Have What it Takes to Be a Knitting Superstar?

Have you heard about the Fiber Factor yet? It’s a knitwear design competition that will pit 12 designers against each other in six challenges spanning in length from two to five weeks. Finalists will take part in a seventh challenge that will last several months, all leading up to the grand prize, which is a five-day fiber lover’s trip to Germany. (Winners of individual challenges will get $500.)

This sounds like an incredible experience for someone with a lot of creativity and stamina (I’d love to do it but honestly I have enough work right now, which is a nice problem to have). If you’re up for the challenge you can apply now through March 24. Participants must be American (because the sponsor of the contest, skacel, will be sending yarn and people have to ship their finished projects back) and at least 21 years old. You also need to be comfortable taking video of yourself and talking about your design process.

The application process is lengthy and includes filling out a form, sending in photos of yourself and your original designs, and shooting a video about your background and why you want to take part in the contest.

It sounds like a lot of work but also a lot of fun. Would you try out for a challenge like this? Are you applying? I’d love to hear about it!

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

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