Knitting

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Teddy Bear Knitter Works to Take Business to the Next Level

by

mad man knittingTwo years ago, Gregory Patrick was homeless and jobless, living in the woods of south Georgia. He turned his life around, remarkably enough, by knitting teddy bears, and now he wants to go from being a man who can just survive by knitting teddy bears to an inspiring entrepreneur who can help others who have big dreams but no resources.

He set up a campaign on indiegogo to allow him to buy supplies to keep his business going and to give him time to figure out how to make his business bigger than it is right now. With eight days to go as of this writing, he’d raised $3,346 when his goal had been $1,000. That’s such a great testament to the knitting community and how we pull together to help each other (and, I imagine, how we’re all a little touched by the novelty of a redneck who knits bears for a living).

If you’re interested in helping you can click the ling above; donors get thank you gifts including a PDF copy of his book, knitting patterns and recognition on his site. Or visit his blog to learn more and check out the adorable bears.

[Photo via Mad Man Knitting.]

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

Comments

  2. Thank you so much for this! This was AWFULLY kind of you and I cannot thank you enough!
    Gregory Patrick

Have you read?

Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use. 

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make. 

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!). 

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn. 

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart. 

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern. 

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.