Warm Up America Wants You to Stitch Your State

Warm Up America is a fabulous charitable organization that encourages people to knit or crochet and assemble blankets or other items that can be donated locally or given to the national organization to be distributed where they are needed.

But now they’re asking knitters and crocheters to help with a different kind of project: a banner that will be displayed at trade shows and used in advertising.

Warm Up America goes to events like Stitches and Vogue Knitting Live to raise awareness of its programs, and it wants to show that its knitters come from across the country with the Stitch Your State campaign.

Interested knitters are asked to create a 7 by 9 inch block that has something to do with their state. It could include the name or shape of the state in stitching, a state bird or flower, or anything else you want that represents your state.

Register to become part of the challenge (there’s a link at the page linked above) and send in your submission along with the submission form by Sept. 5. One design from each state will be chosen during the week of Sept. 19 to be part of the banner. Selected blocks will be shared on social media and the finished banner will be used in advertising, at trade shows and on display at the Warm Up America office.

This sounds like such a fun challenge. I’d love to know if any of you enter.

[Photo via Warm Up America.]

Next Pattern:

Just about anything you can make in fabric you can make in knitting, but there are some styles that you just don’t see that often translated into knitting.

For example, a button down collared shirt. This is a classic design, of course, and it looks great in a knit version, but it’s just not something you see much of.

Noma Ndlovu’s Guglethu shirt is the pattern to try if you want to knit your own button down shirt. This one is inspired by cashmere tops (though the sample was made out of yak yarn, not cashmere, and uses two strands of lace weight yarn held together) and includes lots of high-fashion details like double-knit cuffs, collar and shoulder seams.

It has a patch pocket on the front and 10 buttons including the button band and the cuffs.

The designer says you can also use a DK weight yarn held singly if you’d rather, and that the shirt looks good in a variety of yarns. There is another version on Ravelry that uses Berroco Remix Light, which is a mix of nylon, cotton, acrylic, silk and cellulose fibers. It has a more relaxed look but it still really pretty.

The pattern has 12 sizes, with a full bust measurement ranging from 32.35 to 72.25 inches, or 82 to 183.5 cm. The designer suggests 2 to 6 inches, or 5 to 15 cm, of positive ease when you pick your size. I could totally see knitting one that’s even bigger to wear more like a jacket, because I do that a lot with button down shirts I already own.

I love all the details on this shirt, which isn’t necessarily difficult to knit, but might introduce you to some things you’ve never knit before (like those cuffs with the plackets, or a shirt collar like this).

To learn more about this shirt and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself, head to Ravelry.

[Photo: Noma Ndlovu]

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