My Store, My Mountain Pattern Ebook Released

Yarn maker Schachenmayr has a line of bulky, colorful yarns perfect for outerwear made for hitting the slopes called My Mountain. The company has done a lot of interesting things to get knitters excited about the yarn, and the latest was a design contest involving yarn stores.

The winners of that contest have been named, and their projects collected in a free ebook called My Store, My Mountain, which is available on Ravelry.

The book includes 12 patterns, six of which are for hats. The others are cowls, a shawl, a pair of fingerless mitts and a pair of mittens.

True to the line, these projects are bright and colorful, but none are that difficult to knit.

The 3×3 Hats by Carly Stipe were one project that caught my eye. These bulky hats use three different colors of yarn and three different design options to make a bunch of unique hats. I also like Trisha Mitberg’s Mad Creek Mitts, which are super simple but look really classic thanks to the use of self-striping yarn.

If you’re a skier, a fan of the outdoors or you just like the look of having come off the slopes, these projects are worth checking out.

See anything that catches your eye? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via Ravelry.]

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.

Have you read?