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KnitBits: Amazing Knitting, and Some Too Good to Believe (April Fool’s Edition)

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knitting gorilla april foolsI know I’ve seen this one before, but the Wonder Woman sweater was recently featured on Boing Boing, so it’s worth mentioning again. Designed and knit by Natalie Bursztyn, it’s a free pattern on Ravelry, and it’s amazing.

While this story is about manufactured socks, it’s still a great story for textile lovers. Once there were 120 sock mills in Fort Payne, Ala., but cheap labor elsewhere has closed most of them. Gina Locklear wanted to keep her family’s mill open, and she’s doing it by producing organic cotton socks made entirely in the United States. Pretty cool.

I’m sad to share that knitting handbag maker Jordana Paige is closing up shop. She has a few bags left and will be officially closed once they are gone. She hasn’t announced what her next adventure is, but we wish her well.

This is an old post and a longish read, but the post on Infotropism about the relationship between knitting and programming is a good one. It’s not just about reading and writing code, but the technical, engineering and math skills that are involved in making a project your own. Good stuff.

And because it’s April Fool’s Day, we also have news of a gorilla caught knitting at the National Zoo and the Mason-Dixon Knitters are opening a side business selling subscription boxes for empty-nest moms to make their houses more like homes (including incomplete decks of playing cards and Doritos to grind into the carpet).

[Photo via Top Crochet Patterns.]

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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]