Knitting

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Knit for Guys with These Great Sweater Patterns

by

boyfriend sweatersThis week my husband and I are celebrating 15 years of marriage, and we’ve actually been together about 21 years (!) in all.

I have never knit him a sweater.

I’ve knit him a scarf he’s never worn, and a rat tail for a Halloween costume. That’s about it.

He prefers rather lightweight sweaters, in either basic textures or with argyle-style patterns, and I just haven’t been able to bring myself to take on the commitment of either. Maybe because I don’t want to spend all that time working on something and then have him not like it (the sweater curse might not be real, but that would certainly annoy me).

I happen to have two copies of Boyfriend Sweaters: 19 Designs for Him that You’ll Want to Wear by Bruce Weinstein, and I’m giving them away this week so maybe you’ll do better than I have all these years.

There are some great sweaters in here that I would totally wear; check it out on Ravelry. You’ll also find hats and scarves and lots of great tips for getting a good fit, finishing things well and more.

If you’d like a chance to win one of these books, leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Sunday, May 21. If you have a significant other, I’d love to know how long you’ve been together. Otherwise, tell me about your experience knitting for people with a gender other than your own. Or both!

Thanks for commenting, visiting and sharing, and good luck.

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Comments

  1. I do indeed have a significant other with similar tastes in knit garments to those of your husband. Met him in 1966 when he was 15 and I was 12, started dating in 1967 and married in 1976. This October will be 41 years, six (now adult) kids, and 5 grandkids later. Needless to say, the Sweater curse didn’t pan out for us.

  2. Years ago i knitted an arran jumper for my then boyfriend. He was a big guy so it took time to knit and finish off. We had at this point been going out for 4 years. The curse is real. Boy do i regret the time i spent on that man. The sweater was perfection however.

  3. This looks like a super cool book with a lot of great patterns. Thanks for the chance to win. I have been married 8 years and together 13. Happy anniversary and wishing you many more years of happiness and love.

  4. Of all the knits that I have made for my husband, he has only ever worn 1, a sleeveless vest, which he loves and now wears to death. The others are left in the cupboard, but admittedly I never did have the patience to use finer needles in the old days so it was always aran knits. Now that I have mellowed and grown older, I am more prepared to use 2.5 or 3 mm needles and am prepared to try those too. My husband and I have been married 30 years, but have been together for 40 years!! We were sweethearts from Sixth form, and no, never the thought of divorce was ever entertained in all our years together……but murder, yes, several times!!

  5. I’ve been married nearly 24 years and have only ever knit my husband one sweater which was when we were engaged. I keep putting it off as his size would take me forever to knit!

  6. Happy Anniversary! My husband and I started dating more than 30 years ago. I knit a lot of things for him when we were younger, which he wore, but hadn’t knit for him in years. This winter, though, he found some merino/silk yarn he really liked. I finished a vest for him on size 3s, but had to knit it almost twice. The first time, I got up to the armholes before I realized I would run out of yarn.

  7. Since there are about 2759.393512 women’s sweater patterns to every 1 for us men, I seem to knit a lot more for Mom than I do for myself. Winning this collection would help to balance the equation. Plus, if I understand this curse stuff, when I do knit myself a sweater, receiving it could prove to be just the impetus I need to leave myself – something I’ve been considering for quite a while.

  8. One of my first cable projects was a sweater for my dad. It wasn’t perfect, but true to form, he wore it proudly – I love him even more for that! I started knitting a sweater for my boyfriend a few years ago – still haven’t finished it… we’re no longer together, so I went through a few stages where I first considered ripping it down, then I thought better of it and left it alone. Now that the ex and I have settled into a good friendship, I’m hopeful of finishing it for him.

  9. What a great book! Well, my husband and I have been together for 14 years! I knitted him only 1 vest. He likes to golf and it was my gift. Btw, I spun the yarn myself too!

  10. I would like to make a sweater for my father-in-law! I am making it a point this year to knit/crochet something for the entire clan and I know that he would love a hand-made sweater.

  11. My hard drive crashed and burned and kicked the bucket and melted like the Wicked Witch of the West in a monsoon downpour this morning. I was dejectedly leaving the house to see about a replacement when I spotted a padded envelope on the stairs. I saw the name Sarah White and my little heart grew three sizes! Thanks so much for this, it was just the pick me up I needed on this frustrating day. Now I just have to get used to Windows 10 on my new computer – eeewwwww!

Have you read?

Book Review: Cable Knitting Stitch Dictionary

Stitch dictionaries are a fun way to learn new-to-you knitting stitch patterns or to take a deep dive into a particular technique. Debbie Tomkies offers 100 cable stitch designs and thoughts on how to incorporate them into projects in her Cable Knitting Stitch Dictionary.

Each stitch pattern is shown in a large swatch photo and with written and charted instructions. Any special stitches are included on the page. The stitches are rated on a difficulty scale of 1 to 3, and the pattern notes also indicate how many extra stitches you should add to a project if you’re going to work this cable (since cables pull the fabric closer together you need to compensate for that) as well as how many stitches and rows are in the repeat if you want to design a project yourself.

The cables are arranged into sections: classic cables, combinations, all-over panels, creative cables, motifs and panels and cabled edges and borders.

It’s fun to flip through the designs to think about projects you can add a single cable or two to or make with an allover cabled design. Or you could make swatches of different cables and sew them together into a pillow cover or a throw.

At the back of the book there’s a section on general cable knitting techniques, reading charts, working swatches and avoiding errors (though it mentions working the wrong number of rows between cable turns, it doesn’t share how to count rows between cables to avoid this mistake).

It also talks about how to design your own cables, combine cables in a project, choose the right yarn and needles and determine how many more stitches you need to cast on when working cables instead of stockinette stitch. There’s also a glossary of symbols and abbreviations you may find in cable knitting and other patterns.

The book provides a good overview of things you can do with cables, as well as some fun things you might not have tried like infinity cables and horizontal cables. It’s a great book for a designer who likes to work with cables or a knitter who wants to play with different stitches in their projects.

About the book: 176 pages, paperback, 100 stitch patterns. Published 2024 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $26.99.