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.

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

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