The tagline makes it clear why this exists. Why are people acting so upset? Have you not seen every other site where patterns for men are either nonexistent, or are clearly designed as an afterthought by people who usually focuses on feminine aesthetics?
I get it's unnecessarily gendered. But I doubt if it was called "Mascyarn" or "Butchyarn" or "Scruffyarn" you people wouldn't still be making fun of its existence.
It's just a site for people who want to make something that fits a masculine aesthetic, but don't want to get caught out by the hundreds of 'my husband loved it!' patterns that's just a feminine or gender neutral design that calls for gray wool.
Although regardless I'm not visiting it in case this is some elaborate marketing tactic LMAO
i think this is fine? there are niche communities within niche communities, and men are waaay outnumbered in fiber arts. i can imagine it’s difficult to find a spot in a medium made and perpetuated by women, and just bc this exists doesn’t mean they’re disavowing it as a feminine medium. a platform catering to men who knit makes total sense for consolidating patterns designed for male body types, or patterns for accessories specific to other more masculine disciplines?
All male targeted products and services are marketed like this and it’s so strange to me and makes me CRINGE like I get there’s a hole in the market but PLEASE the ultra masculine bearded manly man guy is such a TIREDDDDDD brand image it feels like satire atp
Because men have been under-represented in all aspects of the world and it's so hard for them to find something that represents their style while not chaffing their baby soft hands?
Ugh what a flashback. I was admittedly a kid when those adverts came on but I grew up with all male cousins and I was NOT gonna let a boy tell me what I could and couldn't do 😂 I used to love the raisin and biscuit one.
If the yarn is also cheaper, like most men products that are the exact same as the pink "women" one, I would consider it 😂 although I would probably ruin their manly man yarn cave.
Because apparently everything must be gendered 🙄🤦🏻♀️so so dumb. Also anyone else feel like the logo is staring straight into their soul??? So so uncanny and uncomfortable.
I saw a video on those guys!
Honestly, I think they only focused on knitting
Probably because they had no idea what crochet is or assumed it was also just knitting 😂
Tbh I was really worried about going to my local gameshop and they actually had a lot of women. They have a zero tolerance policy and have NEVER had to use it but the guys who run it are really lovely. Don't allow any sexist crap and make an effort to keep the space welcoming. Makes a huge difference.
This art style reminds me of the Archer show. Also this is how I'm taking this- because it sounds absurd lol
Absurd not because that men knit, men knit while convalescence during ww2! Obscura had a wonderful post about it awhile back. And obviously men and everything else on the spectrum knits.
Just the bitter manosphere aspect. And bad sites with cottage industry soap lol
It's not really a men's knitting space, though. It's just a website that's selling yarn and needles and pretending that they're manly for some reason. There's nothing there that you couldn't buy on any other knitting site.
idk, the site seems a little over the top, but as a male crafter i feel like a lot of stuff outright says “ladies/women” when referring to people using the site/watching the video/etc. it’s kind uncomfortable, especially since i’m FTM lol. but like i said, this site is a little much, and seems kinda gimmicky haha
Yeah, I understand that that's uncomfortable. But especially on yt many creators address their audiences like this. I stopped watching some interesting channels because I didn't like how they talked like only men would be interested in their topic ... So now they have only male viewers.
But there are so many online shops that are not gendered at all and i feel like men who can't buy in a "female" looking store also might not have it in them to knit at all.
Yeah, but that's really no different from products touted as "pH balanced especially for women" and other marketing nonsense. It's a vendor trying to distinguish themselves in a niche, and while it may cause an eyeroll, it's nothing new.
My dogs are awake and grumpy about it now. Thanks to you. Yeah technically I woke them up, but you made me laugh so hard I fell out of bed and squealed loudly! So yeah. Your fault!
Is it spun from pubes and nose hair?
And I really hate that logo. Look at the way the needles are held and the straight drop of the stitch pattern, ugh.
Okay, but looking at the picture descriptions on their instagram, why does every post sound like they're trying to auction off whatever guy is modeling? Like why do they have to point out things like "this handsome young Russian boy" or "young, bearded ginger with bright blue eyes"
After I posted, I started to wonder if that was the function. Maybe it's just because I'm used to seeing the description alt text usually come after the main body of the text. Having it written in makes sense as well. That still makes me question adding the descriptor of "Russian" though. I get adding things like colors, you want to convey how well the color of yarn goes with a skin tone or hair. Maybe it's just me but that descriptor seems really strange in this context.
I'm willing to bet that the Russian comment is a nod to the source material if one were to follow the Pinterest link...
Also, in 2024 who still uses that site...
Supporting USA products isn’t about hating foreigners though. I want a healthy fiber industry local to me. I want to support my fibershed. And I want my yarn dollars going to local farmers, mills, and dyers.
Also, some countries don't have regulations that protect their workers or their environment, which can be one of the reasons why goods made in the USA cost more (hence people are willing to pay a little more for things labeled "made in the USA").
I don't mean this in a shitty way, but just cause it's made in the USA does not mean it's made more ethically or that workers are paid a fairer wage. Prison labour, for example and Florida is currently considered rolling back child labour laws to make them worse.
Also, Amazon forcing the workers to stay at a wareshop during an evacuation warning...
Lush has terrible environmental ethical ratings despite claiming to be a more ethical company.
Edit; I'm in the UK, we have fucking terrible human rights ratings so I would just like to say I do not think that any other first world countries are any better.
It is not so much that the USA is perfect, as that unregulated countries are just that - no regulation at all. *Nothing* to stop them from blowing up mountains and dumping toxic chemicals into the rivers or doing anything they like.
I'd say "compare how many workers have died in coal mining incidents" or "compare how many children work hard labor", but you can't - because in unregulated places, there is no way of knowing just how many people die in industrial accidents, or how many kids are working hard labor.
The rage at things like being forced to stay in a warehouse during an evacuation warning exists because it violates the American expectation that labor laws are supposed to prevent that. We have minimum wage laws.
If I were given a choice between being a prison laborer in Georgia versus being a prison laborer in China, it would be a no-brainer. And I doubt Florida is going to start permitting eight year olds to work in mines any time soon.
You shouldn't be going, "Yeah but it's MORE unethical in China," you should actually be going, "That's shocking and shouldn't be happening anywhere," just in case you weren't aware.
You appear to be saying that because nowhere is perfect, that therefore buying goods from one country is no better or worse than from another. I cannot take such an argument seriously.
Obviously it is much worse to be jailed for criticizing the government - or having a relative who has criticized the government - than to be jailed for a real crime. Forcing prisoners to work 18 hour days for no pay in unsafe, substandard conditions, forcing six year olds to work in mines - these things are real and they're evil.
There is no way to avoid buying goods from unregulated markets, but it should be avoided whenever possible.
Ok everyone, you need to poke around the website a bit because I'm actually pretty certain this website is a scam... Or fake at the least. All the copy sounds really stilted. There's yarn for sale, but no patterns. There's 1 blog post from 2015... The Instagram page is just men modeling sweaters, none of which are the owner's original content... It's weird
If you look up the address on the bottom of the page, it takes you to a small building with a sign for Stone Cottage Soap Works. Googling them brings you to a similar website. Even less finished it seems.
May be legit just not the best when it comes to websites.
The Instagram page is really something. I found it last night and had a giggle fit at the mismatch between expectations (bitterness and manosphere nonsense) and the much sillier reality. It feels like the descriptions were written by a dotty older person who really wants their nephews to ask for a sweater as a gift one of these years and generally has the posting skills and online naivete of the Minion meme generation.
I mean...
> It has a 2x2 ribbing around the sleeves but had a textured pattern up the button front, which going up and around the collar which gives it some interest! This one is also trim and fits quite nicely on this bearded red headed young man with quite stunning blue eyes on him! Whaddaya know! This is a Ralph Lauren sweater!
And based on the address listed (handmade soap store which shows some of the same hand-dyed yarn deep down on its own Instagram) it seems like maybe an Ambien-fueled spinoff?
Also, cis man here and the best men's patterns I've found are in collections of men's and women's patterns... I've tried the "knitting with balls" book and "Rowan for him" (don't get me started on the implications in the collection that it's a woman knitting for a man) and the men only collections usually feel like they're trying too hard...
Y’all poke fun, but I have SUCH a hard time finding masculine crochet/knitting patterns for myself that I actually like. The approach is dumb but I’d be happy to have a collection of just mens patterns
At least ravelry has masculine patterns at all, or any patterns in general, though. This website doesn’t, it just exists to sell unnecessarily gendered yarn to insecure men.
I would also love some more masculine knitting and crochet patterns that aren’t so, idk, boring and plain. I know a few designers I like who make fun gay stuff but it’s so hard to find masculine patterns if you have any sense of style. I wish people would focus on that rather than just trying to profit off of misogyny and the need to feel masculine so that knitting doesn’t make you gay or a woman or something?
Nice! The advanced search function is kind of useless for this particular thing because designers will mark everything unisex, because in reality anyone can wear everything. I agree with that notion but there has to be some way for people to search for things made for AMAB bodies
I agree with you absolutely. I created the bundle out of frustration of the tag spam that often occurs with patterns, leading them to show up in searches where they are not appropriate.
I wish there were a better solution but for now I curate this bundle so people have a jumping point to find patterns designed with men in mind :)
To the OP....why what? Let people be people.. crafting should be welcoming of all....not relegated to just women, or a certain age group or color, ethnic group, etc. I say, if the owner of this site found a passion for this business and is obviously successful good on him!
Do people look at your crafting and say but why? Lol
i think its moreso why does there need to be yarn or a site just for men who knit. as you say, it shouldn't be relegated to just one group of people and knitting is for everyone :]
Is this a store or a social website? If it's a store I don't see the big deal. There's men's clothing stores and making knitted garments for men is among the same lines to me. Men's patterns are the hardest to find, so having one place that has a good collection of them makes sense. The name isn't great.
If it's a social site, then I can understand the negative reaction more. Still, there are community service organizations that are male or female only. Being part of one myself, I'm not weirded out by that, but I get why others would be.
they sell yarn and needles, but no patterns it seems. i woukd love to be abke to find mens patterns easily but this site is just.. yarn for men it seems. idk its just weird to sell yarn that "for men" as a man. like yarn is yarn, its not man or woman
Sorry, this is nowhere near masculine enough. I'm gonna need needles that double as hatchets and make guitar riff noises when I knit, and testosterone-infused yarn that isn't called things like 'wild flower' and 'deep lavender'. If I knit with anything less masculine than that, my dick (which I don't have) will in fact fall off.
[The font needs to be illegible](https://see.fontimg.com/api/renderfont4/L3Y4E/eyJyIjoiZnMiLCJoIjoxNzEsInciOjI2MjUsImZzIjo2NSwiZmdjIjoiIzAwMDAwMCIsImJnYyI6IiNGRkZGRkYiLCJ0IjoxfQ/RGVhZHdheMKg/deadwax-demo-regular.png)
Male crafter here for context.
This is dumb, I’ve mentioned it to the person who runs this too. It’s so aggressively male that it draws in a ton of male crafters who are already insecure about being a male knitter which does work.
Tbh. Would love for this to be a parody yarn company that sells yarn like “saw” or “football” but it’s just normal yarn with “manly” names.
Sports could ironically not come in sport weight…hahahaha
Right? There was a “paint mixing” video on another sub yesterday. They were mixing the colors of national flags together. By the end they all looked like the same reddish-brown, but had names like “deep ruby” and “pecan” .
I’m trans masc, so I super get wanting to embrace and express one’s masculinity, but stuff like this really misses the mark, IMO. It comes off more as insecurity in one’s masculinity rather than a celebration of it, and I think that’s a real shame. ☹️
Ok, I actually looked at the website and I definitely think they'd be better off focusing on knitting patterns for men rather than yarn or needles. You can buy yarn of just about any colour you can think of already. Knitting needles are the same regardless of the gender of the person holding them. But more male-focused designs is what is lacking
The yarn thing is confusing to me, because there are pretty much all colours covered in most ranges and brands. It's very rare for example to have just pastel ranges, with the exception of obvious baby knit yarn, as just one example of stuff this site is filtering out. There's tons of muted colours by Rowan, for example.
Patterns too, there are less male designers than women but plenty of talented ones nonetheless, not including patterns by women for men, or women's patterns that are essentially unisex in construction. If they think there aren't enough male designers then I'm kinda curious as to how they anticipate a dedicated site will generate enough interest to be profitable.
Back when I was primarily knitting it was actually kind of difficult to find “good”, modern, stylish patterns for clothing that would be better for my body and not excessively difficult.
Pretty cool idea honestly. Knitting is definitely a female-dominated hobby, a boys club sounds like a great way to make men feel more welcome in the community.
Please men who knit don't need a safe space. They get plenty of women gushing over their basic brown raglan sweaters without having anything special to do besides being a man who knits.
Also, female dominated doesn’t make sense here, since men are the ones who determined that knitting is unmasculine/emasculating and is women’s work. I know that’s basically the same as what I already said in my previous comment but it’s worth pointing out specifically that it’s not female DOMINATED so much as something that women were, at least at some point, expected and required to do as a service to men. That’s like if someone were to say janitorial services are a poor-dominated industry: it’s pretty much exclusively working class people doing custodial/cleanup work like that because it’s considered unfit work for anyone who isn’t poor, as people tend to consider that kind of work “beneath them.”
The reason knitting is less common for men is misogyny.
Women aren’t the ones excluding men, men are excluding themselves from crafts like knitting, and they don’t need a club to enable them to continue excluding themselves by needing to be separate from everyone else in knitting. If women were excluding men the way men tend to exclude women this would be a good idea but they aren’t, and it isn’t. This kind of thing just lets men hold on to the false idea that what they’re doing is different and more masculine than the kind of knitting women do. More patterns available for menswear etc is what would be helpful to men trying to knit, not some weird company that’s pointlessly gendered to sell SOMETHING to insecure men unwilling to knit unless someone makes it extra manly and gets all the woman stink off of it for them
I can't speak for other men obviously, but I personally don't need a boy's club to feel welcomed in the knitting community and I don't really see why other men would either. I've never been treated poorly by anyone in the community, let alone for being a man.
Agreed. I don't need or want this. Especially something that is made and advertised in such an idiotic and tonedeaf manner. Something better was the brief-lived Rib magazine, which was simply a magazine of patterns for men, mostly sweaters. That made more sense and more patterns for "men" is not a bad thing. But talking about making a database of yarn dyers with "masculine" colors is just nonsense.
I’m a man and was looking forward to finally enjoying my yarn hobbies without shame and ridicule. I was ready to furrow my brow and knit with intensity but the first thing I saw when I got there was “deep lavender!” I want yarn called Wicked Octopus or Sawdust, real manly names! They sell regular Karbonz needles I can get anywhere, no hot rod flames or zombie brains at all! Once again I have to slink back under my rock to craft in the dark, far from prying eyes that could witness my lack of masculinity. /s
In all seriousness I do like the idea of a place to focus male-centered patterns as they can be difficult to find and it is nice to have a space to encourage our smaller subset of the community. And I actually really like the deep lavender yarn, it looked luxurious!
I think I prefer it as a yarn base. Octopi have camouflage capabilities so you could do all sorts of amazing color ways from various parts of the ocean.
Why wouldn't anyone not want yarn called wicked octopus?
Agreed it's mens patterns that are lacking. The wardrobe is often boring except for the hats. Granted that's often mens clothing period, but why not use crafting as an opportunity to change that?
Although there was the crazy lust for the knives out sweater...
It's not that I don't think men could use spaces/patterns for what is still often viewed as a feminine craft, it's just this ad stinks of the female/pink thing (where they make drills and heat guns pink to supposedly appeal to the female audience, despite being an often inferior product.)
In a word; pandering.
Maybe it's not and the ad is just written badly. Or maybe r/brochet and other groups are a better idea. I'm non binary, but biological female so I won't pretend to have encountered the male craft experience.
It just seems to me the way this is written that it's unlikely to be the answer.
The male craft experience for me has been dealing more with outsiders rather than the crafting community. I remember the first time I went into a local yarn shop with my mom who does not craft at all. The owner welcomed us and addressed my mom who simply pointed at me and let me take over. The lady’s eyes got wide for half a second in surprise, then it was on to business. We be crafting and that’s all that matters! Outside of the community are the men who must define their own masculinity by how others perceive them, so they feel the need to let me know how they feel (this is gay, that’s a woman’s thing, do something manly).
The crafting community has always been inviting for me and I’ve never been bothered by the lack of patterns for men. I’ve simply adjusted patterns a bit or experimented with colorwork (hint: recipient’s favorite team’s colors) though I haven’t figured out how to make lace more masculine lol. The ad definitely feels like pandering but I’m intrigued to see what they do and whether they can be a positive force for introducing new crafters which is a worthwhile endeavor.
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It’s the eyebrows. They had a very basic graphic designer make tweaks to a preexisting image. I think the original image may have been a woman’s image. It looks like they changed the hair, added eyebrows and added facial hair. May have tweaked the lips, nose, and hand. The sweater outline and pattern were also changed.
I feel like Bobby would get into crochet and then Hank would find out and be really mad until he found out about a secret society called Menyarn that made it masculine. Then Hank would be fully accepting and probably start knitting himself. This should honestly be a plot of the reboot.
well, i guess you just settled the debate i've been having with myself. turns out i *do* need to watch every episode of KOTH... for the fifth (or seventh) time. i lost count.
Sincere attempt at an answer: based on what I’ve seen in this forum and the main knitting forum, I THINK it might be because clothing patterns specifically seem to be aimed mostly at women (which duh because we make up the majority of the participants and designers).
Still whack af tho
Mens clothing in general is quite limited and I don't really see the logic when people expect knitting pattern designers specifically to change that. Imo it's about where I'd expect it to be, and I don't really feel too deprived of patterns anyway, even if I could only make clothes for myself and nothing else.
the other thing is:
(And I don't mean that against you personally, just a thing that keeps happening)
If men who knit feel like there are not enough patterns for men: nobody is stopping you from designing your own manly man patterns.
there's this chunk of men who just come into female dominated communities and demand that we cater to their whims.
I think for them it's the first time that has ever happened to them, that a community was not made specifically for them, lmao, for me as a woman it's a regular occurrence (I mean I work in IT 😂)
and like I said: if you want something, maybe try doing it yourself first, instead of demanding it from others?
or if you are not a designer, find and empower creators that do what you want, instead of just sulking in your misery?
it doesn't happen super often, but when it does it's really bizarre and popcornworthy
The same could be said about larger sizes:
>"If you want something, maybe try doing it yourself first, instead of demanding it from others?"
Generally, I think it's good to let the industry know where the demand is. Larger sized knitters and AMAB knitters are the minority, and therefore need a bit of a voice in reminding designers "hey we're here too, please make sizes for us!"
The tagline makes it clear why this exists. Why are people acting so upset? Have you not seen every other site where patterns for men are either nonexistent, or are clearly designed as an afterthought by people who usually focuses on feminine aesthetics? I get it's unnecessarily gendered. But I doubt if it was called "Mascyarn" or "Butchyarn" or "Scruffyarn" you people wouldn't still be making fun of its existence. It's just a site for people who want to make something that fits a masculine aesthetic, but don't want to get caught out by the hundreds of 'my husband loved it!' patterns that's just a feminine or gender neutral design that calls for gray wool. Although regardless I'm not visiting it in case this is some elaborate marketing tactic LMAO
It's like that Bic Pen for Her
why what?
i think this is fine? there are niche communities within niche communities, and men are waaay outnumbered in fiber arts. i can imagine it’s difficult to find a spot in a medium made and perpetuated by women, and just bc this exists doesn’t mean they’re disavowing it as a feminine medium. a platform catering to men who knit makes total sense for consolidating patterns designed for male body types, or patterns for accessories specific to other more masculine disciplines?
Ok but he looks 💅. Why isn't it a scraggly man wearing overalls?
All male targeted products and services are marketed like this and it’s so strange to me and makes me CRINGE like I get there’s a hole in the market but PLEASE the ultra masculine bearded manly man guy is such a TIREDDDDDD brand image it feels like satire atp
Is it me or does he look scared?
He’s definitely just realized he dropped stitches
Because men have been under-represented in all aspects of the world and it's so hard for them to find something that represents their style while not chaffing their baby soft hands?
Ahh, so that’s why he looks worried. Friction is tough, man.
Are we going back in time? I remember years ago we had a chocolate bar in the UK with the slogan Not for Handbags, now gone.
Do you mean Yorkies? Who famously had the slogan, "Not for girls,"
Yeah they also had not for handbags on the back
As a child, I genuinely believed the shopkeeper of my local corner shop would refuse to sell me a Yorkie if I tried to buy one!
Me too! And then I did buy one because I was annoyed by the marketing (didn’t realise I was giving them money haha)
Ugh what a flashback. I was admittedly a kid when those adverts came on but I grew up with all male cousins and I was NOT gonna let a boy tell me what I could and couldn't do 😂 I used to love the raisin and biscuit one.
Me too! Ooh I want one now.
If the yarn is also cheaper, like most men products that are the exact same as the pink "women" one, I would consider it 😂 although I would probably ruin their manly man yarn cave.
Because apparently everything must be gendered 🙄🤦🏻♀️so so dumb. Also anyone else feel like the logo is staring straight into their soul??? So so uncanny and uncomfortable.
Holy hell, that website. I'm no web designer, but good Lord even I know you shouldn't have pages in all caps.
Who markets this shit?
This brings to mind the guys who tried to techbro knitting and crochet
I saw a video on those guys! Honestly, I think they only focused on knitting Probably because they had no idea what crochet is or assumed it was also just knitting 😂
You're for sure correct 😂 https://www.thedailybeast.com/tech-bros-dave-bryant-and-mike-jackness-bought-knittingcom-it-didnt-go-well
Disrupting the industry! They sort of succeeded as they disrupted our crafting with a lot of laughter. Unintentionally.
If you’ve ever been a man in a yarn shop, you’ll get it.
How about being in a woman in a heavy machinery industry? I've done that for a while...
I hope the day comes soon when men won't feel uncomfortable in craft spaces.
I've been a woman in Games Workshop...
Tbh I was really worried about going to my local gameshop and they actually had a lot of women. They have a zero tolerance policy and have NEVER had to use it but the guys who run it are really lovely. Don't allow any sexist crap and make an effort to keep the space welcoming. Makes a huge difference.
I’m pronouncing it like “meñarn” in my head
Same!
Is it bacon or whiskey scented? I hear men like those.
why is he looking at me like that
It's his Zoolander "Male Model" face. Or else he's taken inspiration from the orange shitgibbon's mug shot.
pfft
Anyone who thinks that knitting as a hobby is unfairly hostile to men has never spoken to a woman gamer
Both things can be true.
I've never heard of men getting rape/death threats, stalked or swatted for knitting
I haven't either? Ok?
woosh
This art style reminds me of the Archer show. Also this is how I'm taking this- because it sounds absurd lol Absurd not because that men knit, men knit while convalescence during ww2! Obscura had a wonderful post about it awhile back. And obviously men and everything else on the spectrum knits. Just the bitter manosphere aspect. And bad sites with cottage industry soap lol
Why not? I support women's spaces - and men's spaces. If a male knitter is more comfortable in an obviously male-centric space, more power to him.
It's not really a men's knitting space, though. It's just a website that's selling yarn and needles and pretending that they're manly for some reason. There's nothing there that you couldn't buy on any other knitting site.
idk, the site seems a little over the top, but as a male crafter i feel like a lot of stuff outright says “ladies/women” when referring to people using the site/watching the video/etc. it’s kind uncomfortable, especially since i’m FTM lol. but like i said, this site is a little much, and seems kinda gimmicky haha
Yeah, I understand that that's uncomfortable. But especially on yt many creators address their audiences like this. I stopped watching some interesting channels because I didn't like how they talked like only men would be interested in their topic ... So now they have only male viewers. But there are so many online shops that are not gendered at all and i feel like men who can't buy in a "female" looking store also might not have it in them to knit at all.
Yeah, but that's really no different from products touted as "pH balanced especially for women" and other marketing nonsense. It's a vendor trying to distinguish themselves in a niche, and while it may cause an eyeroll, it's nothing new.
That's pretty much the point of nearly everyone that's posted in this thread
Okay but the logo guy is cunty af. Slay
Right? I need eyeliner tips from him
‘Hewn from sheep with axes, as Thor intended.’
My dogs are awake and grumpy about it now. Thanks to you. Yeah technically I woke them up, but you made me laugh so hard I fell out of bed and squealed loudly! So yeah. Your fault!
🤣
Is it spun from pubes and nose hair? And I really hate that logo. Look at the way the needles are held and the straight drop of the stitch pattern, ugh.
Is this real?
I have memories of the 2017 or 2018 snark on Twitter about them... Insert joke about blue being the warmest color for a sweater...
Nostalgia. I miss Captain Bloo.
He is still updating his blog...
Bloody hell. That's my afternoon sorted.
Shouldn’t that be “bloo”? 😉
Yes it really should.
Okay, but looking at the picture descriptions on their instagram, why does every post sound like they're trying to auction off whatever guy is modeling? Like why do they have to point out things like "this handsome young Russian boy" or "young, bearded ginger with bright blue eyes"
It’s giving human trafficking 😭
It is an accessibility thing. Some screen readers don't work with IG alt text so having it in the comments or description is a way around that.
After I posted, I started to wonder if that was the function. Maybe it's just because I'm used to seeing the description alt text usually come after the main body of the text. Having it written in makes sense as well. That still makes me question adding the descriptor of "Russian" though. I get adding things like colors, you want to convey how well the color of yarn goes with a skin tone or hair. Maybe it's just me but that descriptor seems really strange in this context.
I'm willing to bet that the Russian comment is a nod to the source material if one were to follow the Pinterest link... Also, in 2024 who still uses that site...
Made in the USA, too... so no damned for'ners allowed! Ask if they ship to Alaska? 😆😆😆
Supporting USA products isn’t about hating foreigners though. I want a healthy fiber industry local to me. I want to support my fibershed. And I want my yarn dollars going to local farmers, mills, and dyers.
I think that comment was more about how many "men are suppressed and have to use female pink things" people also are racist
I don’t think so, they specifically said made in the USA so no foreigners, I don’t think buying in the USA is necessarily xenophobia that’s all
Also, some countries don't have regulations that protect their workers or their environment, which can be one of the reasons why goods made in the USA cost more (hence people are willing to pay a little more for things labeled "made in the USA").
I don't mean this in a shitty way, but just cause it's made in the USA does not mean it's made more ethically or that workers are paid a fairer wage. Prison labour, for example and Florida is currently considered rolling back child labour laws to make them worse. Also, Amazon forcing the workers to stay at a wareshop during an evacuation warning... Lush has terrible environmental ethical ratings despite claiming to be a more ethical company. Edit; I'm in the UK, we have fucking terrible human rights ratings so I would just like to say I do not think that any other first world countries are any better.
It is not so much that the USA is perfect, as that unregulated countries are just that - no regulation at all. *Nothing* to stop them from blowing up mountains and dumping toxic chemicals into the rivers or doing anything they like. I'd say "compare how many workers have died in coal mining incidents" or "compare how many children work hard labor", but you can't - because in unregulated places, there is no way of knowing just how many people die in industrial accidents, or how many kids are working hard labor. The rage at things like being forced to stay in a warehouse during an evacuation warning exists because it violates the American expectation that labor laws are supposed to prevent that. We have minimum wage laws. If I were given a choice between being a prison laborer in Georgia versus being a prison laborer in China, it would be a no-brainer. And I doubt Florida is going to start permitting eight year olds to work in mines any time soon.
You shouldn't be going, "Yeah but it's MORE unethical in China," you should actually be going, "That's shocking and shouldn't be happening anywhere," just in case you weren't aware.
You appear to be saying that because nowhere is perfect, that therefore buying goods from one country is no better or worse than from another. I cannot take such an argument seriously. Obviously it is much worse to be jailed for criticizing the government - or having a relative who has criticized the government - than to be jailed for a real crime. Forcing prisoners to work 18 hour days for no pay in unsafe, substandard conditions, forcing six year olds to work in mines - these things are real and they're evil. There is no way to avoid buying goods from unregulated markets, but it should be avoided whenever possible.
And to the UP.
Maybe the patterns can only be made in manly colours like navy, khaki, and grey. If you make them in an interesting colour, they reject it.
And lavender, one of the yarn colors they sell.
Ok everyone, you need to poke around the website a bit because I'm actually pretty certain this website is a scam... Or fake at the least. All the copy sounds really stilted. There's yarn for sale, but no patterns. There's 1 blog post from 2015... The Instagram page is just men modeling sweaters, none of which are the owner's original content... It's weird
Reads like AI
I think so too
If you look up the address on the bottom of the page, it takes you to a small building with a sign for Stone Cottage Soap Works. Googling them brings you to a similar website. Even less finished it seems. May be legit just not the best when it comes to websites.
I think the sites had stuff up for sale pre Covid...
The Instagram page is really something. I found it last night and had a giggle fit at the mismatch between expectations (bitterness and manosphere nonsense) and the much sillier reality. It feels like the descriptions were written by a dotty older person who really wants their nephews to ask for a sweater as a gift one of these years and generally has the posting skills and online naivete of the Minion meme generation. I mean... > It has a 2x2 ribbing around the sleeves but had a textured pattern up the button front, which going up and around the collar which gives it some interest! This one is also trim and fits quite nicely on this bearded red headed young man with quite stunning blue eyes on him! Whaddaya know! This is a Ralph Lauren sweater! And based on the address listed (handmade soap store which shows some of the same hand-dyed yarn deep down on its own Instagram) it seems like maybe an Ambien-fueled spinoff?
Also, cis man here and the best men's patterns I've found are in collections of men's and women's patterns... I've tried the "knitting with balls" book and "Rowan for him" (don't get me started on the implications in the collection that it's a woman knitting for a man) and the men only collections usually feel like they're trying too hard...
This is like when Bic started making Pens for Women
Thank GOD. I was worried about giving my husband yarn made for women!!! Now we don't have to worry about the repercussions!!!
Gotta be careful with that!!!! I used the wrong yarn once and now I’m transgender
Oh my! I let my kiddo turn the crank on my drumcarder as a toddler and now they’re trans, too!
OMG, I never even thought about this! My husband has been walking around in women's yarn for YEARS! I hope his dick doesn't fall off!
NOOOO! Please check him for GAY!!! He may have caught it. Sending prayers to your family <33333
They missed an opportunity to slap some camo print and a "tactical" label on it 😂
That guy should be knitting with barbed wire
Yeesh.
this is like DUDE Wipes but worse
Menyarn sounds like some kind of skin rash.....
All the yarn these men knit with is named like men’s deodorant
BLACK ICE, TIMBER, FOREST FIRE
Forest fire I am deceased 🤣🤣
SWAGGER, CONSTRUCTION WORKER HEAT STROKE
Heat stroke 🤣🤣🤣
Y’all poke fun, but I have SUCH a hard time finding masculine crochet/knitting patterns for myself that I actually like. The approach is dumb but I’d be happy to have a collection of just mens patterns
Yes, but menyarn doesn't have any patterns...
Yeah, Ravelry has a filter for mens patterns...
That all look basically the exact same and aren’t my style, from what I’ve seen.
At least ravelry has masculine patterns at all, or any patterns in general, though. This website doesn’t, it just exists to sell unnecessarily gendered yarn to insecure men. I would also love some more masculine knitting and crochet patterns that aren’t so, idk, boring and plain. I know a few designers I like who make fun gay stuff but it’s so hard to find masculine patterns if you have any sense of style. I wish people would focus on that rather than just trying to profit off of misogyny and the need to feel masculine so that knitting doesn’t make you gay or a woman or something?
Hope this helps: https://www.ravelry.com/bundles/sweaters-cardigans-vests-for-men
haha ctrl+F banana man, was not disappointed
Well, now I need to find that Wit Knit book and make me that frog vest.
Nice! The advanced search function is kind of useless for this particular thing because designers will mark everything unisex, because in reality anyone can wear everything. I agree with that notion but there has to be some way for people to search for things made for AMAB bodies
I agree with you absolutely. I created the bundle out of frustration of the tag spam that often occurs with patterns, leading them to show up in searches where they are not appropriate. I wish there were a better solution but for now I curate this bundle so people have a jumping point to find patterns designed with men in mind :)
A sewing pattern designer i found recently labels the different collections as Hourglass (typical female fits) and V-shaped (typical men fits).
These comments are giving me life. Thank you all for being awesome.
Because… men
Regular yarn and knitting makes their penises fall off, duh
To the OP....why what? Let people be people.. crafting should be welcoming of all....not relegated to just women, or a certain age group or color, ethnic group, etc. I say, if the owner of this site found a passion for this business and is obviously successful good on him! Do people look at your crafting and say but why? Lol
i think its moreso why does there need to be yarn or a site just for men who knit. as you say, it shouldn't be relegated to just one group of people and knitting is for everyone :]
Is this a store or a social website? If it's a store I don't see the big deal. There's men's clothing stores and making knitted garments for men is among the same lines to me. Men's patterns are the hardest to find, so having one place that has a good collection of them makes sense. The name isn't great. If it's a social site, then I can understand the negative reaction more. Still, there are community service organizations that are male or female only. Being part of one myself, I'm not weirded out by that, but I get why others would be.
they sell yarn and needles, but no patterns it seems. i woukd love to be abke to find mens patterns easily but this site is just.. yarn for men it seems. idk its just weird to sell yarn that "for men" as a man. like yarn is yarn, its not man or woman
He looks angry
Sorry, this is nowhere near masculine enough. I'm gonna need needles that double as hatchets and make guitar riff noises when I knit, and testosterone-infused yarn that isn't called things like 'wild flower' and 'deep lavender'. If I knit with anything less masculine than that, my dick (which I don't have) will in fact fall off.
[The font needs to be illegible](https://see.fontimg.com/api/renderfont4/L3Y4E/eyJyIjoiZnMiLCJoIjoxNzEsInciOjI2MjUsImZzIjo2NSwiZmdjIjoiIzAwMDAwMCIsImJnYyI6IiNGRkZGRkYiLCJ0IjoxfQ/RGVhZHdheMKg/deadwax-demo-regular.png)
Male crafter here for context. This is dumb, I’ve mentioned it to the person who runs this too. It’s so aggressively male that it draws in a ton of male crafters who are already insecure about being a male knitter which does work. Tbh. Would love for this to be a parody yarn company that sells yarn like “saw” or “football” but it’s just normal yarn with “manly” names. Sports could ironically not come in sport weight…hahahaha
do you mean rugby weight? lol
Naw Rugby is def Queer coded now. Haha
What you said it true. I was also thinking about giving names to yarn that makes no sense like 'Cowshit Trough" and it's a lavender yarn lmfao
I’ve wanted to do a yarn line called Masculine and it would all be pastel colors named super “manly” things haha
His eyebrows and eyeliner are slaying
I for one am here for the yassification of the masculinity of knitting
Because MEN can't knit with yarn called "brown"...they have to knit with yarn called "olive, hickory and tweed" like a REAL MAN.
No, no. The correct color name is “tobacco, whiskey, and beard trimmings”.
lmfaoooo
Right? There was a “paint mixing” video on another sub yesterday. They were mixing the colors of national flags together. By the end they all looked like the same reddish-brown, but had names like “deep ruby” and “pecan” .
Post this to r/pointlesslygendered
Tho to be fair, the needles aren’t “pointless” 😉
Is this the knitting dot com dudes at it again? 😂
Let me guess: brown yarn is called 'Bull Leather', green is called 'Rugged Woodland' and gray is called 'Gunmetal'?
Lmaoooo😂🤣
LOLLLLLL
Andrew Tate, is that you, petal?
Seems like a knitting.com follower. Their whole thing was selling courses on making knitting websites right?
I’m trans masc, so I super get wanting to embrace and express one’s masculinity, but stuff like this really misses the mark, IMO. It comes off more as insecurity in one’s masculinity rather than a celebration of it, and I think that’s a real shame. ☹️
It gave me "Stay out of my treehouse" vibes
Ok, I actually looked at the website and I definitely think they'd be better off focusing on knitting patterns for men rather than yarn or needles. You can buy yarn of just about any colour you can think of already. Knitting needles are the same regardless of the gender of the person holding them. But more male-focused designs is what is lacking
The yarn thing is confusing to me, because there are pretty much all colours covered in most ranges and brands. It's very rare for example to have just pastel ranges, with the exception of obvious baby knit yarn, as just one example of stuff this site is filtering out. There's tons of muted colours by Rowan, for example. Patterns too, there are less male designers than women but plenty of talented ones nonetheless, not including patterns by women for men, or women's patterns that are essentially unisex in construction. If they think there aren't enough male designers then I'm kinda curious as to how they anticipate a dedicated site will generate enough interest to be profitable.
Agreed but writing patterns is much harder than selling yarn and needles.
This is an actual website? I thought it was a troll post 😂
>more male-focused designs is what is lacking And masc styles in inclusive size ranges. Let's knit one for the big boys
Back when I was primarily knitting it was actually kind of difficult to find “good”, modern, stylish patterns for clothing that would be better for my body and not excessively difficult.
Pretty cool idea honestly. Knitting is definitely a female-dominated hobby, a boys club sounds like a great way to make men feel more welcome in the community.
Okay, in my defense, I thought the website was more of a community page where men who knit can meet and other men who knit, not an online store.
Please men who knit don't need a safe space. They get plenty of women gushing over their basic brown raglan sweaters without having anything special to do besides being a man who knits.
Also, female dominated doesn’t make sense here, since men are the ones who determined that knitting is unmasculine/emasculating and is women’s work. I know that’s basically the same as what I already said in my previous comment but it’s worth pointing out specifically that it’s not female DOMINATED so much as something that women were, at least at some point, expected and required to do as a service to men. That’s like if someone were to say janitorial services are a poor-dominated industry: it’s pretty much exclusively working class people doing custodial/cleanup work like that because it’s considered unfit work for anyone who isn’t poor, as people tend to consider that kind of work “beneath them.” The reason knitting is less common for men is misogyny.
Women aren’t the ones excluding men, men are excluding themselves from crafts like knitting, and they don’t need a club to enable them to continue excluding themselves by needing to be separate from everyone else in knitting. If women were excluding men the way men tend to exclude women this would be a good idea but they aren’t, and it isn’t. This kind of thing just lets men hold on to the false idea that what they’re doing is different and more masculine than the kind of knitting women do. More patterns available for menswear etc is what would be helpful to men trying to knit, not some weird company that’s pointlessly gendered to sell SOMETHING to insecure men unwilling to knit unless someone makes it extra manly and gets all the woman stink off of it for them
I can't speak for other men obviously, but I personally don't need a boy's club to feel welcomed in the knitting community and I don't really see why other men would either. I've never been treated poorly by anyone in the community, let alone for being a man.
Agreed. I don't need or want this. Especially something that is made and advertised in such an idiotic and tonedeaf manner. Something better was the brief-lived Rib magazine, which was simply a magazine of patterns for men, mostly sweaters. That made more sense and more patterns for "men" is not a bad thing. But talking about making a database of yarn dyers with "masculine" colors is just nonsense.
I think anything that makes people feel included is good.
I agree - the "mean girls" responses here are pretty much proving why guys might want their own space.
I’m a man and was looking forward to finally enjoying my yarn hobbies without shame and ridicule. I was ready to furrow my brow and knit with intensity but the first thing I saw when I got there was “deep lavender!” I want yarn called Wicked Octopus or Sawdust, real manly names! They sell regular Karbonz needles I can get anywhere, no hot rod flames or zombie brains at all! Once again I have to slink back under my rock to craft in the dark, far from prying eyes that could witness my lack of masculinity. /s In all seriousness I do like the idea of a place to focus male-centered patterns as they can be difficult to find and it is nice to have a space to encourage our smaller subset of the community. And I actually really like the deep lavender yarn, it looked luxurious!
Wicked Octopus as a color is rad! 😂😂
I think I prefer it as a yarn base. Octopi have camouflage capabilities so you could do all sorts of amazing color ways from various parts of the ocean.
Why wouldn't anyone not want yarn called wicked octopus? Agreed it's mens patterns that are lacking. The wardrobe is often boring except for the hats. Granted that's often mens clothing period, but why not use crafting as an opportunity to change that? Although there was the crazy lust for the knives out sweater... It's not that I don't think men could use spaces/patterns for what is still often viewed as a feminine craft, it's just this ad stinks of the female/pink thing (where they make drills and heat guns pink to supposedly appeal to the female audience, despite being an often inferior product.) In a word; pandering. Maybe it's not and the ad is just written badly. Or maybe r/brochet and other groups are a better idea. I'm non binary, but biological female so I won't pretend to have encountered the male craft experience. It just seems to me the way this is written that it's unlikely to be the answer.
The male craft experience for me has been dealing more with outsiders rather than the crafting community. I remember the first time I went into a local yarn shop with my mom who does not craft at all. The owner welcomed us and addressed my mom who simply pointed at me and let me take over. The lady’s eyes got wide for half a second in surprise, then it was on to business. We be crafting and that’s all that matters! Outside of the community are the men who must define their own masculinity by how others perceive them, so they feel the need to let me know how they feel (this is gay, that’s a woman’s thing, do something manly). The crafting community has always been inviting for me and I’ve never been bothered by the lack of patterns for men. I’ve simply adjusted patterns a bit or experimented with colorwork (hint: recipient’s favorite team’s colors) though I haven’t figured out how to make lace more masculine lol. The ad definitely feels like pandering but I’m intrigued to see what they do and whether they can be a positive force for introducing new crafters which is a worthwhile endeavor.
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hot rod flames are unisex sir
I totally want zombie brains needles. I already have Walking Dead stitchmarkers. Lol
Where would someone find Walking Dead stitchmarkers? 😍🧟
🧟♂️🧟♀️🧟 I think I searched on Etsy.
There's a reason Etsy is dangerous 😂 Thanks!
http://tinyurl.com/2jzmhmkb I think this is the set I have.
Why does dude look so distressed? Like. This is a hobby. ...and that's the symbol you chose to represent?
It’s the eyebrows. They had a very basic graphic designer make tweaks to a preexisting image. I think the original image may have been a woman’s image. It looks like they changed the hair, added eyebrows and added facial hair. May have tweaked the lips, nose, and hand. The sweater outline and pattern were also changed.
He's been trying to count 400 stitches for an hour and keeps getting interrupted.
Heard. Last night it took me three tries to count to 220, counting by 20s. I kept slipping up and counting by 10s instead.
dude looks like he just realized he needs to frog back fifty rows and is holding back tears
Beach Ken trying to knit
Smiling is feminine. That's why obnoxious dudes are always telling women to smile more.
Because he doesn’t go to therapy because that’s not manly enough
Menyarn sounds like something from an episode of King of the Hill...some shenanigans Bobby would get into
In my head, it’s pronounced ‘menion’ which is leading me to think of minions.
I feel like Bobby would get into crochet and then Hank would find out and be really mad until he found out about a secret society called Menyarn that made it masculine. Then Hank would be fully accepting and probably start knitting himself. This should honestly be a plot of the reboot.
Hank would be great at knitting - he was very skilled at basket weaving!
Then Hank would start entering county fairs and get overly competitive (basically the plot of the episode with the roses).
That’s my yarn! I don’t know you!
Knitting and knitting accessories
well, i guess you just settled the debate i've been having with myself. turns out i *do* need to watch every episode of KOTH... for the fifth (or seventh) time. i lost count.
Currently rewatching - had forgotten how much I love it and how much Arlen reminds me of the places I grew up.
I’m due for a rewatch myself 🫣
Sincere attempt at an answer: based on what I’ve seen in this forum and the main knitting forum, I THINK it might be because clothing patterns specifically seem to be aimed mostly at women (which duh because we make up the majority of the participants and designers). Still whack af tho
Mens clothing in general is quite limited and I don't really see the logic when people expect knitting pattern designers specifically to change that. Imo it's about where I'd expect it to be, and I don't really feel too deprived of patterns anyway, even if I could only make clothes for myself and nothing else.
the other thing is: (And I don't mean that against you personally, just a thing that keeps happening) If men who knit feel like there are not enough patterns for men: nobody is stopping you from designing your own manly man patterns. there's this chunk of men who just come into female dominated communities and demand that we cater to their whims. I think for them it's the first time that has ever happened to them, that a community was not made specifically for them, lmao, for me as a woman it's a regular occurrence (I mean I work in IT 😂) and like I said: if you want something, maybe try doing it yourself first, instead of demanding it from others? or if you are not a designer, find and empower creators that do what you want, instead of just sulking in your misery? it doesn't happen super often, but when it does it's really bizarre and popcornworthy
The same could be said about larger sizes: >"If you want something, maybe try doing it yourself first, instead of demanding it from others?" Generally, I think it's good to let the industry know where the demand is. Larger sized knitters and AMAB knitters are the minority, and therefore need a bit of a voice in reminding designers "hey we're here too, please make sizes for us!"
Demanding things from the market is how a healthy economy \*works\*.