Did You See the Heavy Metal Knitting Championships?

If you were on the Internet over the weekend you might have seen a video or news story about the Heavy Metal World Knitting Championships, which took place last week in Finland.

From the look of things, the event may have been even stranger than you would think from the name. People dressed as sumo wrestlers, in dresses that looked like wedding gowns and other wild attire banged their heads to the music while knitting.

According the AP story linked above, Finland has the highest number of heavy metal bands per capita (at more than 50 bands per 100,000 people) and there are tons of knitters, too.

The competition’s website says

Knitting to the rhythm of heavy metal music can be compared to playing air guitar – which is a Finnish way to goof around as well. In heavy metal knitting, the knitter becomes a part of the band, showing their best needlework tricks as the heavy riffs echo on the background. The knitter takes part in the jam while their balls of yarn and knitting needles swish through the air…

Competitors from nine countries took to the stage to stitch and thrash, with the Japanese team Giga Body Metal coming out the winner. I don’t know how the winner was determined or what the prize is, other than that cool trophy, and getting to say you’re a world champion of heavy metal knitting, which I guess is prize enough.

[Photo via Heavy Metal Knitting.]

Next Pattern:

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]

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