Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Get Some Virtual Learning in with Melissa & Friends

, by . Leave a Comment

Melissa Leapman is a well-known knitting and crochet designer and all around good human, and when the mess with Stitches went down, causing a lot of fibers arts teachers and vendors to lose money for event registration, travel and sales, she wanted to do something to help.

Melissa & Friends is a four day, virtual knitting event that includes a Friday evening welcome party and cookalong; a la carte classes in reading your knitting, adjusting patterns to your gauge, advanced beginner double knitting, shawl knitting, sock knitting, fixing mistakes and more; and a vendor’s marketplace in which select vendors will offer presentations about their products (often including a coupon code for an event-only discount).

I love this idea so much and there are a lot of great class options that I would say mostly trend toward intermediate knitters, but there’s something for everyone. The event is in Eastern time, but if you register for a class you’ll have access to the video for two weeks, so you can participate from anywhere in the world.

And since Melissa has been so great to organize this event, let’s show her some love by buying some of her patterns at her website or on Ravelry. She also has a bunch of books (her most recent is Insta-Knits) if you’re into that.

And if you missed the whole Stitches story, read about how parent company XRX announced the company would be closing down and ceasing events the day after one of their events finished, an update on people getting chargebacks and some ways to help teachers and vendors, and instructions from their attorney on filing claims. I just checked and the company did file its annual report with the state of South Dakota in July, which doesn’t sound like something a company declaring bankruptcy would do, but we’ll keep an eye on it and report any further developments.

In the meantime, if you’re a teacher or vendor who was affected by the Stitches shutdown, I’d love to help promote your work. Just click on Suggest a DIY at the top of the page and send me a note!

[Photo via Melissa Leapman]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

There are so many great pumpkin knitting patterns out there, and it looks like I haven’t done a roundup of pumpkin knitting patterns in a few years, so it’s high time for another one.

The Lancaster Pumpkins from Cuddle Bunny Knits on Etsy are classic, made with stockinette stitch in the round and using super bulky yarn. If you’ve never knit a pumpkin before, this is a good place to start.

Jazz it up a little bit by knitting ribbing instead of straight stockinette, which gives your knit pumpkin a little more texture, too. This one is form Jessies Knits on Etsy. This one is worked flat on straight needles and there are three size options to choose from.

Or try the Pumpkin Patch pattern from Blue Sky Fibers, which is a free pattern on Ravelry. It’s worked with two strands of worsted weight yarn held together to give your pumpkins a marled look, or you can keep it solid. 

There’s another free ribbed pumpkin knitting pattern at Yarnspirations that is really cute. These are knit flat and seamed, and they come in three different sizes. You can either stack them as a centerpiece to decorate a table or you can leave them separate. Or make a whole pumpkin patch and do some of both! I love that they chose unconventional colors so you can see you don’t have to be limited to orange when you knit up your pumpkins.

Made by Devrie on Etsy has these cute pumpkins with twisted stitches (they look like cables but it’s only moving one stitch at a time) that you can make in any size with any yarn you like.

The Twisted Heart Pumpkin for Etsy seller Percival Makes Things uses cables to make a heart shape on the side of the pumpkin. It’s worked in the round and the cable pattern is charted.

And while I was really sticking to plain pumpkins here, not knit jack o’lanterns, I can’t resist sharing this beaded jack o’lantern knitting pattern from Knit Cole Studio on Etsy. The base pumpkin is simple Stockinette and you can stitch on beads in whatever design you like to make your face, or keep it plain.

Leave a Reply