Ottawa Yarn Bombers Release Manifesto

Did you see the pictures of the yarn bombing that happened last weekend in Ottawa? Someone (four someones, as it turns out, but we’ll get to that) made scarves to wrap around the necks of 14 statues in the city’s Valiant’s Memorial, which commemorates some of Canada’s war heroes, as well as some other places around the city.

The temperature that day was -20 C (or about -4 F), and the scarves had unsigned notes directing people to take the scarves if they needed them.

The identity of the crafters has been revealed as four friends who call themselves Dropping Stitches to Make a Better World and whose manifesto is “peace, love, knitting.”

Michelyn St. Pierre, one of the knitters, said the group didn’t immediately reveal their identities because they weren’t sure what they were doing was legal. But word and pictures of their deeds spread across the Internet and they wanted to let people know who did it.

This is such a great idea that would be valued just about anywhere in the northern hemisphere right now. Here’s to more peace, love and knitting!

[Photo by Chris Mikula via the Ottawa Citizen.]

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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