Josh Bennett Profiled in New York Times

I don’t really know what to say about this piece about knitwear designer Josh Bennett in the New York Times. I almost feel like it’s just men knitting season (exhibit A: the actually really nice story in the Wall Street Journal about men knitting at Bryant Park) but I don’t want to sound like Bennett isn’t worthy of a profile in the New York Times.

I will say that I hate the headline “Grandma Never Knit Like This.” I hate even more that the executive director of the Craft Yarn Council apparently invoked grandma, when she should know better. And I hate that photo of him knitting but clearly not knitting because that’s nowhere in the universe of how a person knits (and how are there three strands of yarn?).

The story is interesting in that it takes a different view on men knitting. Here’s a man who has had great success designing for big-name fashion designers, but he doesn’t knit in public. He learned to knit at age 8 and fully embraced it for a week until he thought “boys don’t knit” and stopped for 10 years.

It talks of the cattiness of the fashion knitting industry, the way ugliness can spread on the internet, and the idiosyncrasies of one knitter (no hats, socks or unnatural fibers, no sweater for his partner, even though they’ve been together eight years — the sweater curse does not have time limits).

And I think there’s some value to knitting being talked about in “mainstream” media, so I’ll just leave it at that. If you want to know about Bennett’s current fashion obsessions and favorite shows to watch while knitting, check out his list of five, too.

If you read the article I’d love to know what you think.

[Photo by Deidre Schoo, via the New York Times.]

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If you’re new to lace knitting or just aren’t sure how to incorporate the technique into garments, check out these tops and sweaters that use lace as a decorative element.

The easiest lace out there is eyelets, and you can practice them plenty with this eyelet covered sweater from Knitcro Addict. It uses light/DK weight yarn and is worked in four pieces knit flat. It’s intended to be a little cropped and a little oversized, and includes sizes XS to XXL in the pattern.

If you’re in parts of the world where it’s getting colder as you read this, the Nora sweater from Bummbul might be a good choice. This is actually a great one for learning lace because it’s worked in super bulky yarn, which makes it easier to see what you’re doing and makes the lace super graphic. This one just comes in one size, with a 42 inch (106) cm bust, but that could fit a variety of people depending on how much ease you like.

Minimi Knit Design has a cute allover lace cardigan worked in one piece from the bottom up. It’s worked in lace weight mohair held double, which maybe isn’t the best for those new to lace (because it can be hard to rip out) but it sure is pretty. Sizes range to fit from 30 to 66 inches/76 to 168 cm bust measurements.

If you’d rather not have lace all over your sweater, you can knit the Lumi sweater from Originally Lovely, which has a chevron lace pattern on the yoke and is otherwise worked in reverse stockinette stitch. (It’s worked inside out so you don’t have to purl every stitch.) The pattern has 9 sizes from XS to 5XL and uses worsted weight yarn.

Or try the super romantic sookie blouse from Trust the mojo (available on Ravelry). This sweet top is started working flat from the bottom up and has a V-neck and I-cord edgings. The sleeves are worked separately in the round, and the pieces are all joined together to work in one piece to finish off the top. It comes in eight sizes and is available in English and French.

You can also pair lacy sleeves with an otherwise plain top, like on the Starflower Wrap from Annelise Driscoll Gingrow. This intermediate pattern makes a wrap sweater with generous lacy sleeves and a double wrap belt. The pattern has nine sizes, from XS to 5XL, and is available for free from Hobbi.

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