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The Boston Globe

Lifestyle

Men finding new hobbies to help relax, socialize

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, following a morning of throwing elbows and running suicide sprints, professional soccer players Matt Reis, Kelyn Rowe, and Chris Tierney left their field with plans to, as Reis put it, “go unwind.”

But the New England Revolution teammates did not head to a pub for burgers and beer. They drove to Reis’s home in Franklin and they cooked a late lunch of fish tacos, with baked and pan-seared tilapia, homemade red cabbage slaw, and homemade mango pomegranate guacamole on the side.

Comments

my father and step-father both knitted socks. they learned during WWI when families sat around at night knitting for the troops. in fact, my father taught my mother how to knit, and my step-father made argyle socks, something i wouldn't attempt. yesterday i saw several men attending a large knit-in, and i see men knitting on the commuter rail, some very young who learned at their waldorf school and get busy just before christmas. if there's truly a gender difference as far as brain and proclivities go, then it must include the engineering realm where spatial sense and systems reign. as with weaving and spinning, men also get it and get it well. half my weaving classes have been male engineers. spinning is just as engaging and restful. everytime i do demonstration spinning, the men who are the most attentive. they want to know about the mechanics of the wheel and the ratios.  it's all about space and what happens in it!

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What's next, Tupperware parties and Mary Kay?

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This must have been a hard story to write, navigating between two competing goals.  On the one hand the men relaxing while knitting have to be portrayed as secure, masculine manly men and absolutely not gay.  On the other hand the Globe makes a priority of finding the gay angle in every story, I encounter a lot more gay couples in the pages of the Globe than I do out and about in the real world, and fostering the impression that it's not only OK to be gay, it's actually better to be gay.  The writer understandably ignored the gay angle in this story but it must have been a real dilemma.

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Huhh? The "gay angle in this story?" It's about guys knitting. And this coming from a dude in a bow tie? I'm confused.

Apparently you are confused since I was going for the nerd look and no self respecting gay man would be caught dead in a short sleeved white shirt, bow tie, plastic pocket protector, and glasses held together with adhesive tape. 

I can't JUST watch television. I need something to do with my hands. So years ago I took up needlepoint. As an artist, I design my own stuff. In 20-odd years I've made dozens of pillows and a great number of rugs -- so I'm doing my Christmas shopping as well.

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Yes!  Long may the Boston Globe carry on the feminist jihad! 

 

Never rest until ALL men know their proper place, serving and obeying the nearest woman.

 

I,I,I just don't know what to say to this. Guys, really? Knitting? Really? You need to find a hobby....er....nevermind.

Jesus.  Only the Globe would excite itself about this kind of fringe story and try to find societal significance about it.  A companion piece about women's shooting clubs is probably next.  

Guys, put down the needles and join the Masons. You will not regret it.