Knits Men Want blog tour
Today we are fortunate to have a blog tour stop featuring advice from Bruce Weinstein, author of the fab new book Knits Men Want: The 10 Rules Every Woman Should Know Before Knitting for a Man.
The book includes ten essays (including “Men Are Babies,” which explains why men like soft fabrics, and “Men Hate Fittings,” which tells you how to make a sweater based on one that’s already in his wardrobe) paired with master patterns for socks, hats, scarves and plenty of sweaters. As a knit-designer who is deeply knit-incompatible with her own boyfriend, I was really looking forward to this book! (Try to get my boyfriend to wear wool…just try. I revoked a sweater I knit him once, but I let him keep the matching hat. Heck, he won’t even wear cashmere).
In addition, you should know about the Cringe or Crush sweepstakes centered on Bruce’s book — check it out here for all the details, but in brief — wow! Great prizes — a print by Jared Flood, yarn, and even handknits from the book itself!
So. Let’s let Bruce give us some advice on the Care and Feeding of Your Male Significant Other’s Sweaters, shall we?
If you wouldn’t trust him to take care of your sweaters, don’t trust him with his own. In other words, nothing that can’t be washed, nothing expensive, not now not ever.
I’ve read about it, heard about it, and even suffered from it — having my favorite sweater felted and shrunk at the hands of a man. Do I think my partner meant to ruin the sweater I worked so hard to knit and loved so much? Of course not. And I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have a partner who loves to do the laundry. I guess I should never have assumed he’d know what should get hand washed and what shouldn’t — after all, he’s not a knitter or a fiber connoisseur. And he always follows the labeled instructions. So what’s a guy like that supposed to do when there are no labels?
The answer is really simple. Washable yarn. There are plenty out there—blends that are soft and wonderful that don’t need babying. Some great acrylics, micro-fiber, and washable wool yarns that any man would be proud to wear and can be trusted to keep looking like new, even if they toss them into the wash with their jeans.
For more from Bruce, check out his blog here, and for other blog tour stops, see here. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to find some washable sweater yarn to work on…