Men's-only knitting circle: "There's more swearing, but everything else is the same."

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dan Sikorski's fingers moved deftly, his knitting needles clicking away as a colorful striped scarf took shape.

Soon, though, a beer run beckoned.

By the time the 45-year-old Columbus resident returned with paper-bagged libations, others had arrived at Wonder Knit — an upscale yarn store in the Clintonville neighborhood — and were engrossed in their own projects.

Shop owner Libby Bruce and colleague Karida Collins hopped among guests, helping newcomers improve on a basic stitch or gushing over the intricate works of regulars. As some patrons reached for pumpkin ale and poured pinot grigio, the scene inside the cozy shop resembled that of any hip crafting circle.

Yet one element was as stark as a dropped stitch: All the knitters were male.

The store, which opened in December, hosts a men's-only knitting night on the third Thursday of the month — including one this week.

Chromosome count aside, the gender flip-flop changes little.

"There's more swearing, but everything else is the same," said the 28-year-old Bruce, who with Collins recently wrote Pints&Purls: Portable Projects for the Social Knitter (North Light, $17.99) — a book whose off-kilter patterns include wine-bottle "sweaters" and beer cozies.

"I think the guys appreciate that this exists. They just want to make stuff."

Although the free gathering doesn't offer how-to instructions, that hasn't hindered a monthly turnout ranging as high as 15 men (Wonder Knit offers paid classes for a variety of skill levels).

The clientele -- a mix of college students and older guys both gay and straight — is an indication that the practice among men is "becoming more and more visible," said Juan Castro, a research assistant who learned to knit from Bruce when both were undergraduates at Ohio State University.

"There are a lot of do-it-yourselfer types out there."

Yet Castro, 30, who suggested the idea for a men's knitting group hereafter noticing one while living in Portland, Ore., knows that such handiwork — unlike, say, carving or metalworking — doesn't hold the same masculine cachet.

Nor has it always garnered tactful comments from employees at other local yarn shops when he shops for supplies.

"They're just in shock and awe that I know how to knit," said Castro, taking a break from his latest project, a cardigan. "I feel awkward. It's funny — but kind of annoying after a while."

The landscape hasn't always been that way.

Knitting, according to historians, was once mainly men's work. Thought to have originated among Arab merchants, whose goods spread to Europe, the craft later became popular among fishermen, who created intricate cable-knit sweaters at sea. Chinese men learned the practice from defeated anti-Communist soldiers interned in China after the Russian civil war.

Brits of all ages and both genders knitted squares that were fashioned into scarves and blankets for soldiers during World War II. Even the earliest knitting guilds, which originated in Paris in the early 1500s, were open only to men.

Although machines of the Industrial Revolution stole the needles from most guys' hands, turning once-necessary work into more of a women's social hobby, a modern resurgence is afoot.

"The social boundaries of what men and women do have broken down significantly," said Michael del Vecchio, author of Knitting With Balls: A Hands-On Guide to Knitting for the Modern Man. "The craft industry is looking to serve men. It's reaching a critical mass."

A flood of male-centric books (The Knitting Man(ual ); The Crochet Dude's Designs for Guys; Man Crafts) has hit the market in recent years. Other men's knitting groups have sprung up in cities from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.

Male knitters such as Jared Flood have amassed thousands of followersvia Ravelry.com, an online knitting community with more than 400,000 users.

"We see a lot of men at our events," said Debby Johnston, program and events coordinator for the Zanesville-based Knitting Guild Association, where men account for 1 percent of its 11,000 members nationwide. "It seems to be a lot of fun for them."

Most appealing, according to male Wonder Knit participants, is the hands-on nature of knitting, a pastime that incorporates math, design, movement and control in an intricate dance— gentle, yes, but not wimpy.

Sikorski, for one, taught himself to knit using online instructions solely to make a scarf modeled after Tom Baker's eccentric neckwear on the British sci-fi series Doctor Who (he's on his third one, which he plans to auction for charity).

Completing those and other knitting projects, on which the Internet technician works at coffee shops and between service calls on the job, are a satisfying alternative to purchasing "characterless" retail fare.

"It's mine in more ways than one — any color I want, any way I want it," Sikorski said. "The only thing I didn't do is shear the sheep."

Pride in such craftsmanship is evident.

Yet the guys — including Brandon Zeeb, who last month spent his evening with the group working on a gray scarf for his wife — don't see their gender as reason for any special fuss.

"I change my own oil, fix my own bike," said the 28-year-old software developer from Clintonville. "Knitting is just an extension of that."

The fellowship of other men who feel the same provides a common thread.

"Coming here, it keeps you motivated," Zeeb said. "You'll go into Nordstrom, see a sweater and say, 'Oh, that's just this stitch. I could do that myself with this yarn and like it even more.'"
[link to www.daytondailynews.com]

...This story is more in line with the GLPers






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Last Edited by four winds on 09/27/2009 10:17 PM