KnitBits: Amazing Knitting, and Some Too Good to Believe (April Fool’s Edition)

I know I’ve seen this one before, but the Wonder Woman sweater was recently featured on Boing Boing, so it’s worth mentioning again. Designed and knit by Natalie Bursztyn, it’s a free pattern on Ravelry, and it’s amazing.

While this story is about manufactured socks, it’s still a great story for textile lovers. Once there were 120 sock mills in Fort Payne, Ala., but cheap labor elsewhere has closed most of them. Gina Locklear wanted to keep her family’s mill open, and she’s doing it by producing organic cotton socks made entirely in the United States. Pretty cool.

I’m sad to share that knitting handbag maker Jordana Paige is closing up shop. She has a few bags left and will be officially closed once they are gone. She hasn’t announced what her next adventure is, but we wish her well.

This is an old post and a longish read, but the post on Infotropism about the relationship between knitting and programming is a good one. It’s not just about reading and writing code, but the technical, engineering and math skills that are involved in making a project your own. Good stuff.

And because it’s April Fool’s Day, we also have news of a gorilla caught knitting at the National Zoo and the Mason-Dixon Knitters are opening a side business selling subscription boxes for empty-nest moms to make their houses more like homes (including incomplete decks of playing cards and Doritos to grind into the carpet).

[Photo via Top Crochet Patterns.]

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I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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