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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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Pencil Knitting Patterns

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.