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Do Penguins Really Need Jumpers?

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penguin sweatersThe story has been all over the Internet the past few days. A story out of Australia said that the Penguin Foundation was putting out a call to knitters for wee sweaters for penguins.

It said they use the sweaters to protect the animals after oil spills. It also said they only need about 20 a year, and that they have a good supply right now.

But that hasn’t kept the story from going viral, and no doubt caused lots of knitters to pick up their needles for a cute cause.

This is a story that seems to come up every couple of years, and it was even the topic of a web comic back in 2012, which noted that the sweaters aren’t actually all that helpful, because they use heat lamps to keep the penguins warm after a spill, and putting a sweater on an injured penguin more distress than just leaving them alone.

The Penguin Foundation, to be clear, says on its website

Please know that we do not urgently require little penguin jumpers for rehabilitation, we have a good supply of these which we use on any rescued oiled penguins and in the event of an oil spill, these jumpers are also sent to other wildlife rescue centres if required.

It also notes that excess jumpers are sold to raise funds for the important work the foundation does to rehabilitate penguins and for their research and conservation efforts.

So if you want to knit to support penguins, you certainly can, but know that there are other causes with more urgent needs that you could direct your needles to. And always check the source and check with the recipient to make sure there’s actually a need before you cast on.

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Beyond Basic Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork. 

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn. 

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look. 

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me. 

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. 

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.