Design Your Way to New Zealand!

Vogue Knitting is celebrating its 30th anniversary in lots of big ways, but one of the biggest was just announced. The magazine is teaming up with Zealana, a luxury New Zealand yarn company, on a design contest, the grand prize of which is a trip to New Zealand.

The contest is open to all knitters with an interest in design (there’s a separate student contest for those in high school, university or a fashion school) and is looking for hand-knit garments for women sized small to medium based on the Craft Yarn Council’s standard sizing charts. At least half of each design must be made with Zealana yarn.

Submissions in the form of color photographs are due by Nov. 30, and each designer may submit up to four projects. Finalists will have to mail their projects and the ball bands of the yarn they used to New York, and the winners will be announced at Vogue Knitting Live in New York next year. All finalists will be featured in Vogue Knitting, and the grand prize winner will receive a five-day trip to New Zealand that will include a trip to the Zealana factory and a wildlife sanctuary.

The winning design will also be styled and photographed for a feature in Vogue Knitting and to be used in promotions for Zealana. Other prizes for runners up include gift cards, gift baskets and tickets to Vogue Knitting Live events (though they are responsible for their own transportation and accommodations).

This sounds like a really cool contest. Too bad my book is due two weeks before the deadline!

If anyone decides to enter, I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo by Zealana.]

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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