ManKnitting

[fivecats]

Man Knitting
October 2007 Raleighwood, NC
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Manknitting.

Curious? Then I have actually wanted to learn how to knit for many years. The idea of taking a skein of yarn and two sticks and, with a bit of work, ending up with something warm is, to me, a minor miracle. That it can also be done with great flair, texture and design only impresses me moreso.

Then there's also the almost meditative aspects to it. The feel of the yarn moving between your fingers, the steady, rhythmic motion of the needles, the hands, the fingers.

Given all that, I have still never learned to knit. For the most part I just chalk it up as one more side hobby I don't have time for.

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Half a lifetime ago, when I was a young, skinny thing working my nights away at The Kite Site in Georgetown, DC, I had a co-worker named Eric. Eric was into a wild number of hobbies including bike racing, being the drummer for a punk rock band and dabbling in the Society for Creative Anachronism (the SCA).

As part of his SCA time he decided to make a chainmail shirt. He described to me the process he went through to make and cut each one of the links one night as he worked to bend each link open, slide it into place and then close the link back up. The links were some sort of steel and opening and closing them required the use of two lock wrenches.

It was serious stuff.

One night, months later, he balled up his nearly completed shirt and we threw it back and forth to each other in the store. It was incredibly heavy and was like throwing a medicine ball.

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In recent years Bonn has been doing a lot of genealogical work. She's traced her mother's side of the family back to many of the ancient rulers of the European nations and famous artists. Her roots go back to Eleanor of Aquitane, Charlemagne and Thomas Mallory.

While looking at a picture of a queen standing before a kneeling knight she mentioned she thought chainmail was sexy.

"I could make some chainmail," I replied.

And, with some suitable encouragement, I set about finding out exactly how I would go about doing so.

After all, I'd seen it done before. It couldn't be that difficult, could it?

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As keirf can tell you, the process is not all that difficult. It's relatively cheap to get started and doesn't require a lot of skill. Like most things in life, it also requires patience.

Ongar can tell you it looks real cool, too.

Actually, to "requires patience" I would also add, Determination and Strong Wrists.

When my old Kite Site co-worker made his chainmail he was a young, strong lad in his early twenties. I, over twice that age, wish I had started this project considerably earlier in my life. The occasional need for wearing of a wrist brace slowed the project down for a bit, as has the more-than-occasional numbness in the hands. I've since learned to work within my aging wrists' limitations and take frequent breaks.

Chainmail is slow work. Very slow work. If you look at the picture above it has... um, well, a gazillion links to it. Each and every link has to be shaped, cut, opened, fit into place, closed and then smoothed off at the butt joint. *

That's a lot of work for just a single link.

Multiply that by a gazillion and you get... well, you get a much bigger number than just a gazillion, I can tell you that.

Considering the front section of the shirt (above) took me something close to six months to make, Determination had best danged well come with it's own plan.

My plan is simple: A little bit every day.

Some days it's just a few links done almost as a token gesture. Three links may not be much, but it's another step in the Every Day process. Other days I've worked on it for hours. (It's great for those slow times during shows, for instance) Some evenings I'm sitting in front of the television, cutting another two foot long coiled length of links-in-the-raw, as it were.

It's been a very helpful lesson for me. I've had to come to terms with parts of my body that have pointed out (painfully) that I'm nowhere as young as I used to be. I've also learned to appreciate the slow but steady progress that comes with such incremental work.

It is also the sort of thing I've tried to apply to other aspects of my life, including writing. (Admittedly, with mixed results)

And, by calling it Man Knitting I've managed to raise a few smiles and even get a couple of laughs here and there.

More pictures will be forthcoming as progress allows.

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* If you're interested in seeing the full process, let me know in comments.

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