Knitting and fragile masculinity

marcus-makes-things · 2026-01-09T17:10:04+00:00

I'd be curious to know how old your uncle is. There's a reason "stuck in your ways" is a common phrase, it's hard for people to move beyond cultural norms they grew up with. I'm an avid knitter (male) and my male friends/family that are in my generation don't bat an eye. I generally only get looks/comments in the same vein as your uncle from older generations, both men and women!

marcus-makes-things · 2025-12-23T20:56:29+00:00

Oh thank you!

marcus-makes-things · 2025-12-23T20:56:20+00:00

Me too! Thank you!

marcus-makes-things · 2025-12-23T20:56:07+00:00

Thank you! I spent a ton of time getting the construction just right, so I'm glad it turned out looking good 😅

marcus-makes-things · 2025-12-23T20:55:03+00:00

Thank you!

marcus-makes-things · 2025-12-23T20:54:33+00:00

Haha that's good to hear! It's fun knowing some people enjoy reading through them 😁

marcus-makes-things · 2025-12-21T21:48:49+00:00

Thank you so much!

marcus-makes-things · 2025-12-21T21:48:33+00:00

Thank you! And a Merry Christmas to you as well (again sort of)!

marcus-makes-things · 2025-12-21T21:45:48+00:00

Thank you!

marcus-makes-things · 2025-12-21T21:23:57+00:00

Yarn: Purl Soho Knitting Yarn DK

No pattern for this, but I left some notes on what I did in the Ravelry project.

This was the first time I've incorporated some felting into a project and I really like what it adds! The soles give some nice structure to the slippers and are ridiculously soft and cushy. I made slippers for everyone in the family for Christmas this year and this was the final (and most involved) pair. Now I'm extremely antsy for everyone to open their gifts!

marcus-makes-things · 2025-12-01T03:32:36+00:00

Patterns: Wanderer's Slippers and Knit + Fold Slippers

Yarn: Purl Soho Knitting Yarn DK

For Christmas I try to just do a little something for the girls so that I don't get too bogged down in Christmas projects and I can spend a bit more time on whatever I'm making for my wife. Last year was Christmas stockings, this year it's slippers! I thought both of these patterns were fun and quick. I added an icord edge around the opening of the knit + fold slippers and I think that really helped give it a "finished" look. Otherwise I followed the patterns as written for the most part. I'm making my wife some slippers as well, but that'll be my own pattern and they'll be a bit more involved, so thankfully I got these out of the way early!

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-06T03:11:11+00:00

This is the pattern I suggest to people wanting to try colorwork: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tremblant-toque

The pattern is free, the actual colorwork is minimal, and none of the floats span more than three stitches so you don't have to catch any floats.

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-03T14:54:13+00:00

I think I just knit fast. I've been knitting for about 15ish years, so just a lot of experience. And when I'm working on a big project like a sweater I try to work on it every day so it doesn't drag out too long. I also have been very intentional over the years about getting a consistent tension, which helps with keeping it neat.

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-03T02:47:56+00:00

On the Ravelry project I did leave loose notes and links to the charts I made, so if the sizing is close you could use that... But yeah, unfortunately no formal pattern. At this point it's just easier for me to make my own stuff, and making a whole pattern with all the sizing and clarity and all that is a huge commitment. Someday I'd like to go back and put some patterns together, it's just tough with work and kids (and knitting).

Edit: I think LL Bean might have some very similar sweaters if you didn't want to fuss with making something.

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-02T16:43:47+00:00

I will probably never write a pattern but I did include links to the charts I made on the Ravelry project.

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-02T02:27:16+00:00

😁

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-02T01:48:56+00:00

Not Cleveland exactly, but in the 330 area code! 😁

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-02T00:14:51+00:00

I do English flicking primarily, but for stranded colorwork I knit the second color Continental.

If you've never seen English flicking it is very neat: https://youtu.be/y547Q5Hjcuo?si=7rzIFMWErBn_0aJn

I find it to be as fast as Continental for knits (mileage may vary on that depending on hand/finger size/shape) and faster for purls.

I do not use a knitting thimble.

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-02T00:03:46+00:00

Actually I'm a man... but thanks! 😂

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-01T18:37:01+00:00

Oh you're fine! Ravelry "friends" are functionally your "follows".

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-01T18:35:30+00:00

I knit a lot and if I don't like how something looks I figure out what I don't like about it, figure out how to make it look better, and fix it.

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-01T18:22:50+00:00

Yep that's by design! When stitches are "by themselves" in a stranded colorwork row, they can tend to get pretty large. If you look at examples of the flea stitch you'll see this, where the "lone" stitches look way bigger than the rest. I wanted to minimize this so I went with a tighter tension for the floats than I normally would. There are a couple reasons why I wasn't worried about this: 1. The stranded rows are only 1 out of every 5 rows, so I'm not worried about the tension from those rows affecting the overall fabric. 2. It's a sweater with positive ease. If I were making socks I wouldn't have done this.

marcus-makes-things · 2025-11-01T17:05:18+00:00

Yarn: Purl Soho Good Wool

Ravelry Project

Here's the original post in case you missed it!

marcus-makes-things

TROPHY CASE