Everyone needs a hobby, whether it's a simple one like travel, or a more involved one like knitting or photography.

A quirky American artist has found a way to combine all three into perhaps the weirdest hobby you've ever seen: knitting sweaters that look like his surroundings.

Sam Barsky of Baltimore, Md., takes photos of himself wearing sweaters that look like the place where he's standing. For instance, one photo on his Facebook page shows him standing in front of Niagara Falls while wearing a sweater depicting the falls. Another shows him wearing a sweater depicting Times Square while standing in Times Square.

But Barsky doesn't just do this with iconic landmarks. His Facebook page is filled with bizarre and mundane sweater-background combos, such as the classic "standing in front of three hydro towers," the triumphant "mermaid catch of the day" and the timeless "blending into a wall of playing cards." And who could overlook "standing in front of pumpkins, wearing a pumpkin patch"?

OK, so those aren't the actual names of the sweaters, but Barsky can't exactly visit a landmark every week, now can he?

The needlework ninja of knitting picked up the hobby 18 years ago, and has been posting his background-inspired creations to Facebook for the last few years. Some of his creations are full-length sweaters, but he also makes short-sleeved versions for those balmy Baltimore summers.

"At first,I was making the sweaters spontaneously, with no plans of visiting any places," he told CTV News Channel on Tuesday. "But then I found, once I was going to a place, If I had a sweater I would wear it there. And before long I was purposely making sweaters for some planned trips to different places."

Barsky's 100th sweater, which he completed this year, shows miniature versions of all 99 previous sweaters.

He says it takes him about a month to knit a sweater, which means he can't possibly keep up with all the commissions requested online.

"People are always impressed by my sweaters," he said. "Impressing people is easy."

Some of his Facebook posts show his work for sale.

"My sweaters on display at the Maryland State Fair," he wrote in a post from Aug. 30. "The two at the top won prizes."

Barsky has a strong following on social media, with many of his videos picking up thousands of views. He also went viral on Sunday when his images surfaced in a popular post on Imgur. The post was viewed more than 1 million times.

"I love how it's not even all famous places," one Imgur user wrote. "It's random."

"He looks exactly like what I'd expect someone who makes sweaters of places then visits them would look like," said another poster.

He also sounds every bit as excited about his work as you might expect.

Barsky says he's working on a Martin Luther King Jr. sweater to mark the day in February. "I'm making it to honour Dr. King and to honour the holiday as well," he said in his most recent video.