Men Who Knit Promoting and inspiring the art of knitting amongst men.

Was at the NY Sheep and Wool festival on Saturday, October 15th.  Had such a great time and it is the 6th year in a row that I have been there.  After the week of rain the day turned out to be wonderful.  There was even a rainbow as we drove through New Jersey to get to our destination.  Three of us (Carol, Ed and I) drove over to Trenton to pick up Lisa and off we went - all devoted knitters, silly travel companions and had plenty of fun. 

We parted to go our separate ways to find our treasures and arranged to meet up and key points and times to eat and share our buys - gloating over the ones that we call grand larceny - where the price to the yardage is just such a steal.  I was able to see various friends and venders that I have cultivated over the years and just have a great time in the country.  Picked us some more alpaca from A Touch of Twist for the throw I am making.  For $ 20.00 and 500 yards, it works for me.  Picked up a knitting bag from Maggie Alexander (of Bundaflicka/Maggie's Farm) - isn't that a great actressey name? She makes these wonderful soaps and has started these bags that have great pockets inside and a wild button to keep it closed.  And that wild button part brings up the " I bought the butchest bag there and that is definitely open to interpretation."  And did I mention it is in chenille.  Enough said!  From there I attacked the Brooks Farm site  which was packed and again another bang for the buck.  The kid mohair I got will keep me in good standing with several of my sisters; and the merino in browns, rusts, will make a great pullover for me this winter.  Their area was packed with knitters, and thankfully, they had plenty of merchandise or it could have gotten ugly.

My pattern in Menknit magazine follows Technocowboy's entry.  It is on page 15 and is a scarf using the fisherman and old shale patterns. 

Quite delighted with the way it turned out.

The next deadline is October 30th.  If any of you guys have patterns, particularly sweaters - send them in.

It's finished.

Having made this sweater in the traditional style, I'm going through a bit of a 'getting used to" curve of how the sleeves feel being a tad short and this is definately the first sweater I've ever owned that was tight, however I happened to finish it on one of the first cold snap nights and now I see why old fishermen loved this style. It really does keep the wind out and trap the heat in the textured patterns. This has me pacing to start on the Aran now since it has more detail and heavier yarn.

And speaking of starting on the Aran, After working with size 4's dpns, and finishing with size 2 dpns, working on size 8's now is like working with telephone poles, or trying to use kindergarten pencils for chopsticks. Not to mention swapping from gansey weight wool to authentic Aran weight wool, is like working with rope now. It could be worse though, my wife has started her eyestrain project today. She's working on a Faroese lace shawl with size 5's and lace weight yarn. No thanks. Working on yarn the weight of dental floss, I'll pass.

The first issue of MenKnit is out!  I'm on page 14!  :D

I am so frustrated with myself. I totally misread a pattern and have had to rip out 3 days work. It was when I was towards the end of the second ball of Debbie Bliss that I realised my mistake. Looking back at the pattern it was increase 6 stitches the next 6 rows. For whatever reason I increased only 1 stitch each of 6 rows

I finished the back of my sweater, and am pleased with the way it turned out.  I've posted a link to the picture.

http://photobucket.com/albums/a83/suttonjp/?action=view&current=OCback.jpg

I'll get started on the front after supper this evening.  I'm hoping to have it finished by November.  I'm using size 11 needles, so that shouldn't be a problem.  I've discovered that I really dislike working with anything bigger than a size 9 needle and prefer a 7 or smaller.

Howdy everyone!

I'm relatively new to knitting.  I find it very relaxing, especially in the car while riding along country roads.  I started knitting scarves and small throws and now I am currently knitting baby booties and a bonnet for my partners sister.  She's having twin girls around Dec. or Jan.  I've all of a sudden developed in interest in baby clothes.  I don't know if anyone has the same problems I do with making things for people but I feel I'm giving a part of me away.  It's hard to part with some of my creations.

It's been a long, long time since I've been on here. I've been out of the country for the past three weeks, but that's not to say I didn't get any knitting done!

Since I was travelling, I didn't want to bring a big project (like the aran that's begging to be finished) or something complex (another self-designed piece).

So, I grabbed a bunch of different yarns, one set of circular needles and assumed that I'd find some downtime to whip out some hats.

I can see the light. It's getting so close I can nearly walk thru it. I'm sure you know the one I'm talking about, the light at the end of the tunnel telling you that you are almost done with a difficult or long project. In my particular case I'm nearly done with a 'slightly modified" version of a Gansey sweater from Beth Brown-Reinsel's book Knitting Gansey's. I made a few changes from her original designs to fit my bizzare tastes. But as I can tell that's what making a Gansey is all about, making one different from the last one you made. The kids and wife have already gotten in line for any future ones I crank out as well. Though I hope to do the next one in something more traditional than Lion Brand. I was thinking something more like Poppletons, but please comment if you know anything better to do a traditional "Seamans Iron" Gansey in.