Which Cities are the Best for Crafters?

Have you ever wondered which cities are the best for crafters? I hadn’t, either, but Liberty London recently crunched some data to find out.

In all they looked at 76 different data points for the 100 largest cities in America, such as the number of knitting and fabric shops, search engine data and posts on Instagram and TikTok. Based on this data they determined the cities where crafters are likely to have the most resources available to them, as well as other people to craft with.

Overall, San Francisco came out on top as the best city for crafters in the United States, and it topped the list as having the most knitting shops as well.

The full top 10 for overall crafting is

San Francisco
New York City
Chicago
Los Angeles
Portland, Oregon
Santa Ana, California
Minneapolis
Newark, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
San Diego, California

They also declared California the craftiest state, followed by New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Texas. (Though the first Texas city to make the list, Dallas, falls at number 24.)

Looking at Google search popularity, the most search for craft was pottery, at nearly 40 percent of all searches (unknown if that’s all people who want to learn how to make pottery or also includes people wanting to buy pottery, or even searches for the store Pottery Barn). Crochet comes in second at 25 percent, with knitting in third at a little more than 16 percent of crafty searches.

The city where knitting is most popular? According to the survey, it’s Portland, Oregon. (Having been there I tend to agree.) The survey says crochet is most popular in Minneapolis, and sewing in Atlanta.

Residents of Phoenix are most likely to post about crafts on social media, as determined by searching crafty hashtags on Instagram and TikTok. Phoenix tops the list for crafters on TikTok, while Pittsburgh crafters dominate Instagram.

If you don’t live in one of these cities and want to plan a crafty trip, head to San Francisco. It has the most craft stores and the most thrift and charity shops of any city in America.

Check out all the data including a list of the top 100 cities ranked by craftiness at the Liberty London website.

[Photo: Liberty London]

Next Pattern:

Best of Knit Picks: Pullovers and Cardigans

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]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?