Help Pacifica Yarn Company Launch its Made in America Yarn

Over the holiday weekend, the people behind New Stitch a Day and the 30 Day Sweater launched a new project, called Pacifica Yarn. This will be the first “house yarn” for their new online yarn shop, Argyle Sheep.

They took to crowdfunding to raise money for the project and blew past their first goal in 12 hours. As of this writing they were closing in on their fourth goal, with 24 days left to go on the campaign. (The campaign ends July 31.)

The money will allow them to produce their first yarn, called Zephyr, which will be a blend of cotton and wool yarn. The idea is to make a yarn that’s suitable for knitting and wearing year round, with the durability of cotton and the memory of wool. The yarn will be produced in the United States with American fiber, and the next goal they were going for was to be able to produce the yarn in 16 colors.

It’s going to be a DK weight yarn, but if $40,000 is raised they will also make a worsted weight yarn in the same colors; at $50,000, another yarn line will be introduced.

The way things are going right now, we could see a lot more out of Pacifica Yarn very soon. Rewards that include yarn begin at $30, and delivery should take place early next year.

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.

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