I started the year knitting a simple ribbed hat for myself. Wanted something warm for when I was out shoveling the snow. While I was knitting one day a few of my sons friends came by. Each time they walked by the room I was in I would lower the knitting and move it off to the side. Why on earth would I hide it? Well, I think I am worried about embarrassing my kids. Now, once again it is not that I am embarrassed about being a knitting male, but more that society may not be as accepting. I don't want my kids to take a ribbing because their dad is "Justaknittingmale". I remember the first time when I went to my LYS and took my daughter. I figured that I could get her to buy the wool and it would look like I was just there to pay. You see, for some reason back then it was just weird for me to be a knitter.
My kids on the other hand are fine with it. And while I hide my knitting from their friends, the real fact is that their friends all know that I knit. This is because they see the stuff my kids wear that I made for them. When they were asked whether their mom made it, they let it be known that it was their dad. Actually most of their friends want me to make them something too. I have to give credit to my kids becauase they support me and my knitting. So again why is it that I have such a worry about people knowing I knit. I mean I have no problem telling people but always feel the need to explain it at some point. Weird.
Well, I guess it's all part of the process of coming out of the closet. Yes I am just a knitting male!
I am enjoying reading your posts and wanted to relate a story to you about my son and his friends and my yarn habits.
ReplyDeleteI like to try knew things all the time and last spring started playing with the Nifty Knitters. I loved how fast you could whip out a simple hat and was very surprised when my son's lacrosse team mates that I cart hither and yon asked me to make them hats too.
I let them dig through some of my "OTC" stash to pick out colors they liked but they ended up wanting more than one hat each. That is when I said, hey, you guys can do this too! So I picked up a couple more sets of the hoops and taught them within 30 mins. They went nuts cranking out hats.
And they wear them! For 14 year old boys who are macho enough to play lacrosse to wear hand-made items that they themselves wore was just a shock. I think more and more these days traditional gender roles are falling by the wayside.
My son actually asks me to make him afghans when he finds me drooling over some new yarn at the LYS that he too likes. One of these days I will get up the nerve to do a sweater in the beautiful wool he picked out -- he swears he will wear it if i make it so I do not waste a lot of time and yarn on something he would be embarrassed to wear in public.
Keep up your knitting - I think it is a very cool thing for men to know more than just how to fix a leaky faucet and change oil on the car.
MichelleNWooster on Ravelry
Thanks
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