Note from Bartlettyarns New Owner

Just a little follow up on the sale of [tag]Bartlettyarns[/tag] – I received an email from [tag]Susan Rice[/tag] –

Although I am not “blog” savy-I have seen a few postings about the recent sale of Bartlettyarns and found that I could respond easily here-I hope. To let everyone know-Lindsey and I bought the mill in mid March and have been hard at work re-establishing over 10 formally retired colors, expanding some of these colors into the other lines such as 3 ply and bulky and we are in the process of sending out our new revised custom processing flyer, working on a new wholesale flyer and will be attending [tag]Gore Place[/tag] this Saturday; [tag]NH Sheep and Wool Festival[/tag] and [tag]Waynesboro, PA Fiber Fest[/tag] in the coming weeks. We will be able to take your raw fleece back to the mill for processing thus saving on shipping costs one way. (Not sure of the rules and proper etiquette, so please forgive me–we just want everyone to know that YES, we are former customers of Bartletts for over 20 years, have a great appreciation and understanding of what makes this a unique mill and that we are doing are very best to keep it alive and prosperous! Happy Knitting and please feel free to edit for appropriateness.

Thanks, Susan Rice

No editing Susan, glad to hear this institution is going strong!

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?