The Knitting Activists of Ferguson, Missouri

Knitting somehow seems to make its way into all aspects of life if you pay attention. There are knitters who knit for fun, to clothe their families and other loved ones in warm garments, and those who knit to support a cause or to make a stand against overseas garment production.

There are knitting grannies in several places protesting fracking with knit ins, and there’s The Yarn Mission in Ferguson, Missouri, a group of knitters who sit and knit at a local coffeshop, giving protestors a respite from what’s happening on the streets, and giving knitters a chance to talk about social justice with people who might not otherwise talk to them.

Group member Taylor Payne told the Guardian:

If someone asks me what I’m doing, I say, ‘I’m knitting for black liberation.’ Sometimes they respond and sometimes I just get ‘Oh, my grandma knits,’ like the person didn’t hear me. But at least it opens the door to talking about my experiences.

They also make the point that people simply don’t see a lot of black knitters, so it raises the profile of diversity in the craft as well, which is always a good thing. And knitting is a great way to start conversations — even difficult conversations — among people who might not have much or anything in common beyond that “Oh, my grandma knits” kind of statement.

I kind of want to send them yarn, but if you’re local you can buy some of their knits at MoKaBe’s, a coffee shop where the group often meets. You can also follow the Yarn Mission on Facebook.

[Photo via the Guardian.]

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.

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