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This Week in Knitting News: Poppies, A Knitting Statue and Stephen West

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gansey girl statueWith Veteran’s Day/Remembrance Day happening this week, poppies are popping up everywhere. Check out my roundup of poppy knitting patterns if you’d like to make some of your own, and don’t miss this story about a British woman who knit 1,000 poppies for the Royal British Legion to sell during its Poppy Appeal, which raises money to support servicemen and women, veterans and their families. In case you’re wondering, it took her nine months and 30 balls of yarn, and each poppy took about 30 minutes to knit. Amazing.

Looking for more knitting patterns for Poppies? Check these out on Etsy.

Knitting is a big part of the heritage of fishing communities in Britain and elsewhere (even though that story about every family having its own gansey pattern is a myth), and the town of Bridlington is celebrating that connection with a new stature. Gansey Girl, designed by Steve Carvill was unveiled recently. She’s sitting and knitting a gansey (though it’s difficult to see if she’s actually holding knitting needles). The statue also carries the names of some local fishing families.

On a lighter note, Stephen West recently started a mystery shawl knitalong, and to promote it he’s released a super fun video that will make you pretty happy to be a knitter. And may just make you want to knit a shawl. (If you can’t see it here, check it out on YouTube. You’ll be glad you did.)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwmfP0PNOLg]

[Photo via the Bridlington Free Press.]

Comments

  1. Hilarious. And yes it does make me want to knit. I’m a new knitter; I started with Stephen West’s Penguono and then made another, and another. I’m knitting a ‘normal’ jumper now but it isn’t nearly as much fun.

Have you read?

Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use. 

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make. 

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!). 

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn. 

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart. 

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern. 

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.