Knitting for the Pope and Stitching a New Beginning

Two sweet knitting stories to end your week.

First, Virginia “Ginny” Burnett of Dawsonville, Georgia, is a 92-year-old knitter and devoted churchgoer who knits for a local church’s Loving Stitches Knitting Ministry. After the blessing of some hats knit for soldiers and hospital patients, the priest jokingly said “now go home and knit one for the Pope.”

So she did. The white hat with gold cross took four days to knit and has been mailed to Pope Francis with a picture of Burnett and a written blessing.

And I’ve shared the story of Gregory Patrick before, but he’s in the news again thanks to an article on Yahoo! Makers. Patrick walked away from a job in 2010 and found he couldn’t get a new one and eventually ended up homeless. Friends helped him get yarn, a computer and a phone line and he knit and sold his first teddy bear.

Through the years he has sold enough bears and other animals to help him get back on his feet, he’s written a book about his experiences, is now selling knitting patterns, too and can be found on his blog Mad Man Knitting. So nice to see the good that can come from some needles and yarn!

[Photo by Gregory Patrick via Yahoo! Makers.]

Looking for more Knitting patterns for Teddy Bears? Check it out here.

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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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