I came across another post about a knitting world record (hat tip to Vogue Knitting on both of these), this one about Norwegian knitter Helge Johansen, who has knit the world’s longest scarf. It’s almost 5 kilometers long (that’s a little more than 3 miles) and worked in all sorts of colors, with donated yarn and some he bought himself.
He says he always wanted to be a record holder and decided to go for this one. His mother taught him to knit and he’s done so for 30 years, but he says he doesn’t really know anything about knitting (as evidenced by the giant scarf, which looks to be all garter stitch and with no ends woven in). The scarf is kept as a giant ball and weighs about 1,100 pounds. Other than the desire to have a world record, there’s no indication of why he’s knit the same scarf all these years.
I find it interesting that so many knitting records seem to be held by men, as if they have something to prove in a field typically thought of as a woman’s domain.
Which makes a nice segue into this article from the Seattle Times in advance of this weekend’s Vogue Knitting Live event. The article focuses on men, especially those who work at Skacel Collection Inc., a yarn distributor based in Kent. A panel discussion will talk about men in the industry, and several teachers are men as well.
Chuck Wilmesher of Skacel says he wishes more men would take up the craft: “Get over it and try it and who cares what anybody thinks. I wish there was some way to make men know that it is not a woman’s sport.” Here, here.
