Knit one, Swish too!

For your reading enjoyment, an excerpt from Joel Derfner’s latest book:

Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Alive

“On Knitting”

The two Englishmen were staring at the half-finished glove in my hands,
aghast. “What is that?” the short one asked.
“I know it’s a mess,” I rushed to apologize. I was lying. It was not a mess;
it was perfect. But I had just arrived from the airport and I didn’t want to
offend them, as they were my hosts while I was in town for a small theater’s
presentation of a show to which I had composed the score. The couple
continued to stare in reproving silence at the work in my lap. “I’ve never done
a glove before,” I continued desperately, “and the fingers are trickier than I
expected, and they—”
“No!” the tall one interrupted, his voice quick with dismay. “It’s not that.
It’s that you’re knitting. Men don’t knit, young people don’t knit. Knitting is . . .
something your grandmother does!”
My mother’s mother was a raging alcoholic who had been married
seven or nine times (depending on whether you counted the annulment and
the common-law bigamy), including once to a member of the House Un-
American Activities Committee and once to a French royalist arms smuggler,
so I felt I could safely assert that knitting was not a pastime she had ever
enjoyed. “Besides,” I said defensively, “knitting is very fashionable in New
York these days.” …

(To read more of this chapter, and the rest of the book–buy it here!)

Next Pattern:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

Next Pattern:

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