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12-12-2012: Catch up with me at my latest blog post -->
here.
This scarf pattern is available as a
free Ravelry download with the latest updates and awesome yarn recommendations. Click the link (words "free Ravelry download") or search "New York Scarf - A Guy's Woolie Warmer" on Revelry to get your free download
Check out my son's Etsy shop,
Flying Junction. He is an awesome urban graphic artist and photographer with a line of vintage-inspired subway signs, bus scrolls, urban typography maps, vintage maps, other cool urban art. He is the guy I designed this scarf and
the matching hat for (see scarf pattern down below).
The New York Scarf for Guys ... cozy, metrosexual style. A slim scarf with clean, simple lines in an easy to knit pattern that is very enjoyable to knit. (Free pattern further down the page.) Equally at home out in the country or on city streets, this is a hand knit scarf men of all ages appreciate and actually wear.
Guys can be difficult creatures at times ... and for a loving knitter, trying to come up with a hand knit gift for a guy that he will actually use can be a challenge. My son is a great example of a guy who a knitter (that's me) loves dearly but who has very particular taste when it comes to things he will wear.
The first Christmas after I moved to New York from Los Angeles, I wanted to knit a hat and scarf for my son that he could (and would) use when he came to New York to visit at Christmas. I wanted something that would suit his style and taste, while also providing some much-needed warmth for the northern, winter climate. If I knit him something he didn't want to wear, I wasn't going to get very far in helping to keep him warm, now was I?
So, I designed this scarf (see pattern below) and
the matching hat. The cool thing is, it worked! He loved both the scarf and the hat and has used them every time he comes to New York. He has even found opportunities here and there to use the scarf in particular in Los Angeles in the cold months, whenever they manage to have some of those.
Over the past five years thousands of knitters have come to this page to pick up this free scarf pattern. Hundreds and hundreds of others have purchased the pattern for the complete set (New York Hat and Scarf). The paid for pattern includes my personal recipe for double chip cookies I gave to my son along with his hat and scarf when I first sent them (guys love that cookie recipe).
It is very heartwarming to me to know that knitters all over the world have been using my pattern to make these two items for the guys in their lives and that those guys are actually loving and wearing their hand knit hat and scarf. The feedback has been awesome, and it just continues and continues.
My son, in the meantime, started a new business
(Flying Junction) designing and selling vintage-inspired authentic looking subway roll signs and bus scroll prints representing various neighborhoods in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Washington D.C., and Atlantic City. (He also makes custom signs with the same vintage-distressed look--if requested--that his signs and prints have.)
He has worked as a professional artist and graphic designer for more than ten years. His t-shirt designs (online, in exclusive boutiques, and recently carried in several Urban Outfitters stores) have been worn by celebrities around the globe and are frequently spotted in celebrity photos, television productions, and music videos.
His prints and canvas signs are inspired by original subway signs and bus scrolls dating back to the early 1900's. He uses hand-lettering techniques to create authentic, vintage looking reproductions of the original signs and scrolls. He says:
"I believe that taking the time and care in my work to come as close to the originals as possible gives the viewer a more powerful feeling of connection with the cities and times represented. "
I'm telling you about this here because I have an idea for an extra special guy on your list. Knit him the New York Hat and Scarf and give that to him along with at least one of my son's NYC (or another city) subways roll signs. Bake up a batch of the cookies (recipe is included for free in the Hat and Scarf pattern) and give it all to him as a themed gift package.
More Patterns from J. L. Fleckenstein and I Live on a Farm -->
~firefly
Copyright © 2006 J.L. Fleckenstein ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
