Gender (K)Neutrality in the Knitting World

You might think that knitters, and those who craft in general, would be free from the restrictive definitions of gender rampant in the commercial world. But while it’s true that when knitters knit for new babies we can go far beyond the bland offerings of Babies R Us, knitting a truly gender-neutral garment is still something of a challenge.

When a dear knitting buddy announced that she was keeping the sex of her then-impending baby a secret, the rest of us were surprised by how difficult we found it to select a garment to knit for her shower. We eschew yellow duckies on principle, so those kinds of patterns were right out. Some of us turned to classic patterns from before the age of routine ultrasounds, when gender neutrality was still crucial. The classic patterns by Elizabeth Zimmermann instruct the knitter to put buttonholes down both sides of the sweater and then place the buttons after the baby is born. Yes, button placement is gender-determined! You didn't know?

I went out on a limb and chose a pattern with a tiny wee small smidge of lace on it that others on Ravelry forums  had insisted was appropriate for a boy.

How did I do? My friend loved it. Her husband, from what I hear, took one look at it and said it looked like a “girl sweater.” What did the sweater in? Was it the lace? The color? Fortunately for my sweater, the baby turned out to be a girl, but did I really go out on that long of a limb?

And now, another friend just had a boy. I looked in my knitting basket and pulled out this sweater, made from the aforementioned Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern. Can I give them this? When I posted a picture of the sweater on my knitting blog, my knitting peeps said yes, it is gender neutral. But now I’m all paranoid. Knitters might think purple is just dandy for a boy. How about you?

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