Men's Crochet and Basketweave Scarf

An area that could use a lot of development is crochet menswear. It can sometimes be difficult to find a pattern that is more masculine to wear or to create. Of course gentlemen should feel free to wear whatever they like in whatever color they enjoy, but the simple styles that many men prefer are hard to come across. I am the sort of person who believes that anyone should be able to crochet without fear of judgement, whatever your gender or age. Sometimes folks run into opposition from clueless jerks who portend that crochet is only practiced, and should only be practiced, by little old ladies. Not true! Just like colors, crochet is for everyone! Perhaps an explanation for the lack of masculine patterns is the lack of variety in fashion for men in general. It seems to me that in every store I visit women have more clothing options.

One stitch that I have found works well for masculine items is the basketweave stitch. It is bold and clean. I decided to make a basketweave scarf for my dear husband.

 

The fabric is very cushion-y and flexible. I have heard some people claim that no crochet can hope to rival the flexibility of knitting. To them I say, meet the basketweave! For this particular scarf I used wool.

What are your favorite stitches and patterns for men?

Update: By request, there is now a tutorial for the basketweave stitch.