The Conundrum of Guy's Scarves

Recently I was talking to one of my best friends E and her sister A, the wonderful and gorgeous women who model my scarves, and discussing when we would get together again to do another photo shoot. At this point, E's husband J piped up, and asked why he couldn't be a part of this fun. I should note that in return for modeling my scarves, I pay E and A handsomely with dinner and a movie, and that J was really complaining more about not getting any free food than he was about not being allowed to model (I think). I told him the reason he didn't get to model was that I didn't have any scarves for guys. He accepted this, but made an off-hand comment that if I did sell guy's scarves, he would gladly model them for me (and eat any free food I wanted to give him).

I mostly ignored this comment, not thinking he was very serious, but the idea continued to circle around in my mind. Why didn't I make guy's scarves? I think for the most part, that while I was aware there were guys out there who did wear scarves, none of the men in my family ever wore them, nor did any of my guys friends - I just never really considered the possibility before. So, after checking with E and J to make sure he was serious about modeling any men's scarf I made I set about the task of knitting a few.

And quickly found out why I never bothered to beforehand. In the first place, guy's scarves are incredibly boring. All dull neutral tones without much pattern or creativity involved. However, this isn't to say that some brave souls out there haven't tried to make guy's scarves more interesting - but the efforts usually end up looking like women knitting making something they think the men in their lives would like, and not something a guy would actually pick for himself.

Don't believe me? Head over to Ravelry and do a search for men's scarves. Now, while there are many fine scarves out there that would be great for guys, there are several out there that make me pause - especially those knit in particularly bright colors or in lace patterns. To say nothing of the shawls for men.  And don't even get me started on scarves that proclaim themselves to be "manly" - didn't Shakespeare have a line about protesting too much? Now, I'm not saying these items aren't beautifully designed or incredibly well knit, just that I'm not sure that they belong wrapped around a guy's neck.

Therefore, I think I'll stick to simple patterns and boring colors Like this one:

Please note that all the patterns I've linked above are the property of their owners, and you should be nice and follow their rules for reproducing their stuff.

Have you ever knit anything for a guy? What challenges did you face (if any)? Did he pick out the pattern/color, or did you?

Casting off,

Megan