Ryan Agnew lounges in a maroon chair in the Kansas Union with something notable between his legs: Two skeins of yarn lie on the floor at his feet, and a strand from each one leads up past his lap and to the neon blue and green coozie he is agilely knitting.

Agnew, Leavenworth freshman and self-proclaimed “knitting machine,” knits and talks with ease, hinting at his experience interacting comfortably with others while knitting. He smiles but doesn’t hide his needles when a pretty girl walks by. In fact, he says his hobby helps in that department.

“It gets the ladies,” he says with a sideways grin.

Knitters like Agnew are becoming a more common sight. There has been a rise in the number of male knitters, says Annie Modesitt, author of Men Who Knit & The Dogs Who Love Them. She attributes this increase to society’s ability to take male knitters more seriously instead of laughing them off.

“It’s like when women wanted to be racecar drivers,” Modesitt says. “At first, people just thought they were cute, but when they proved they could win, people started taking them seriously. It’s the same with men who knit.”

Men were actually the first knitters, Modesitt says, but as it became a less utilitarian craft and a more social one, men left the trade behind and women picked up the slack. Since then, knitting has been seen as a woman’s work not fit for a man.

Recently, social boundaries have changed, Modesitt says. It’s now OK for guys to like knitting and to admit that they prefer a number of colors in their clothing to monochromatic tones. She says men just have to feel comfortable in their own skins before they’re ready to step outside a social norm.

“We have to do what makes us happy,” Modesitt says. “I just think it’s a beautiful thing to see men free enough to admit what they love.”

Modesitt traveled the country interviewing male knitters from all walks of life for her book, but a student need look no further than campus to find one.

Greg Hill, Nashville junior, doesn’t consider himself a great knitter, but he has dipped his fingers in the hobby and discovered that he enjoys it. Knitting’s cathartic and communal nature, as well as its ability to calm his jittery fingers, are some reasons he enjoys the activity, he says. He also likes the fact that anyone can learn to knit and the activity can bring people closer together.

“A kid can learn a simple stitch-and-knit with his grandma,” Hill says. “You can cross three generations that way. That’s something you can’t even do with rock ‘n’ roll.”

Hill began knitting when his Home Economics teacher gave him a pair of needles and some yarn, he says. It took Hill six months to finish his first scarf, which looks something like a snake that swallowed a tennis ball, he says. Although he never wears it outside, he still keeps it for sentimental reasons.

Since that first scarf, Hill has completed an Afghan blanket, which he uses even though it doesn’t cover him entirely. For Hill, knitting isn’t always about perfection.

“One of the best feelings is making something out of nothing,” he says.

He hasn’t knitted anything lately because the weather often affects his motivation, he says. It hasn’t been very cold, Hill says, so he hasn’t felt the urge to pull out his needles.

Like Hill, Danny Hoyt, Omaha junior, knits during the winter.

He picked up the craft with the help of his mom over winter break a few months ago when he had some extra time on his hands and wanted to do something productive.

For his first project, Hoyt opted to make a hat. The first one he made was too big and the second turned out too small. He was really disappointed when the second hat didn’t come out right, especially because he liked the look of a blue hat with white snowflakes on it, he says.

With 19 hours of classes, Hoyt says that knitting has taken a backseat for now. When he does get back into the swing of things with his knitting, Hoyt says that he intends to try another hat.

“Maybe I’ll make one that fits me,” he says. “It’ll be my first.”