The click-clack of knitting needles has long been the preserve of grandmothers and expectant mums, but Mike Dickison aims to shatter the stereotype.
Dickison is part of a group dubbed the League of Knitting Gentlemen, and he is in search of new recruits.
He plans to run “knitting for blokes” workshops every Thursday night at an Upper Riccarton cafe, where men can learn how to knit dishcloths, hats, scarves, and iPhone socks, and make cable needles out of No.8 wire.
Knitting groups had been traditionally dominated by women, Dickison said.
He hoped these classes would inspire men to become passionate about the craft also.
Justin Hosking, who runs Make Café with his wife Kirsty, said arts and crafts were stereotypically associated with women, but that was changing. He runs lampshade-making workshops, for instance, and is on the lookout for other male tutors.
Dickison advises interested blokes to take up their needles for their own sake, however, and not to impress women.
“I would not advise single guys to start knitting just to pick up chicks,” he said “You might want to find a better strategy than that.”
_Emily Murphy for The Press
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