Knitting for the Pope and Stitching a New Beginning

Two sweet knitting stories to end your week.

First, Virginia “Ginny” Burnett of Dawsonville, Georgia, is a 92-year-old knitter and devoted churchgoer who knits for a local church’s Loving Stitches Knitting Ministry. After the blessing of some hats knit for soldiers and hospital patients, the priest jokingly said “now go home and knit one for the Pope.”

So she did. The white hat with gold cross took four days to knit and has been mailed to Pope Francis with a picture of Burnett and a written blessing.

And I’ve shared the story of Gregory Patrick before, but he’s in the news again thanks to an article on Yahoo! Makers. Patrick walked away from a job in 2010 and found he couldn’t get a new one and eventually ended up homeless. Friends helped him get yarn, a computer and a phone line and he knit and sold his first teddy bear.

Through the years he has sold enough bears and other animals to help him get back on his feet, he’s written a book about his experiences, is now selling knitting patterns, too and can be found on his blog Mad Man Knitting. So nice to see the good that can come from some needles and yarn!

[Photo by Gregory Patrick via Yahoo! Makers.]

Looking for more Knitting patterns for Teddy Bears? Check it out here.

As we get into the part of the year with a lot of food-forward holidays, it might be time to start thinking about knitting some new things for your table. While a few of these are more fall/Thanksgiving focused, just changing up the colors would make others work for Christmas, or keep it neutral and use them all year long.

What got me started thinking about this was the lovely and simple Fresh Bread Dishtowel, a free pattern from Purl Soho. Worked in a lovely cotton and linen blend, the towel is mostly stockinette stitch with a bit of texture on the borders.

You could use this same kind of pattern to make anything from placemats to a table runner, but let’s look at some specific patterns for those kinds of projects as well.

The easy moss stitch table runner from Glass Bird Knits is beginner friendly can can easily be modified to fit your table (or, again, to make placemats instead of or in addition to a runner). This version is worked in macrame cord, but you could also use bulky yarn.

Emielle Design has a garter stitch runner pattern that’s made with braided cotton cord for a lot of texture without a lot of work. But be sure to take a lot of breaks when knitting with cord because it can be rough on your hands!

I also love the diamond pattern on the Hamilton Table Runner from Wyndlestraw Designs. It calls for a DK weight cotton and linen blend yarn and comes in three sizes with different widths and lengths. The pattern has both written and charted instructions.

Amy Marie’s Table Pumpkins (on Ravelry) is a fun mosaic knitting pattern that would be great to use as a table runner through the fall and for Thanksgiving. It uses a worsted weight cotton yarn in two colors, and you can make it as long as you like for your table.

The no cable knit placemats from Yarn Culture Studio have a fun faux cable look that would be great for the table through the fall and winter.

Or here’s another pattern from Wyndlestraw Designs, this time for an easy knit and purl stitch placemat pattern that looks different but still good on both sides. It calls for worsted weight cotton and comes in two sizes for placemats, but also has instructions for coasters, a hot pad and a table pad all using the same stitch.

Have you read?