KH Monthly Challenge: August

[Hildegard_von_Knittin]

I've got the NEXT 3 months all ready, but since August doens't have any holidays, I was stumped!!!! KK and I were throwing around a few different ideas... most of them (on my end) had to do with ice cream :-) BUT, here's what we came up with:

August 20th is National Homeless Animals Day. The KH challenge for this month will be to knit something that can be donated to your local animal shelter. (Optional: knit two things, donate one, and use the other for the animal you adopt when you drop off your donated item :-) ) The International Society for Animal Rights has some more info on the observance here .

Click here to go to Petfinder: put in your zipcode to find a shelter in your area to whom you can donate. Your local shelter might be sponsoring an event--call them to find out!

Some pattern links:
Amy's pet patterns link page

Kat-nip toys and Dog sweater from Knitty. these are also linked from amy's page

Sweaters, toys, beds and blankets from Knitting Pattern Central-- these are outside links, and some are in PDF format.

Bella Online has a lot of links fot dog and cat sweaters, including some for sweater "generators" where you plug in measurements and get a custom sweater. I would like to STRONGLY suggest the links for sweaters for greyhounds and other large dogs... they need sweaters too, just like small dogs who have thin hair and skin.

Other links, found by the glorious KK:
Pet Afghan from Lion Brand

Catnip toy fromLion Brand

Several patterns from About.com.... I especially like the felted Kitty basket.

Don't forget the doggie sweater and kitty bed patterns in Stitch and Bitch. Also, any pattern for baby blankets can be converted to pet blankets!


I usually try to make the challenge something that can be worked into whatever project you are already working on, so there is no need to start something new, and everyone can participate. BUT this is such an important cause, that I think it deserves it's own project :-) If you are one of those people who saves swatches (like me) you can sew those together to make a pet pillow, kitty catnip toy, a patchwork sweater (if you're creative) or blanket. Everyone can participate in this challenge: pets are easy to knit for!!!!

When you participate, please post a link to the pattern, or mention the book it's from, so others can gets some ideas. If you happen to be browsing around and find more links, post those too!

Can't wait to see what everyone does!!!! Happy Knitting!