Marathon Knitter to Finger Knit Through New York

Remember the knitting marathoner? Last year David Babcock become the Guinness World Record holder for knitting the longest scarf ever made while running a marathon (at the Kansas City Marathon in October).

Word has it Babcock is headed back to Kansas City this year, but only for a half, because he’s also planning to run and knit through the New York City Marathon in November, and that presents a bit of a logistical challenge.

Knitting needles aren’t allowed on that course (I guess because of their potential use as a weapon?) and neither are bulky bags to hold yarn, so Babcock experimented with both arm and finger knitting to use instead, but found them both lacking.

So he developed a method of knitting with his fingers, in which his fingers are working like needles, that he can still do while running.

The NYC Marathon is special for a lot of reasons. It’s the first marathon Babcock ever saw, and he’s running it with a group of about 150 from NYC Athletes To End Alzheimer’s. Lion Brand Yarn Company is sponsoring his run, and you can learn more about his method of finger knitting by visiting his website.

[Photo via Knitting Runner.]

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.

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