Spinning Event Benefits Mentoring Program

Last year was the first for Spinzilla, a weeklong spinning competition that encourages groups and individuals to make as much yarn as they can to claim bragging rights (as well as a trophy and gift certificates for team members).

Even though the event isn’t until October 6-12, organizers are already getting people excited about this year’s competition.

Registration is now open for teams through July 14, and spinners can register — either as part of a team or as rogue spinners — beginning August 4. Teams host meetups and their total yardage is compiled together for the competition.

The winning team last year was Fancy Tiger Crafts, which spun almost 95,000 yards (or 54 miles!) of yarn during the week. In all, more than 1.3 million yards of yarn were spun during the week.

But more than just a fun event highlighting spinning, Spinzilla is also a fundraiser. The $10 entry fee goes to the Needle Arts Mentoring Program, which provides resources to people who want to teach knitting, crochet, needlepoint or spinning to groups of kids. In all the event raised almost $6,000 last year, which has that group energized to double the number of kids it reaches.

Are you a spinner? Would you take part in an event like this? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

Have you read?