New Classes from Knitgrrl Shannon Okey and Andi Smith

I’m a big fan of Shannon Okey and what she’s done at Cooperative Press, which allows knitting and crafty authors a venue for publishing fun, innovative projects with smaller print runs than a more traditional publisher would allow, but with more support and ease of distribution than creators would have with self-publishing.

Okey has presented a class at STITCHES and elsewhere to help knitters and other creatives who want to publish their own work, and she’s now expanded that class into a month (or so) long online course where users can work at their own pace.

In addition to that class, the virtual Knitgrrl studio is also hosting two classes by Andi Smith, author of Big Foot Knits. One is about knitting a sock to fit whether your foot is big or small, and the other is on the crochet Crocodile Stitch.

Check out this blog post for all the details or to register. Sounds like lots of fun; online learning is great for those of us who never or rarely make it to the shows/conferences/events in the knitting world!

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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