"MANLY" baby BOY patterns

[Ambala]

Lothruin, I love your attitude towards the girly/manly issue!  I totally agree. 

I am the oldest of 4 kids, and my sister and I grew up with Voltron and Castle Greyskull, and my brother used to steal my dolls, and we used to steal his GI Joes, and luckily my parents never acted like it was strange if my sister wanted a doll and I wanted a large plastic broadsword.  Toys are toys, clothes are clothes.  Each of us (well, not me) wore the other's hand-me downs, it was no big deal. 

Lots of people are so afraid that if you put a child in a certain kind of clothing, or give them certain toys, that they will grow up to be too girly, or too masculine - and dads aren't the only ones.  I know lots of moms who can be like that, too.  It's just horribly sad to me.

[FarAboveRubies]

hi all~ thanks for the links!

God made BOYS for a reason, and GIRLS for a reason.  I like to celebrate that 

[LRS]

Lothruin,

Right on!  I was holding back on this topic, but now that you've opened it up . . .

I truly believe that when parents focus on what kids wear or other externals, they weaken the gender identity of their children.  (If wearing pink makes me a girl, do I become a boy if I wear green?  or  If I put on a skirt, would I become a girl?) 

And this kind of discussion points to an inequity that no parent should want to influence their daughters or sons.  The conversation about feminine clothing for babies is "girly", but for male clothing, it's "manly."  It's appalling that one word is infantile and one is adult.  Do we really want to give that kind of message?

I raised a son and a daughter.  They are now happy, well-adjusted adults.  They pretty much wore the same clothes (overalls and turtlenecks in the winter, shorts and tees in the summer) and played with the same toys (blocks, dolls, trucks) and did the same things until they got old enough to define some differences for themselves.  (My daughter is more of an athlete, my son is a musician.)

Sure, we may want to put a party dress on a little girl for a special event and our culture makes it tough on a boy who wears pink.  But parents should de-emphasize these issues, not reinforce them. 

LRS

[Lothruin]

Too each their own.  I make no personal judgement about wanting to make it obvious whether a child is a boy or a girl, or about celebrating their differences.  I simply do not understand where the line is, nor exactly why in a lot of cases, and think that taking gender roles to an extreme from an early age is damaging to the child. 

For instance, is hockey "boyish" instead of "girly" and am I failing to celebrate my daughter's  femininity by letting her wear hockey shirts?  Or am I celebrating her better by not limiting her gender role by what sports, colors, toys are "better" or "worse" for her to wear or play with?  Am I being too ambiguous by letting her play with my old My Little Ponies AND her father's old GI Joes?  (Like I did when I was young?)  By encouraging her to play hockey (she has white and pink Bauer hockey skates...) AND the piano?  I personally feel that encouraging my daughter to cross traditional gender lines is actually a better celebration of her, and that includes traditional colors and motifs on clothing, etc.

Everyone defines for him or herself what is best for their children.  I have to disagree sometimes, but try not to judge.  However, like I said, extremes are never good, and that is the only problem I have with "manly" or "girly" definitions.  However, in order to best provide you with ideas for "manly" patterns, it would be important to know what YOU consider too girly.  Are pale yellow ducks on a blue background too girly, as my friend's husband thinks?  Where do YOU draw the line?  That way we can better judge which patterns to pass your way.

[FarAboveRubies]

hey peeps, I really just wanted some BOY patterns! 

I appreciate people having their own opinions, but I feel that some things get over-analyzed here on craftster.  I'm really not trying to start a gender war.  Can't a girl just request some good "MANLY" boy patterns and get it over with?   

Let me clarify a little:
I'm really looking for some patterns that are stereotypical, traditional, "all-boy" type stuff.  Not just a pattern for a feminine sweater or hat - but if you knit it with "blue" yarn everyone will still think it's cute. 

[Lothruin]

You might like some of the patterns here:
http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/boys_clothing.php

I'm still not entirely clear which details you consider to make a sweater feminine, as there are really quite a lot of plain ol' sweaters out there, with stripes or certain motifs, where knitting it in pink would make it girly and knitting it in blue would make it a fairly straight forward boy pattern.  Hopefully you can find something you like above.  I like the "Greg's Zippered Vest" but it's for a larger kid.

[Yarnia]

I've got a chess blanket I designed for my friend's little boy on my website. http://www.chroniclesofyarnia.com

[subloke]

I, too, was just looking for some manly patterns.  I don't have kids but I have more nephews and nieces than you can shake a stick at.  What I was looking for was some patterns that weren't so "baby-ish" and looked more like miniature versions of "men's" sweater patterns.  So, for me "MANLY" baby BOY patterns translated into that, just like I wouldn't make my brother a "woman's" sweater, I wanted to make his son's "boy's" sweaters.  

So, that said:  thank you all so much for the links!!!  So much to look into !  Must go knit.

[Lothruin]

*shrug*  I really wasn't looking to start any controversy, though it seems I am good at that.  My initial question was only asking for clarification about what was not manly enough, because obviously peoples' definitions about what is manly, girly, and even "traditional" or "all-boy" are different.  I might think the dragon is very boyish, but some people might think it is too cutesy.  Since I don't honestly understand that point of view, I really need someone to spell out for me what they're looking for, or what they are specifically not looking for.  No harm in asking, right? 

I didn't even think of that interpretation of the question, Subloke.  I haven't knit a lot of baby sweaters, but the ones I have knit seem basically exactly the same whether you knit for a boy or girl.  There's no real shaping on most baby sweaters, and it's the shaping that really shows the difference between mens' and womens' sweaters, so I guess I just took it for granted that most basic baby sweater patterns could just as easily be boy as girl, with the simple switch of yarn combinations. 

[FarAboveRubies]

I, too, was just looking for some manly patterns.  I don't have kids but I have more nephews and nieces than you can shake a stick at.  What I was looking for was some patterns that weren't so "baby-ish" and looked more like miniature versions of "men's" sweater patterns.  So, for me "MANLY" baby BOY patterns translated into that, just like I wouldn't make my brother a "woman's" sweater, I wanted to make his son's "boy's" sweaters. 

So, that said:  thank you all so much for the links!!!  So much to look into !  Must go knit.

subloke,
you are awesome!  this is exactly what I had in mind, but didn't know how to convey besides saying "MANLY" - thank you!

*shrug*  I really wasn't looking to start any controversy, though it seems I am good at that.  My initial question was only asking for clarification about what was not manly enough, because obviously peoples' definitions about what is manly, girly, and even "traditional" or "all-boy" are different.  I might think the dragon is very boyish, but some people might think it is too cutesy.  Since I don't honestly understand that point of view, I really need someone to spell out for me what they're looking for, or what they are specifically not looking for.  No harm in asking, right? 

I didn't even think of that interpretation of the question, Subloke.  I haven't knit a lot of baby sweaters, but the ones I have knit seem basically exactly the same whether you knit for a boy or girl.  There's no real shaping on most baby sweaters, and it's the shaping that really shows the difference between mens' and womens' sweaters, so I guess I just took it for granted that most basic baby sweater patterns could just as easily be boy as girl, with the simple switch of yarn combinations. 

lothruin,
thanks for your links -  I did like the dragon
I guess I just assumed people would post what they thought of as "MANLY" and I could see what was out there.  I appreciate your thoughts!