yarnporn.com

Oh you beautiful yarn. I took the last of the camel out of the shopping cart, I’ll spin more up and replace it soon but these scarves just beg for it and I cannot abide a begging scarf.

I said that I might rant a little about males that knit, and that isn’t quite true, it’s not typically the men that knit that bother me unless they are the whole “Lookie girls, see? I’m knitting, aren’t I special?” kind of guys, but even without knitting needles those guys are annoying.

Actually, what peeves me is the way that people pet and faun over boys and men who knit like they are particularly clever monkeys, even if they are working on a garter stitch washcloth.

Next on the list (and I’ve seen this first hand) are the sales clerks that try to steer my son away from the yarn he really wants to buy towards “something you can afford”– likely its a combination of his gender and age that they assume that the off sprung of my womb cannot shop, choose, or spend wisely so it’s understandable; but after he explains that a)he knows what he wants b)he knows how to knit and c) he knows his budget then they really should just back off. And some do just let him shop after the gentle reproach, but a few hover closely keeping a wary eye on the boy that knits. Now I understand that not all LYSs appreciate children yarn shopping (something about light colored yarns and grubby fingers– go figure), fortunately both of the LYS that we frequent are very supportive and even if they don’t know the off sprung by name they know his face.
As a mom, I cringe when other moms congratulate me when they act like I taught my son how to juggle plates and cure leprosy at the same time because he knits. Yes, I did teach him how to knit, but I don’t put knitting up there with kindness, honesty, good manners and all those other graces that make a human being pleasant to be around– I’m just egotistical enough to think I had something to do with him being a nice kid and that it’s a little more important to be nice than it is to master a long tail cast on.

Other guys in particular are pretty cool towards the spawn’s knitting, they are more interested in the project, perhaps more interested than they would be if a female was showing them her knitting. It’s cool to knit when you’re making a camouflage tent for GI Joes that converts into a handy armored personel vehicle cozy. It’s very cool to knit when you get a gaggle of girls coming over to check out your handiwork– while the spawn isn’t old enough to appreciate this attention as much as his older friends, his older friends have declared this talent for attracting girls a useful thing. (Note to self: Hide all knitting needles and yarn when spawn hits puberty.)

Of course as a fellow knitter and his mom I have to wonder about some of Josey’s more questionable yarn choices, which definitely has a unique character if nothing else. I appreciate my fresh supply of potholders (a few of which have some perfectly covetable yarns in them– Crystal Palace Soiree is stranded through my favorite mitered potholder (yes my child learned to increase and decrease before he learned to purl), rubbing fibery elbows with some Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool and some Paton’s sock yarn.