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

Guys,
Since joining this site a few months ago I have been in contact with an amazing range of guys. Kind, helpful, resourseful & compassionate about our common craft-knitting.
Darrel without you, none of this would have been possible.
Thank you so much.
Looking forward to a great knitting year, 2006.
best to all,
Martin

For the benefit of new knitters, I thought it would be useful to have a place here which lists those knitting books which we have found to be the most helpful to us.  I am confident this information would be very beneficial to those guys who visit our site and who are just learning, thinking about learning or returning to knitting.  There is an overwhelming number of knitting books available on today's market and a person could get lost in all of them.  I'd like to list under two catagories: The best instruction book and the best knitting reference book.

My favourite instruction book is "Knitting in Plain English" by Maggie Righetti.  Until I found this book, I was unable to figure out how to knit.  She is witty and explains things in an easy to comprehend fashion.  And, once I had done the "Dumb Baby Sweater" I found I had the confidence to jump right into knitting an adult jersey.

If anybody reads this that knows how to knit in a design, such as letters, numbers, and other such stuff, please PM me or use any of the contact methods in my profile. I am working on a scarf for my daughter and would love to put her name on it.

If you break a needle, whether plastic, wood or bamboo... DON"T throw it away. Those short pieces, when sharpened at both ends, become great little double-points for knitting the fingers on gloves. Then you'll be wrestling with a hedge-hog instead of a porcupine. I have had my share of experience with snapping needles in half, or even just the first two inches off the tip.

Since I'm a cheap S.O.B. I also came up with a cheap way to store my Lilliputian DPN's. Plastic M&M candy containers keep my short DPN's corralled, as well as straight pins, sewing needles, safety pins, and who knows when I may need a snack while knitting (melts in your mouth, not in your hand) that won't make a mess. I'll put a pic in the gallery and you'll get to see what I mean.

I want to replace my plastic cable needles with a set of wooden needles in the 3 sizes.  I've searched all over but I can't seem to find them.  I saw a set of Brittany wooden cable needles on ebay once but I can't find them anywhere else.  Can anyone help me with this, thanks?

Weekly Topic #4

Tell us about your stick(s)! What type of needles do you prefer and why? Metal, wood, bamboo, etc. Also, thoughts on how to keep them organized! My DPN's are everywhere!!!!

Happy New Year too all!

I've been a lurker for a while and thought I should post something... I've been knitting for over 20 years, taught myself in college from a book. 

I'm currently working on a cable sweater in alpaca/silk/wool from Knitpicks.  I already made one sweater with this yarn and just had to have more!!

I just finished a sweater in hemp/wool for a book due out sometime next year. 
I also have a t-shirt sweater in cotton and a long sock scarf going in the sidelines. 

If any of you guys in the Atlanta area are looking for a group to knit with, check out the Atlanta Stitch-n-bitch group in Yahoo groups.  We meet several places around town and there are 4 of us (men) who regularly attend.  We are trying to get more men to join us.

For those who like to knit bi-lingually, here is a great page for translations of knitting terms.  The languages are English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.

http://members.fortunecity.com/pattyna/companion/5lingue.html

Hey all,

 Out of necessity and lack of money, when I got interested in knitting back in 2001 I started making my own knitting equipment.  Also because I'm a cheap bastard and don't believe in investing a lot into something I might not like. If I can do it, so can you.

 First I started with coat hangers, the kind that always seems to collect at the bottom of the closet. Cut to length with pliers and  the ends filed to shape, most turn out to be nice US#1 DPN's. The larger diameter plastic ones seem to have a lot of air bubbles inside, so they can be a little frustrating if you want the point exactly in the center like "store-bought" needles.

Since I will be out of town and south of Darrel starting Friday I wanted to wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year for 2006!!  Costa Rica here we come!!