KISS

This is something that's been on my mind lately. You see it all the time in the knitting magazines, knitters bemoaning the dearth of Men's Sweaters. And the designers try. They really do. But the result is always some monstrosity that no man in my life would be caught dead in. (And truth be told, probably not even then, some I've seen are so bad they could reanimate a corpse.) A week or so ago I was watching television (OK, ok, it was Stargate on dvd) and there on the screen was a guy in a sweater. (Orlin, did you see that episode?)
And after I got past the "Hmmm, that's a pretty good-looking guy" thing I was able to note that he was wearing a sweater. A basic small vee neck, full fashioned sleeve cap, otherwise plain stockinette sweater.
Alot like this. And it occurred to me, "THIS is really what men wear." OK, a classic Aran or cabled sweater, and maybe some stripes. But usually just a plain sweater in a murky man color (see photo). And we all already have this pattern, right? This is why there are no Men's Sweaters in the knitting magazines. So as a knitter, you really have to decide -- Make him a colorwork /textured monstrosity that will take you months to make and will spend eternity in his drawer/closet, or the B O R I N G plain stockinette sweater that he'll really wear. Knitters choice. But you have to ask yourself why are you knitting a sweater for him. So he'll have something he'll really wear? Or to show off your prodigious knitting skills? If you choose the latter, you can't really complain when he doesn't wear it.

Hmmmm, what is this? A bit of green lace??