The Sport of Knitting

It isn't just for girls

"Now Mrs. Gonyea, in this sport of knitting. . . ," began one of the questions at the after-school class Laurie Gonyea was teaching at Lafayette Elementary in northwest Washington, D. C.

Her questioner, Gonyea says, was one of the best students in the class: a little boy.

Knitting is a co-ed "sport" for all 7th and 8th graders in Waldorf schools, whose educational curriculum incorporates crafts as a regular part of the learning experience.

But male knitters are still a relatively rare species "based on some of the looks I get," says Chris Martin, the only male in one of Gonyea's recent sweater-making classes. Martin, who works for a trade association, totes a handsome set of wooden needles in a manly brown corduroy bag.

Chris Martin and Laurie Gonyea
(Photo: Kathy Kiely)

After years of making pottery to relax, Martin says he took up knitting because "it's a hobby I can do at home."

Despite "the looks" he says gets, Martin is not alone.

Michael del Vecchio started knitting in 2001 and enjoyed it so much that he started a stag knitting group (the motto: "Man Enough to Knit and Strong Enough to Purl") and an Internet magazine, MenKnit.

The 'Zine had barely hit the World Wide Web when Del Vecchio got an offer that made him the envy of many a more experienced knitting teacher: a proposal from a publishing house that he write a book.

"They just emailed me," Del Vecchio told a crowd gathered at Washington's Politics and Prose bookstore in November for the launch of the resulting volume "Knitting with Balls."

"I can barely say it without blushing," says Del Vecchio of the title. Burly and wearing a rugby shirt, he looked like he'd be more at home hoisting brewskis at a sports bar than fabric swatches in a book store. His book offers encouragement for male knitters and a plethora of testosterone-inspired patterns, including a beer cozy.

And if Del Vecchio is blushing, it may be because he's feeling flush with success: He told the crowd at Politics and Prose he's already working on his second knitting book.

If knitting is a sport, Del Vecchio just hit a home run.