Knit for Peace Day

March 21. 2007 is the official Knit for Peace day. [tag]Randy[/tag], an American knitter living in Sweden, has a list of ways this was done in 2006. Also at this website is a list of groups that knit to keep people warm.

[tag]Full Thread Ahead[/tag] in Los Altos, CA is having a Knit-in and knit for peace. This year they be spending the day, from 11am to 6pm working on warm woolies projects and projecting peace (no specific political statements, just a general agreement that a peaceful world is a better one). If you stop by, please provide your own needles and wool for the project.

[tag]Peace Fleece[/tag] is is a yarn company run by [tag]Peter Hagerty[/tag] and his wife Marty Tracy who started buying [tag]wool[/tag] from the Soviet Union back in 1985 in hopes that through trade they could help diffuse the threat of nuclear war. Since then they have worked with shepherds in Russia, Kyrgyzia, Israel and the West Bank, as well as in Montana, Ohio, Texas and Maine. By working with people who tend livestock every day, they hope to find a common ground that slowly leads to mutual understanding and economic interdependence. After twenty-one years, their goals remain the same. They have a page dedicated to [tag]Knitting for Social Change[/tag]. On this page you will find information and links provided by Peace Fleece that they hope to directly introduce you to the people with whom they work that are using woolens and yarns as a tool for social change.

Next Pattern:

As I write this, it’s probably time to start thinking about winter knitting if you haven’t already. And it’s definitely time to think about gift knitting if you have any of that you plan to do for the holidays.

The Dreamy Waves Scarf from Knit Picks, designed by Stacey Winklepleck, would be a great project to go in either category.

It uses two different multicolored yarns and a simple repeating wave pattern to make a project that looks a lot more complicated and dramatic than it is. The gradient look happens naturally just by switching which yarn you’re knitting with.

This pattern uses worsted weight yarn so it’s a pretty quick project even though a scarf is large and this one is pretty wide. It measures 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) wide and 63 inches or 120 cm long. Of course you can make it longer or shorter as you like. As written it takes one ball of each color so it’s a pretty economical project, too.

It’s rated for intermediate knitters but if you know how to do various increases and decreases you’ll be all set. The pattern uses knit 2 together, make 1 left and right, centered double decrease and slip slip knit. All of the stitches are explained in a glossary in the pattern so even if you haven’t done all of them it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

The pattern also includes tons of options for different colorways in yarn that Knit Picks sells, so you can see how different combinations knit up before you buy the yarn. That’s such a great idea!

Of course if you already have two multicolored yarns with long color runs on hand, you can absolutely use them, too. It might also be fun, but would give you a totally different look, to use a solid color and a bunch of scraps or one multicolored yarn to see how the different colors play together. So many options!

You can grab this free pattern and check out all the color options at Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

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