Knitting

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Knitting for Dogs, Cats, and Yarnbombing

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yarn bomb canadaJacksonville, Fla., resident Jane Cottrel has been busy knitting scarves for unlikely customers: pugs. She sells wee warmers for pups at $25 a pop and donates the money to pug rescue organizations. She’s made $1,00 so far and has orders that will bring in $1,000 more.

Meanwhile, knitters at a Scottish senior center have been knitting for cats. The home has a weekly knitting class and so far a dozen blankets have been donated to a feline welfare charity.

Knit graffiti has popped up in a local park in Vaudreuil-Dorion (that’s in Quebec). The yarnbombing was developed by members of the local Cercles des fermières, a women’s organization celebrating its 100th year. Members said they are trying to raise awareness of the group among younger women, and they covered about 75 trees in knitting and crochet. About 25 of the Cercles des fermières groups are planning yarnbombing projects this year.

A group of churches in Norfolk, UK, are planning a celebration of knitting to take place this summer, and part of the scene will include a knit wedding, complete with a knit bishop based on the real-life bishop in the area. The fiber Bishop Graham was stitched up in about 50 days using 16 balls of wool. When meeting his knit double the real bishop said perhaps there should be more knitted bishops so that way he could “keep an eye on everyone.” How’s that for a great stash-busting project!

[Photo via Montreal Gazette.]

Comments

  1. Would love to see a pic and a pattern…would start making for Italian greyhound and whippet group

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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.