“A body is a body” - Unisex knitting with Jimmy Does Knitting
Jimmy Myers, of Jimmy Does Knitting, brings a unique perspective to the knitting world. As one of the very few men in the knitting community, he started designing his own patterns shortly after he had learned the craft. “The patterns I wanted to make were just not written for my body.” Out of necessity as well as curiosity, he learned how to modify existing patterns and draft his own. Now, his patterns are playful, versatile and unisex.
Stash neutrality for 2025
Jimmy started to crochet during the COVID-19 pandemic but quickly found his way towards knitting in 2021. As a self-taught knitter, he learned from YouTube, where he now publishes his own videos passing on his knowledge and confidence to other knitters learning new techniques.
Four years later, he published nine patterns on Ravelry and finished 50 knit projects in 2024 alone. With this high an output, it is understandable that he tracks not only his finished objects (FOs) but also his stash. For 2025, Jimmy aims for ‘stash neutrality’. It is a new but intriguing concept for me: knowing what is in your stash, what goes in and out and committing to not let it grow, while not necessarily aiming to reduce it either. Jimmy shares: “I am excited about knitting from my stash this year. I have all these lingering ideas and they need to come out.
Gift bucket
Jimmy explains he is a selfish knitter in the sense that he knits what he wants when he wants to and admits that he has enough black sweaters. Nowadays, he keeps a gift bucket of knits to give away. He tells me: “When it’s time for a birthday, Christmas or just a thank you, I let people reach in the box to take what they like.” What a brilliant idea ♥️
Wearing a uniform
The first thing I told Jimmy when we got on the call was: “Look at us, both wearing black knitted jumpers”. Only later, I learned that those are ‘his thing’. Maybe surprising to some knitters, but wearing black gives Jimmy as much joy as knitting with it. He tells me that a black sweater is part of his ‘uniform’, as he calls it: “It really calms the decision making for me in the morning. (...) Giving myself clear rules and boundaries and sticking to them has made a big difference in terms of how I feel in the clothes, how they go together and how I present to the world.”
Sweater constructions
When asking Jimmy how he started designing, he says: “The patterns I liked were just not written for a body like mine.” And so he learned how to do the necessary modifications and realised that he was really intrigued by the construction of a sweater. As an architect by trade, he loves to figure out how to make an idea come to life. You can hear his joy when he talks about how he got to learn how to construct a saddle shoulder.
Knitting doesn’t have a gender
Of course, many patterns for garments covering the top half of a body feature a saddle shoulder construction - or any method for that matter. But since the knitting community is largely female, it makes sense that the vast majority of patterns are designed for a female body. However, as Jimmy rightly points out: “A body is a body. And a knit does not have a gender.” He wants to give everyone in the community the option and skills to make any garment they want with a fit that feels right to them - be that through his patterns or on his YouTube channel.
“A body is a body. And a knit does not have a gender.”
It is a complex topic and Jimmy has a lot of thoughts around it. He says that men can good and well take a backseat in many realms of this world. However, they are underrepresented in the knitting community and through the Knit Current blog, I aim to give a platform to these voices. In Jimmy’s experience: “Men in the knitting world are - by and large - gay, white and cis, like me.” A relatively homogeneous minority bringing diversity to the community. But Jimmy states that there is still a more diverse population that loves to knit and should be included. He goes on to say: “I don’t find (being a man) is a problem, but at times you might feel unintentionally othered.” At the same time, he shares how wonderful and welcoming the community is when he meets people in real life.
No more fear
The conversation with Jimmy was definitely eye-opening for me. As a cis woman knitting, I am spoiled for choice when it comes to patterns. Talking to Jimmy, I became much more aware of the privilege I hold not having to teach myself techniques how to adapt a pattern to fit my body. Our conversation inspired me to find out more about adjusting patterns and I felt empowered to do so. Jimmy just has that effect! As he puts it himself: “People limit themselves because of fear and they shouldn’t. At the end, it’s just a knit and purl stitch. Just go for it!”
“People limit themselves because of fear and they shouldn’t. At the end, it’s just a knit and purl stitch. Just go for it!”