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Help The Penguins….

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So apparently there was an oil spill somewhere around New Zealand. I apologize that I do not spend time watching or reading the news. As a matter of fact, really, the only tv I watch is when my Red Wings play their own unique brand of hockey.  But never mind about that.

The penguins of the New Zealand area got all covered in oil. One of the penguins very favorite thing to do is preen and by doing this they would ingest a whole bunch of poisonous oil, so, not only do the sweaters keep them warm but they keep them from getting oil all over their insides.

Skeinz, a natural yarn store in New Zealand is sponsoring The Worldwide Campaign To Knit Sweaters For Penguins to help keep these little guys safe while getting cleaned up. And, you can help. Click on over to HERE to find out how!

Comments

  1. A friend contacted them and was told they don’t need anymore. They were inundated with donations and have too many.

  4. The oil spill is coming from a giant cargo ship called “Rena”. The pilots of the ship ended up steering her onto a known reef. The problem comes from the ship literally breaking into two pieces, right along where the oil is stored. While over 750 (whatevers) worth of oil has already been spilt, there is another 1,500 (whatevers) on board the ship. Thankfully no new oil has spilled in the last two days, and they’re trying their hardest to get the remaining oil off, but horrible seas etc – plus a ship on a 45o angle make the job understandably hard. They’re also not helped by the fact that the hose they’re using to pump out the oil is actually no larger than the ones at the car petrol pumps – about the size of your thumb and finger in a circle according to one reporter.
    Do help out – how cool is it to say you have knitted a penguin tuxedo!
    For pics of this disaster check out: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/image.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=122111#8154898 (images from over the last week)
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/image.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=122188#8166407 (the ship)
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/image.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=122169#8163338 (The wildlife)

  5. Hi Terrye, I emailed the yarn store, Skeinz, that was sponsoring the penguin project, I received this reply on October 16, 2011
    Hi Gail,
    Thank you for your kind offer – at this stage the response has been overwhelming & we have enough pledges to cover the required number of birds needing jumpers – keep in touch with updates via our blog at http://theyarnkitchen.blogspot.com if we require more we will post here.
    Cheers Maree

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Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

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.