Vogue Knitting Teams with Debbie Macomber to Knit for Charity

Vogue Knitting LIVE has announced a partnership with Debbie Macomber and World Vision’s Knit for Kids to encourage more knitters to knit for charity, particularly at the upcoming VK LIVE event in Chicago this October.

Macomber — the bestselling author of romance novels and knitting-themed fiction — is now serving as the international spokesperson for Knit for Kids, and she’ll be hosting a Knit for Kids Knitter’s Lounge at the event where knitters can take a break and knit a hat or scarf for charity (she’ll be in the lounge at announced times for knitting fun, too).

The VK Live website has a PDF of basic hat and scarf patterns (courtesy of Knit Simple) that can be used for the donations and they’re encouraging people to start knitting now (and of course you can contribute even if you aren’t going to the event).

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization that distributed more than 66,000 handknit and crocheted items last year to children living in poverty in the United States and around the world. Knit for Kids typically focuses on sweaters, and you can find patterns for those on the World Vision site linked above.

Next Pattern:

Linen stitch is one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns that, every time I use it in a project, I think about how I don’t use it often enough.

It’s an easy stitch to make, with slip stitches done with the yarn held to the front of the work on the right/front side and to the back on the wrong/back side, which makes the strand of yarn a visible part of the pattern.

It also makes a fabric that is thick and looks kind of like a woven fabric.

I recently used linen stitch to make a double-thick pot holder, which I worked in a kind of interesting way. I didn’t want to have to do any sewing on the project, so I started it from a crochet cast on and picked up stitches from the side of the cast on to make the hot pad all in one piece in the round with the edge sealed.

This requires working on two circular needles, which is another technique I don’t use that often and am always reminded how much I like it when I do.

The combination of double thickness and the stitch pattern makes for a hot pad that’s already pretty thick, but I also added a bit of old towel to the inside before I closed up the end to make it super thick and extra protective for your surfaces.

I found the engineering challenge of this construction method to be a lot of fun, but you could also just knit it as a tube (casting on twice as many stitches as I did) and sew up the ends by hand when the knitting is done. Either way you’ve got a useful and pretty addition to your kitchen, whether you work it in a solid color, stripes or as a stash busting project will all your cotton odd balls.

You can grab the pattern over at Our Daily Craft, or check it out on Ravelry.

40+ Hot Pads You Can Sew For The Kitchen [Sewing]

A Cozy Knit to Calm Your Mind

Double Knit an Infinity Scarf

Next Pattern:

Have you read?