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Glasgow Science Center Seeks Knit Germs

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knit microbesThe Glasgow City of Science is attempting to break a world record with a hygiene lesson later this month, but they need some help from knitters in order to do so.

The plan is to involve primary school students across the city and to use knitted microbes such as E. coli, the common cold and swine flu to show how germs are passed from person to person.

With about two weeks left until the planned event, they’re still in need of a lot of wooly germs.

At last check they had just over 700 of the microbes and still needed 980 to meet their goal.

This is probably a shoutout better directed to UK knitters and those in Europe, but if you’ve got a little time and some yarn on your hands in the next few days, why not knit up some microbes to help kids? You’ll be able to say you were part of one of the weirdest knitting-related world records I’ve yet heard of, and that’s saying something.

If you were wondering, the current record for the largest hygiene lesson is held by the Health Protection Agency in England, which included 2,147 students from schools across the UK in a lesson in 2012. The hope is that the Glasgow lesson can include more than 36,000 children at all the primary schools, who will take part in a 40-minute lesson on handwashing and the spread of germs.

Have you ever knit a microbe? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via the Glasgow City of Science.]

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Book Review: No Fear Sock Knitting

I feel like when it comes to things that people are afraid to knit, socks probably top the list. I’ve heard people say they would never knit socks because they look too hard, but really you just need to know a few basic things (and trust the pattern even though it sounds wrong the first time you do it) to master socks. 

Denise DeSantis aims to take the worry out of knitting socks with No Fear Sock Knitting. Based on a class on her YouTube channel, it includes all the basic information you need to make sock knitting feel easier, along with eight patterns for both top down and toe up socks. 

The book generally covers types of needles and yarn you might use to knit socks, as well as other supplies you will need. It looks at the parts of the sock, different knitting needle configurations used to knit socks, how to read a pattern (including abbreviations and terms you might find in sock patterns), discussion of ease, how to measure your foot and choosing the correct size to knit.

It includes two options each for casting on cuff down and toe up socks, as well as four options for cuff treatment. It explores the heel flap and turn method for top down and toe up socks, as well as short row heels using a shadow wrap (worked with a leg from the stitch below) and a square heel. There’s a discussion of avoiding holes and fixing other problems in heels.

Likewise with toes there are several options, including a wedge toe, round toe and anatomical toe (different on each foot) for both cuff down and toe up socks. There are also tutorials for grafting and Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind off, depending on which direction you’re going. There’s also a tips section that covers things like avoiding ladders, changing colors. matching stripes and more. 

After all that preparation, there are eight patterns to choose from: short socks worked from the top down that are a perfect first-sock sock, a basic ankle-length toe-up sock, a DK weight sock worked from the top down with different length options, a “vanilla” sock with a short row heel worked top down, an ankle sock with a garter stitch cuff, one with a leg worked in alternating colors with a contrasting heel and toe, a sock worked in a helical stripe pattern and a striped sock with a garter stitch heel. 

Three of the patterns are rated at skill level two on a scale of three, while the rest are level one. They’re all pretty straightforward, they just use different techniques you might not have tried before. Since only one is made to be toe up, there are also tips for converting the other patterns to toe up if you’d rather work that way. Each pattern includes three size options. 

This book is a nice introduction to sock knitting, with lots of techniques to reference and simple patterns to take the fear out of the process. I’m not sure these are patterns you’ll come back to time and again but they are a good place to start if you’ve never knit socks before. 

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 8 patterns. Published 2025 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.