Giant Knit and Crocheted Blanket on Display in Derry, Ireland

I do love a gigantic display of yarn craft, and there’s a great one on display right now in Derry, Ireland, in celebration of Craft Month.

The 50 foot by 20 foot City of Culture quilt is made up of hundreds of individual squares made by people of all ages and symbolizing important moments in their lives. The piece took seven months to put together and donations were received from the United States, Australia, England and Scotland as well as Ireland.

The project was the brainchild of yarn shop owner and teacher Aine Clarke, who has spent a lot of time in the past few months teaching people to knit and crochet so they could take part.

Such an amazing project!

[Photo by Martin McKeown, via Derry Journal.]

Next Pattern:

Not too long ago I was seeing a crochet pattern for a glasses holder shaped like a bear all over the Internet. It was super cute, and also useful as a place to put your glasses on your bedside table instead of just throwing them somewhere random.

This project stewed in my brain for a little while and I decided I needed to make a knit version, but I didn’t want to make a bear. If you know anything about me you might know that I’m a cat person, so of course my version had to be a cat.

The base is just a basic little basic worked from the center out to the desired size, then up the sides as long as you want them. Knit some ears and add embellishments to make it whatever kind of animal you want.

The way I figured out to work the base from the center out was to use a crochet cast on, which gives you an easier way to pick up stitches from the back of the cast on than if you worked a more traditional cast on for a knitting project. It’s kind of fun to do things in a different way from time to time.

This little project is adorable if I do say so myself, and even as a plain little basket not made into an animal it’s a cute way to keep your glasses or other little things in one place. I’m tempted to make one for my desk to hold pens or even little little scissors and sewing needles that are always on my desk but somehow always seem to get lost on my desk.

If you need a little holder for your glasses on your table, check out the pattern at Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Our Daily Craft]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?