the company had lost their home but friends and family had been impacted. There’s a story on the Weaving Daily website about Nancy, a woman who lost everything in the Waldo Canyon fire, including her beloved cat and her loom. Fiber folks are stepping up with offers of looms and yarn, which is lovely to see. And a contributor to Spin-off, Kris Paige, lost her home and barn to the High Park fire. All her animals were temporarily relocated, and the family has set up a website to accept donations to help in their recovery.

One other way knitters can help is by buying Bijou Basin Ranch yarn. The company produces yak yarn and fiber products and is located in Elbert, Colo. They’ll be donating at least 10 percent of all online sales of fiber and yarn to the Red Cross and the Colorado Professional Firefighters.

Know of other ways knitters can support those who have been affected by the fires? Spill it!

[Photo of the High Point fire in June by Bijou Basin Ranch.]

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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