Knitting may seem like a hobby that is overwhelmingly dominated by women, but The Tangled Ball’s group ‘Dicks with Sticks’ is defying stereotypes.
“We knew we wanted a guy’s group,” said The Tangled Ball’s owner Marsha Corn. “We wanted a safe environment for men to just come and hang out. Some men were a little nervous about coming so we wanted them to have their own space. It’s been fun.”
The Tangled Ball, a knitting and yarn store located at Edgewater Public Market in Denver, opened four years ago during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Corn left a career in social work to care for her family and, through that, opened her shop as a hub for the crafting community. After years of events and classes filled up by fellow women, Corn turned her attention to a new demographic: men.
The shop owner said her friend Leslie came up with the tongue-in-cheek Dicks with Sticks name and Corn’s husband devised the group poster—an edited image of former President Richard Nixon holding knitting sticks and drinking a beer. Every first and third Sunday afternoon, a group of 8 to 10 men gather at the shop to work on their projects.
“I’ve been coming for two or two and a half years now,” said group member David while sipping a beer as he completed a few stitches on his current project. “The community here is excellent.”
For David, the community is central to the hobby. “I feel like it’s so motivating because you have people to share with when you’re done. Everyone is excited when you finish something.”
Historically, knitting is thought to have descended from fishing net techniques, originating in Egypt and the Middle East. Knitting spread across Europe, mainly at the hands of male practitioners. Before ‘knitting’, the Vikings used needlework known as ‘Nålbinding’, which was often done by men.
“I think the difference between the guy’s group and the girl’s group is that when the girls are alone together we chat more,” Corn said. “They’re just guys. Sometimes they don’t talk to each other at all.”
Instead, the Dicks with Sticks group is a chance for the guys to be alone together.
“Last fall during football season we had a TV and the game was on, and there were 6 or 8 guys chilling with beers, knitting,” David said. “It was pretty funny.”
Fellow Dicks with Sticks member Josh has been a part of the group for three months after spotting the store while out to dinner with his family. Although his wife isn’t into the hobby, she bought him a knitting 101 book. But Josh found it challenging to learn from book diagrams and decided to check out the Dicks with Sticks group.
“I started figuring it out and just enjoyed doing it,” Josh said. “I’d never seen a guy’s group with knitting. Being a guy knitting always feels kind of weird, especially in public.”
David echoed that feeling of self-consciousness as a man who knits. Despite the growing numbers of men in the craft and communities like the Dicks with Sticks group, being a man who knits can still present challenges.
“A lot of the knitting shops I go into I feel out of place,” Josh said. “I get a lot of, ‘Oh you knit?’ A lot of people don’t have experience with guys who knit.”
David prefers to look at it with a sense of humor.
“I’ve made a lot of shawls! As a guy, I haven’t figured out how to wear a shawl in public, in a way I like at least,” David joked. “There’s a perception of the things you can make and wear. For example, I have too many hats.”
Josh also struggled with finding patterns he was interested in making but eventually settled on socks. More importantly, the hobby is a way for him to connect with his kids who are taking up the skill like dad.
“My kids both crochet and my son is starting to pick up knitting,” Josh said. He’s 11. He gets frustrated when it doesn’t come easily, but he’s interested.”
Both men said the group and store have been welcoming environments, and they encouraged other men to check them out if they’re feeling out of place.
“We’re just a normal group of guys,” Josh said. “It’s not abnormal, I think especially after COVID, I bet a lot of people picked it up. It’s something to do, and it’s very rewarding at the end of the day.”