KNITTING CIRCLE // Help Tiny Penguins Live to Be Cute Another Day

Perhaps the most adorable victims of an October 5 oil spill off the coast of New Zealand were the little penguins (that's an actual zoological title, folks.) In order to have the oil scrubbed off of them, the penguins actually need to be healthy enough--and two crucial components to making that happen are keeping them warm (oil dramatically inhibits penguin feathers from retaining body heat) and making sure they don't ingest any of the toxic oil on their bodies.

To that end, Skeinz yarn shop has organized a drive to make sure each little penguin is besweatered in 100 percent wool. Wool is able to trap in body heat just as well when its wet, other fibers are not. They've provided a pattern, which can use up any scrap yarn you have around and can be done over the course of a movie or two. Essentially, it's a beer koozie with wing holes, so hold on to the pattern for all of your holiday beer koozie-knitting needs.

Grab the pattern straight from Skeinz and hit the jump for in-depth instructions. 

Penguin Jumper in 8ply [DK weight]

1 pair 3.25mm [U.S. size 3], 1 pair of 3.75mm [U.S. size 5] needles , 1 set of 3.25mm dpn’s or circular

Cast on 36 stitches using 3.25 needles.K1, P1 to end of row. Repeat this row 7 times. 

Change to 3.75mm needles and K2, P2 rib. Work 4 rows increasing at each end of every row. (44 sts)

Continue until work measures 15 cms.

Decrease 1 st at each end of every row until 28 sts remain.

Decrease 1 st. in middle of next row (27 sts.)

Leave on needle.

Make second side the same.

Transfer the 54 sts from both pieces to 3 of the set of 4 3.25mm needles.(18 sts on each.) and work a round neck in K1 P1 rib for 10 rows.

Cast off.

Stitch up sides to decreasing to 27sts (opening for flipper). Add elastic to the top and bottom to prevent the penguins getting out of them. Top: 15cm of elastic; bottom 17 cm (knots allowed). Flat elastic OK.

And wah-la:

--Layla Schlack 

HOW TO // So You Want To Knit A Hat

Rag & Bone made this one. Now you can too.We understand Fall hasn't officially set in (85 degrees last Monday felt a tad out of place), but we assure you, it will happen.  And when it does, thanks to today's trusty how-to, you--and your head--will be ready.

Most new knitters think a scarf is the best project to cut their teeth on.  Little do they know: A hat is faster to finish and has some shaping with it, so that just when you start feeling comfortable--bam!--you learn a new technique. Of course, when finished it will also keep in 80% of your body heat. And you don't even need a fancy pattern--you just need these basic guidelines that we're about to give you. Ready? Your head is going to be so warm!

Materials

1. Yarn. You can use any fiber, any texture, whatever you want! Depending on its weight, you'll need somewhere in range of 100 yards--more for very thin yarns, less for chunky yarns, usually a single skein or ball will do the trick.

2. A pair of 16-inch circular needles. What size you use (this is the girth of the needles) will depend on your yarn. If you already own yarn that you'd like to use, you can bring it to a yarn shop and they'll help you sort it out.

3. A set of four or five double-pointed needles in the same size as your circular needle.

4. A fun little thing called ring markers, or just scrap yarn in a contrasting color to your main hat yarn.

You're now essentially halfway to a handknit hat. Ready to start knitting? Hit the jump for the step-by-step.

Instructions

1. Make a gauge swatch. This is how you'll make your hat the correct size. Cast on 16 stitches and knit about two inches. Bind off. Lay the swatch flat and measure how many stitches per inch you're getting.

2. Measure your head. Place the tape measure where the band of your hat will lie. If you have big hair and don't want your hat squishing it down, measure around the outside of your hair. The typical adult head size is 22-24 inches, so if you're making a gift, base your size on that general range.

3. Math time. Multiply your head circumference by the number of stitches per inch you're getting. So if you're using a worsted-weight yarn and getting 4.5 stitches per inch, and you have a 24-inch head, 24x4.5=108. That gets you in the ballpark of the number of stitches you want to cast on, but you want it to be a multiple of 11, so round up or down--whichever is closest.

4. Cast on your stitches on your 16-inch circular needles.

5. When they are all cast on, place your marker on the needle, or tie your scrap yarn on, and join the stitches being very careful not to twist them.

Stockinette stitch with ribbed edge6. Start knitting. If you knit every row when you're working in the round, it will come out as stockinette stitch and the edge will roll. If you want the edge to lie flat do a knit one stitch, purl one stitch rib. If you want a cuff at the bottom of the hat, rib 2-4 inches, whatever your preference. Then you're going to work (knit, rib, do some crazy pattern stitch--it's your world) the distance from the top of your ear to the crown of your head, generally about 8 inches.

7. Now it's time for that shaping technique we mentioned. Ready? Knit 9 stitches, then knit 2 together for this round. Then you're going to work a round plain. Then knit 8 stitches, knit 2 together. Then a row plain. Knit 7, knit 2 together. You get the idea. When it gets down to it, you'll just knit 2 together all the way around. You want to end up with 4 stitches left, give or take.

8. At some point in your decreases, you'll have too few stitches to go all the way around your circular needle, so you're going to switch to your double-pointed needles. The way these work is that you divide your stitches between three (or four) needles and knit on to the fourth/fifth.

9. Once you're down to your 4 or so stitches, you're going to cut your yarn, leaving a tail of 2 or 3 inches. Pull it through the remaining stitches and pull them together like a draw string. Tuck the tail inside and weave in your ends.

10. Congratulate yourself on making a hat. Wear it everywhere no matter the weather and tell anyone looking in the general direction of your head that you made your hat. That's the reason you did this, right?

--Layla Schlack

KNITTING CIRCLE // New York City Yarn Crawl Starts Now

Purl SoHoAh, fall time; when you peep leaves, carve pumpkins, and break your sweaters out of the back of your closet. Or, if you're a knitter or crocheter, start making an impossible number of new sweaters (or scarves, or hats, or socks). The New York City Yarn Crawl and the independent yarn-sellers of our fair city want to help make sure you have all you need to plan projects you may or may not ever finish. 

Today through Sunday, you'll get one raffle ticket for each participating store visited--Brooklyn General Store, Purl SoHo, Knitaway, and Downtown Yarns, to name a few. Raffle prizes are, naturally, big old baskets of yarn--the good stuff--plus needles and pattern books. Some stores will offer their own promotions and giveaways, and there's also a yarn crawl scavenger hunt for the particularly adventuresome.

A new feature this year (the event's third) is that there are designated meet-up spots where you can eat, drink, and be merry with other knitters. If you're new to the knitting world, this is the best way possible to pick up some tips and tricks. The fashion folks had their Night Out to mix and mingle, so now it's the knitters' and crocheters' time to shine--and if you don't know the difference, take the opportunity to ask someone! Let's face it, it's Friday, you just got paid, time to go out and get some yarn.

--Layla Schlack