Knitting for men

Taste is a personal thing. If he'll wear it, go for it. My husband wouldn't.

He says he doesn't mind "having" it, but will he wear it? ;>)

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

Shelagh

Oh I should think so, he's not a conventional man - influenced by what others think. Even if he were, he'd wear it in the absence of anything else in cold weather :-)

He said he wouldn't wear it in a work environment (i.e. in his workshop, making replica historical items) because metal, wood, horn and bone make a mess. but since he always wears an overall when he's in there anyway I can't see what difference it would make. I have to make a point of getting him to divest himself of the overall for meals :-)

I don't know why I used the word 'dread'!

OK - but I'd like others' opinions too.

Mary

I think it may depend on _how_ fluffy it is. If it's just a little fuzzy, that's more likely to be worn than three-inch fluff.

Me, too.

If the fluff obscures the pattern, it seems like a waste of effort.

The main benefit of mohair seems to be strength, warmth, and the ability to be worked on huge needles and hold the stitch pattern (which leads to its main drawback, the difficulty of frogging errors - both because they are hard to find and because they are glued together, though I'm told that refrigerating the yarn helps with that).

If you husband can wear mohair, I think I heard it makes warm, durable socks. Or - inspiration strikes - great felted slippers, though it might have to beld together with a thicker wool yarn.

=Tamar

No reason at all that you shouldn't use mohair for a man's jumper. But what about a vest? I am thinking of something like an argyle, which could use up your contrasting yarn.

Let us know what you decide!

Higs, Katherine

Knit a swatch and let him see what it is going to look like knit up. Some mohairs are not furry looking unless you brush them

I have a Fair Isle sweater coat. If you have enough yarns, use a large pattern repeat about 6 to 8 stitches and rows. It will show up fine.

DA

"Mary Fisher" wrote in news:4589a9e5$0$762$ snipped-for-privacy@master.news.zetnet.net:

mohair is really warm. if your man is like mine (or my 6 year old boychild), he'll be overheated in mohair unless it's quite cold.

it does. i mix it with something soft (merino yarn usually) & use just the unfuzzy yarn near the neck & wrists.

my mom did something sort-of fair-isle with mohair & i thought it looked really cool. it's not as distinct so higher contrast colors work better than similar hues. lee

Form my experience, the fluffy is not as much of a problem (at least in well-heated buildings) as the fact that mohair knits tend to be very warm, and men seem to be more efficient heat-generators than women.

Georgia

Are you going to start knitting Mary?? Good for you!

It's just a little fuzzy :-)

Unlike his beard!

Yes, but it seems to me that it would make for a subtle effect, I think I'll try a swatch.

Never heard of that but I don't want to use huge needles anyway.

We don't wear socks :-) A daughter made me one without toes recently after surgery which left me with a hook sticking out of the end of a toe and I couldn't even wear my normal sandal. The hospital provided me with a 'surgical sandal' but the insulation wasn't as good as in my usual ones so my foot waas cold.

Or - inspiration strikes - great felted slippers, though it might

Hmm, felting ... hadn't thought about that. I'll consider it, thanks!

Mary

OK, it won't be until the new year though :-)

Mary

Yes, that's what I thought.

Mary

Not mine, he's very thin. We're the models for Jack Sprat and his wife :-)

Mary>

Mary Many years ago [before you were legally married] my late mother knitted me a mohair fair aile ,,,, since it was mohair she used bigger needles , assuming [rightfully] that the `hairs ` will fill in the gaps,,,,they did , but alas washing it , hairs flattened after a while , the pattern was distorted , and the gaps let the cold winds through,,, but i outgrew it , it was given to a neighbours daughter , than some years later returned to me ,,,,, At this stage i was already knew `my threads` better,,,, i soaked the flat sweater in mild water with baby shampoo ,,,,, than in clean water ,,,, out came a Beautiful HAIRY sweater ,,, my daughter loved it , than it was given to another girl , since my son wouldn`t wear it ,,,,, all in all it served about

Ps Mary , if you can`t wear it , are you sure you should knit it ,,,,this will mean touching it quite a lot , i can`t wear synthetics , nore knit with them , and when i wove a piece with man made threads i ended up doing it with gloves on !!! mirjam

We can wait.

Higs, Katherine

My hands have no problems with it, it's my chest and back. I can't even wear a woollen jumper with a cotton shirt and vest underneath. It's only been happening for the last twenty years.

As to Spouse's jumper, by a happy accident we've had a twelve year old grandson here today and I taught him to knit. just knit, nothing else yet but he grasped it and understands the stitch, made the beginnings of a garter stitch scarf for his five year old cousin.

When the magic moment of revelation came to him he knitted on and on then said, "So much for saying that men can't knit."

I explained about men knitting in history and fishermen and complicated Aran designs etc and at dinner when it came up again Spouse mentioned Kaffe Fassett (sp?).

That was MY magic moment of revelation - I found my twenty odd year old KF book and was lost in nostalgia about all the complicated coats and other things I made for No 3 son when he was doing his Masters. Wonder what happened to them ... ?

Anyway, after the period of self indulgence guess what I saw? A Man's jumper which included fluffy yarn in it!

If it's good enough for KF it's good enough for Spouse, I've begun, I'll use a different pattern and adapt it to the yarn available. It might take a long time but it will happen. I just hope Spouse lives long enough ... come on, woman, he'll have to :-) I have to live long enough to harvest my asparagus, he can jolly well hang on for the ganzie!

Mary

Excellent, Mary! How long before you harvest the asparagus? And I hope you are going to live long enough for more than one harvest!

Higs, Katherine

Only another two years :-)

So do I - I love the stuff but won't buy any which is from outside this country. Our season is very short but worth waiting for.

Sorry, mind wandering, thinking of buttered asparagus ...

Mary