Never Knit Your Man a Sweater:

by Judith Durant

Is he sweater-worthy? According to Judith Durant, no man deserves a sweater until the relationship involves long-term commitment. It’s just too risky to put all that time and effort and love into a knitted garment for a man who might be long gone by the time the sweater actually looks like a sweater. But knitters do want to make soft, warm things for the people they love — new boyfriends included. So what is the proper project for the it’s-been-four-dates-and-we’re-having-a-great-time guy? The Dinner Date Scarf, customized with the colors of his favorite sports team, doesn’t scare him with thoughts of commitment but does give him something warm he’ll be happy to wear to football games. Simple, shaped projects should be saved for more serious, exclusive relationships. Mittens, socks, and hats are all perfect for that semi-committed phase — they require a little more time and effort but can be quickly dropped if things don’t work out after all. Only when the ring is in hand should work begin on the merino/cotton blend Half-Zip Pullover, a classic, not-too-heavy sweater he will wear for years. Knit items are excellent gifts for men; they just have to be given at the appropriate time. Durant not only warns stitchers about appropriate project-to-relationship ratios, she offers 22 of the smartest patterns available for men’s clothing and accessories.

Genres: Knitting, Nonfiction, Reference

184 pages, Paperback

First published December 7, 2006

About the author

Judith Durant is a knitter and beadworker as well as author and editor of several books on both subjects. Trained as a theatrical costume designer, she took a circuitous route through various costume shops in New York, on to a New York theatrical book publishing house, and then to Interweave Press in Colorado, where she was book editor and one of the founding editors of Interweave Knits.

Judith is currently a freelance writer, editor, designer, and teacher based in Massachusetts. She has more than 25 years of experience in publishing and a wealth of experience in many crafts. Judith can help you with editorial project management, design development and pattern writing, and technical and copy editing. Judith is also available to teach workshops at your shop or guild meeting.

Reviews

[Kate]

I checked this book out at the same time I checked out Son of Stitch 'n Bitch, looking for something I could knit for my boyfriend's birthday. I was not very impressed with the patterns in this book. They were pretty generic and boring. The patterns were arranged by the level of commitment in the relationship, starting with small things like hats and mittens to large items like vests and sweaters for the married couple. I feel like most of these patterns could be found in other knitting books. They were not very interesting to me at all and I returned the book after flipping through it once.

[rabbitprincess]

Some interesting patterns in here with a good progression of difficulty. However, the culminating project is really not that attractive -- seems to be complicated for the sake of being complicated. Too many fussy stitches.

Patterns I have tried and liked:

- the coasters
- the iPod cover

Patterns I would like to try:

- the plain socks
- the diamond scarf
- the watch cap
- the argyle socks
- the mitten/glove hybrids
- (possibly) the houndstooth vest
- the cotton classic sweater

[Mary Ann]

Anyone who knows me, knows I will read any book that has a fun title (i.e. How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams, etc). Loved the title. This book is not just for a single woman, it is also for a beginning knitter. Each pattern helps the beginner progress from one thing to another learning new things as you go.

[Tanya]

Currently working on the flip your lid gloves, so far so good.

[Carolyn]

I was hesitant to pick up this book. I assumed from the title it was going to piss me off. Like the author would say something along the lines of a crappy romantic comedy where the woman was desperate to get an engagement ring. that that's what all women want and all we care about and we should sit at home and knit and worry that our men didn't love us.

I was wrong, this is actually a pretty cool book. There are some good patterns for men (I haven't tried to knit any of them so I can't judge their knitability). She explains the concept of the 'sweater curse' which a phenomenon where you knit a sweater for a boyfriend and they dump you as soon as its done or before its even finished. I don't believe it really exists, I doubt a guy would stay with you thinking "Man that is a sweet sweater, I really want to dump her but I want that sweater so I'll wait". But there is something to be said for waiting until you are at a certain level of a relationship (romantic or otherwise) before knitting something complicated. When you knit something for someone it takes a lot of time, money and energy and there is nothing worse than spending hours on something that isn't appreciated.

The book is a series of patterns that get more and more complicated with obnoxious titles like "The He Made Me Dinner & It was Good Scarf" which is actually a really nice looking scarf.

[Sharron]

The premise of this book is that a woman should never knit her man a sweater unless she has the ring or when the sweater is finished so is the relationship. Okay, a little old-fashioned but the projects are geared for men and range in skill and length of time needed to complete. I haven't found a lot of knitting books that cater to men's designs and since my husband's been wanting me to knit him something, I bought this book. I'm starting with a scarf. We'll see how the relationship goes.

[Beth]

It is hard to find good patterns to knit for men, but this book contains mostly things to make for the man in your life, from scarves and socks to vests and sweaters of varying difficulty. A few projects (iPod cover, laptop cover) are unisex. The techniques are illustrated with clear drawings and tips set off in tinted boxes.

[Bridget Belyeu]

cleverly written. has some nice patterns. has some lame ones. with bad pictures.

[Aquit]

The only pattern useful for this book was the laptop cover. I couldn't even follow the other patterns.

[Kari]

I am going to make the i-pod cover for my brother for christmas!

[Elizabeth]

Flipped through in a knitting store - Aug 2010. Looks really good--both for humour and for patterns.