A Story about Men Knitting That’s Not Hysterical

Most stories about men knitting are what we called in journalism school “hey, Martha” stories. (As in, hey, Martha, take a look at this funny story!) They expect readers to be shocked, and probably a little amused, that men would do such a traditionally feminine thing (forget for a minute that men were the original knitters).

This story from the Boston Globe is nice because it doesn’t take too much of that hysterical tone. It is about men taking up hobbies traditionally thought of as being more associated with women — and it’s funny that when women like to cook it’s considered normal, but when men do it’s worthy of a newspaper article — but it takes a different angle than a lot of stories of this sort do.

The reporter, James H. Burnett III, talks about how membership in traditional men’s clubs like the Elks has been in decline and that men are instead meeting in smaller, less organized groups to do things like cook, read and knit together. Which is kind of news, I guess.

I still want one of these stories, someday, to use the term “not your grandpa’s knitting.” Don’t ask me why.

[Photo by Matthew J. Lee/Boston Globe.]

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.

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