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Simon Fannon Breaks World Record for Marathon Knitting

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I’ve been writing about knitting long enough that I remember (and wrote about) when knitter David Babcock broke the world record for the longest scarf knit while running a marathon. I don’t know why this is a thing people would want to do or why there is an official record for it, but here we are.

He broke the record at the Kansas City marathon in 2014 with a scarf that was 12 feet, 1.75 inches long (that’s about 3.7 meters) and a run time of five hours, 48 minutes and 27 seconds. 

Over the weekend British knitter Simon Fannon shattered the record at the London Marathon, producing a scarf of 18 feet, three inches, or 5.59 meters in five hours, 48 minutes and 8 seconds. 

The Guinness world record website has already been updated to mark his record. 

Fannon is known online at veteranknitter, and was a Royal Marine and was a contestant on the first series of Game of Wool. He used his run to raise money for the Huntington’s Disease Association and Reorg, a group that works with veterans, members of the military and emergency services workers who face physical and mental health issues as part of their jobs. 

Simon said he cast on as soon as he started running and tried to knit constantly until the last mile or so of the race. Because he was looking down at his knitting so much, he says he missed a lot of the landmarks you run past on the route. He said he aimed to change colors on his bulky garter stitch scarf every meter or so, and he used five colors in the project. 

He kept his yarn in a pocket at his waist and knit with straight needles in continental style.

Congratulations to Simon! Makes me feel like my marathon knitting sessions on the couch (LOL) aren’t nearly as impressive as I thought. 

[Photo via BBC]

Have you read?

Add Mushrooms to Your Knits with these Fun Knitting Patterns

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day. 

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details. 

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes. 

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult. 

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather. 

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size. 

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.