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85-Year-Old Vet Shows Craftiness Knows No Age, Gender

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Vet loom knits hats, to take part in ManCraft show in Colorado.If you need a feel-good story to start of your week, check out this one from the Denver Post about Orville “Mark” Skattum, an 85-year-old National Guard veteran (he served during the Korean Conflict) who has taken up loom knitting hats for vets and others and is participating in the Holiday ManCraft show in Denver and Boulder this weekend.

Skattum said he started the hobby when he saw a woman loom knitting hats while watching a football game, and he said he likes to be doing something while he’s watching TV. He can knit a hat in three hours or so and aims to finish five a week.

After giving hats to everyone in his family he started making more hats and donating them in bunches of 50 to his church and the Denver Veterans’ Administration (tagged “Made By a Vet for a Vet”).

After attending the ManCraft show last year, his daughter joked that he should get involved. He took her seriously and has amassed more than 150 hats to sell at the events. He intends to donate whatever he earns to charity.

The event takes place Dec. 5 at the VFW Post 2461 in Denver and Dec. 6 at American Legion Post 10 in Boulder.

[Photo by Kathryn Scott Osler for the Denver Post.]

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Stitch Your Favorite Fruit on a Sweater

The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.” 

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them. 

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits. 

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves. 

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit. 

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy. 

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]