Mad Man Knitting Seeks Support

I’ve told you before about Mad Mad Knitting, aka Gregory Patrick, a guy who it would not be a stretch to say was able to turn his life around by knitting teddy bears. Last year he launched an indiegogo campaign to raise money for supplies, which raised nearly $4,000 when his goal had been just $1,000.

He’s asking for some help again, this time because he’s overwhelmed with orders. He needs to be knitting in order to pay the bills, but he doesn’t have time to take on more orders (which is almost a nice problem to have) but needs help with expenses while he’s finishing up all the orders he already has pending.

If you want to knit a cute teddy bear (or bunny) for yourself you can buy his knitting pattern, or grab a copy of his ebook, all about how he made his journey from homelessness to beloved knitter of adorable toys. Either one will run you less than $3 and will go toward helping support and encourage a knitter who could use some of both right now.

Plus, the patterns are just really darn cute.

[Photo via Craftsy.]

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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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