Work Text:
Twitter User 83zline receives the following strawpage ask. The statement below encompasses the user's response.
"okay, actually, i'm gonna take this opportunity to fully outline everything that has happened so far with this whole “teukie knits heechul a sweater thing”, so this is probably gonna be a long thread.
so after ss11 ended, teukie kind of took a massive break from work in general. he didn't take on a lot of public appearances and schedules, group + sub unit didn't have any activities, so i think he was mostly just chilling and hanging out and probably getting bored as fuck because he was doing so many lives. genuinely so many. he was doing lives in the literal afternoon which he very rarely did before, even during the times when he was REALLY active about doing lives. it was very fun of course, who doesn't love hearing teukie just talk? but it's very obvious he was getting bored, you know?
and then one time during a live he asked the chat what hobbies he should try out (this was when he was having that hip thing that he said was making golfing less enjoyable) and people were throwing ideas in the chat and someone said "oppa, you should try knitting". he actually laughed when he read it out loud and said "ahh should i embrace being an old person now?" and then just nodded like he was actually considering it.
except it seems he WAS actually considering it because a week later he showed up in a live with a dishcloth he knitted??
okay so here's where my experience as a knitter becomes relevant, because i've been knitting since i was a teenager and have taught people how to knit. i was SURPRISED by the dishcloth because the stitches were actually very even and it seems well made. it's a rectangle garter stitch dishcloth (garter stitch is the most basic stitch pattern) with no increases or decreases so it's not like it's complicated, but still, for a first project, not bad at all. and it seems teukie was pretty happy with it too? he kept showing it and talking about it and how he actually really enjoyed knitting it. and then a week later he said he absolutely ruined that dishcloth because he placed a hot ramen pot over it and it was acrylic so it melted LMAO. rip to that dishcloth.
anyway after that teukie would just show us some stuff he knits, mostly small ones, like those hats he made for shimkoong that you probably already saw bcos he's so proud of them and makes shimkoong wear them all the time. and then eventually he started doing knitting lives? where he would just sit and knit and talk, literally just a normal leeteuk live except he's doing whatever stockinette project he's working on at the time. stockinette is another basic knitting stitch, and it's the go-to for most projects, because it looks nice and neat and has the classic knitwear look + it is actually quite mindless to work on. teukie actually talked about this once, when he said he has other more complicated projects he works on off cam, but only does simpler projects when he's on live because when he's doing a live his priority is to talk to the chat.
anyway at some point teukie's knitting turns into a full blown obsession, like we never see this man without his knitting EVER, every pic of him in public he has his needles out or his knitting bag with him. also, he starts doing big projects, like he's making sweaters and cardigans and stuff. even when he was back to having schedules, he would still have his knitting out on behind the scenes stuff. it's actually quite cute. this also seems to be when he started making things for the members, like that one time he was seen working on a chunky scarf a couple weeks before kyu's birthday and then after kyu's birthday kyu was seen wearing it!! cute!!!
from what i've been able to surmise here's who has gotten knitted gifts from teukie prior to. yesterday.
kyuhyun - bday scarf
donghae - beanie
shindong - socks
heechul - cat hat for heebum
i think there may be more, they just didn't talk abt it in public.
for some context and also bcos i just wanna do some fun facts, teukie is very much a “trendy” knitter, which is incredibly fun for me because i just KNOW he's on ig scrolling through knitfluencer profiles. one of the most massive knitting pattern makers in the knitting world is a designer called petiteknit, and it seems most patterns that he makes he actually gets from her. the beige shawl he always wore at the airport for the 83z concert tour is i think the Sophie Shawl, the hat he made donghae is the Terazzo Hat, and he has two tops that he wears a lot too that is pretty recognizably made from a petiteknit pattern, the moby sweater and the valerie blouse (absolutely love when he wears the valerie btw, and this one he actually worked on and discussed on live)
and then during smtown osaka last year, teukie did a live where donghae and ryeowook visited his room and he tried to teach them to knit… actually you have to watch that whole live because it is actually so fucking funny. basically ryeowook was kind of getting the hang of it and was having so much fun and donghae was upset the whole time bcos he couldnt figure it out and it really is quite a charming live, seeing teuk try to teach these two how to knit. like at some point teukie was showing them the stitch definition in a pouch he made to show how knitting works and donghae goes “oh this is nice. next thing i know you're gonna tell me you made this too” and donghae points at the knit tee teukie was wearing and teukie goes “but i did make this” and donghae was so amazed and just kept saying “no way, no way” it was so funny.. and teukie looked so proud of himself!!
but for the purposes of this thread, what you need to know is at some point, donghae goes “i don't wanna learn this anymore! teukie hyung, just make me a sweater” and teuk goes “no, i don't make sweaters for people” and then!! he proceeds to explain the sweater curse.
so for the uninitiated, the sweater curse is when one person in a relationship makes the other a sweater and then the relationship immediately fails and the couple breaks up. this is actually a pretty common sentiment among the knitting community and many people have a rule that you shouldn't knit a sweater for someone unless you two are already married or been together a long time and very very secure in your relationship to avoid the curse. people have different takes on it and if it does actually happen or if it does, why, but yeah, it is a common sentiment.
so teuk discusses this to the two and ryeowook goes “but you're not dating donghae hyung” and they all laugh and then teukie says “but it applies for friends too, every relationship that could end” and then says he only will knit a sweater for his family or for the person he will marry bcos he doesn't want to lose anyone important to him. so donghae asks if he has knit a sweater for his mom and sister yet, and teukie says only for his mom but not yet his sister nspsjdlwnxls and then donghae says “but that would be a good way to propose, right, you knit someone a sweater to ask them to get married” and teukie just goes right. right. and then the conversation moves on.
okay. now. here we go.
so during the recent 83z comeback we saw less and less of teuk knitting, he just wasn't knitting a lot i guess, which makes sense because they really were so busy. but when promo and tour for that ended teukie did a live where he unboxed a yarn package and basically did a yarn haul? and it was A LOT of yarn. and specifically it was from the brand sandnes garn which a lot of big knitwear designers including petitknit recommend for their patterns. and he showed all the yarns he bought and talked about what he was gonna make with each of them.
and then weirdly, he went “that’s all!” and moved on to a different topic and put the box on the floor, but when he moved the camera you can see inside the box and there was still a bunch of yarn in there, the amount of which seems to be in what people call “sweater quantity”, which means it's enough amount to make a sweater with. it's weird because 1) why the hell didn't he show it alongside everything else he bought and 2) it's red?? mind you leeteuk is not a particularly colorful knitter, he knits in a lot of beige and whites and greys, maybe a powder blue sometimes. i was like huh. weird.
and then a couple months after, teukie starts wearing an Ingrid Sweater (petiteknit pattern AGAIN) in the color white. this actually was a very trending pattern from way way back, so this is very easily recognizable for anyone who is involved in online knitting circles. he showed the yarn he used for this in the haul actually, and he did say he was gonna make a sweater with it.
and then we dont see teuk knit much after that, like he doesn't seem to have his knitting w him on schedules, doesn't do knitting on live, etc. so i just thought oh i guess he's not in the knitting mood recently, happens to the best of us.
and then yesterday. heechul shows up at the airport wearing a red ingrid sweater.
it's actually fucking crazy. like, the ingrid sweater is actually a very distinct look, mostly bcos it was very trending so you know it when you see it. he's wearing an ingrid sweater that is the same color as the yarn teukie bought in sweater quantities after 83z tour that he didn't talk about during the live. it's the same color, using the same pattern that he used for his own sweater. and this is after months of not seeing teukie’s knitting… like is it possible he was actually working on something this whole time? that he just didn't bring out of the house or show on live? like there is NO way teukie did not make him this. absolutely no way. right?????? so teukie made them matching sweaters in white and red??????? after he said he will only knit a sweater for his family or a person he will marry???????
while i was typing up this response, teukie did another live aldjpwkdiwldjekd so i had to pause and watch. someone asked him about heechul’s fucking hand knit sweater that i am 100% sure teukie made. teukie was talking about something completely unrelated and then paused to read the question and then said “heechulie looks great in red, doesn't he?” and then continued on talking about something else???????????????? ndospsjxowkshsoskfne
well. i guess good luck to the engaged/married couple? these two are driving me crazy."