Knittin’ on Top
of the World

If it’s a real place, I will very often study photographs of it, just to know what it looks like in full detail. I don’t do an exact copy of the photograph. I just do the important details and I freehand it as I go along. I estimate where things go so you know what it’s supposed to be. I also use yarns that resemble things in the real world, like a variegated yarn that looks like a night sky.

This is a town near where I happen to be right now, Ellicott City. There’s a big sign when you enter the town that says Ellicott City across a bridge.

All different yarns. In a practical sense, I wear more cotton because usually the weather is warmer. I make some wool stuff too. The one I’m wearing now is alpaca.

The first few sweaters I made were long-sleeved, but then I realized that if I wanted to wear these in the summer, I’d have to figure something else out. I’d always noticed that women wear short sleeve sweaters, but I’d never seen a man wear anything like that. So I got the idea of making them out of cotton and with short sleeves. When I did it for the first time, I thought, ‘Is this going to look out of place?’ Then the first time I went out wearing a short sleeve sweater, I got a lot of compliments.

I do wear my own sweaters every day. I don’t own anything else! People want to buy my sweaters all the time and don’t understand why I can’t sell them. I even had to turn down $6,000 the other day that someone offered me to make them a custom sweater.

Knitting in a group with other people; with anyone who enjoys the craft.

The [knitting] stereotype is people sitting quietly on their sofa, by a fireplace or a TV. I’ve done that sometimes, but I really feel more motivation when I’m able to get together and do it with other people.

There aren’t too many in the knitting groups that I’m in personally. There are some all-male knitting groups, but they aren’t near where I live. A lot of men knit, but there aren’t a lot of men who are open about it.

I have a goal of making at least half of my sweaters into T-shirts that people can buy, and other types of garments too, like dresses and leggings. Maybe nonwearable stuff, like coffee mugs, pillows, and tote bags. My goal is to sell at least one million of my T-shirts one day. If .01% of the population in the five countries where I get the most customers bought one of them, I would reach that goal.

The sweater is the main thing—a sweater that fits what I’m doing that day. Not all the time, but very often, it’s a sweater and shorts. The shorts are because they’re more comfortable than long pants and the fanny pack I just find practical. I have the same pair of shorts in lots of different colors, every color to match the sweaters.

I don’t make a big to-do about shoes and socks. Basically I only wear white socks to make it easy, and I have the same black shoes, technically tennis shoes, which look like dress shoes. That way I don’t have to worry about having different pairs. I can wear them every day.

It makes me happy! I’m glad they’re out there. I don’t know if [designers] are getting the idea from me or not, but that’s not what matters. If they get the idea from me, that’s nice. I’m not worried about them competing with me because I don’t see myself competing against anyone.

And other kinds of knitwear too. Scarves and shawls; all kinds of things.

I have some small traveling gigs coming up, so I will make sweaters of those places. Some of the ones I’m thinking of are the Brooklyn Bridge; I’d like to get that done in the near future. I’m also thinking of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. The National Parks out west—I’ve done some of them already, but there are so many more I haven’t.