Interweave Knits Winter 2007 Review
Well, it's snowing and only supposed to get up to 38 today (Fahrenheit, remember) and the radio station's playing Christmas music (not Thanksgiving yet damn it!), which means winter has officially arrived. The snow's not sticking--it's been too warm for that--but it's only a matter of time. Fortunately, being a knitter means I have lots of warm clothes (though I still need to make up the grey wool skirt). I did cheat, though; last week I went to Macy's and bought several pairs of tall warm socks. I could knit 'em myself, but I have other things to work on!
In the meantime, the winter issue of Interweave Knits has hit the stands, and I picked it up last night.
Jess's Gansey by Elizabeth Lovick: If Elizabeth Lovick can tell what the texture patterns were on the gansey (from 1910!) she used as a model, she must have a much better version of the picture than is printed in the magazine. That said, it's pretty cool, in vertical stripes of 13 different patterns and picot edges. I am not crazy about the color, which appears to be carroty orange, but that's easily changed.
Discovering Alpaca by Clara Parkes: An except from Parkes's The Knitter's Book of Yarn, the article gives a decent capsule of the history of alpaca as fiber-producing animals, a good discussion of the fiber's qualities, and several useful hints on how to use alpaca yarn--good solid tips like "don't bother trying to use ribbing for structure" rather than airy generalizations that don't mean anything to the non-experienced worker. If this is what the whole book's like, I may have to pick it up after all. Parkes also does the yarn review for the issue, discussing various alpacas available to the hand-knitter, and the "Bookshelf" article in which she goes over meta-pattern books--things like Sweater Design in Plain English, that teach you how to design patterns.
Kristin Nicholas: Catching the Kaleidoscope by Marilyn Roberts: This article, and the pictures that accompany it, only serve to reinforce my conviction that Kristin Nicholas and I may both love color, but the colors we love are possibly not from the same spectrum. I'm sure she's a lovely person (though phrases like "a laugh that colors my afternoon" make me twitch), but she's quite obviously not the designer for me; she appears to go for basic shapes and rely on color for interest, and I hate her color choices.
Alicia Tabard by Louisa Harding: This comes from Knitting Little Luxuries, and I'm not sure what to say about it. On the one hand, it's a fairly insipid light blue and it would look awful on anyone who weighed more than 95 pounds. On the other, the diagonal cable is neat and the whole thing obscurely pleases me. I'm not sure it's really a "tabard", as it's close-fitting and has no sleeve flaps (I'm in the SCA, I know what a tabard looks like!), but it's kind of cool.
Set-In Sleeves--A Love Affair by Pam Allen: Now this is the kind of article the knitting world needs more of. Solid technical detail, clearly explained in steps a competent nine-year-old could follow. It's meant for designers, but this does not bug me.
Refined Aran Jacket by Pam Allen: The project that goes with the set-in sleeve article. It's nice, though I don't know as I'd wear it much; I'm not big on the jacket-as-blouse look. But the red is luscious and the overall look is tailored and classy. The texture/cable pattern up the fronts extends right through the patch pockets, which is a lovely touch.
Bonbon Pullover by Mari Lynn Patrick: Stockinette with colorwork cuffs, hem, and yoke is a classic, but the color choice here is enough to gag me. The body's a very light purplish blue; the colorwork's red, two shades of orange, baby pink and white. It's awful. The design could probably be salvaged with different colors, but turtlenecks give me uniboob and I'm not going to do it. Also I don't know what they did to the poor model, but something about her makeup makes her look artificial down to appearing to have plastic hair.
Brushed Lace Cardigan by Cathy Payson: Again, I'm not nuts about the color scheme--the main body's a very nice sea blue, but the lacey ripples at the bottom don't mesh too well. It might be improved by the simple expedient of replacing the baby pink stripe, which is the one that pops out as not fitting. Other than that, a good simple classic design, though the shot from the back makes the model look awfully broad-shouldered and I'm not sure if it's the sweater or if she's actually built that way.
Selva Skirt by Angela Hahn: I really want to like this skirt, because it looks fabulous with a jacket over it and the texture pattern will help to rein in some of the problems that knitted skirts are heir to. The kick pleat in the back is a great touch, too. But I can't endorse it because you can't take your jacket off; the texture pattern only goes up to mid-hip and above that it's a jarring and ugly reverse stockinette yoke with ribbing and shaping that gives an impression a great deal like the contrast between the ruffle of a bedskirt and the plain part that goes under the mattress. Given that the pattern's diamond-shaped, you'd have thought she could have figured out a way to work the shaping in.
Henley Perfected by Connie Change Chinchio: This issue sure has a lot of dull colors in it, but I like this shirt. The bottom halves of sleeves and body are stockinette, while the tops are a lovely lace pattern that seems to be related to Walker's Elm Leaves. It's opaque enough that you don't have to wear another shirt underneath. The button band, which goes just down into the solid part, has a neat rolled edge, and there's an almost-mandarin collar that I adore.
Sweater Girl Pullover by Liz Nields: Sapphire blue makes me happy and there's a v-neck for those of us of the amply-endowed persuasion. I'm also intrigued by the shaping, which is accomplished by twisting the allover cables more often in the bottoms of body and sleeves. This is not something I'd knit for myself, but I can appreciate that it's well done.
Forest Forbes Pullover by Kathy Zimmerman: More very light grey-blue, though I like it better here. The cables make for a very tailored look, though I could live without the bobbles on 'em. There's a bit of Maggie Righetti suspicion, here, because the model's pose and hair ensure that the neckline is entirely invisible in the main photo and in the detail shot you can't see much of it but can tell that she's sitting in a fairly unnatural posture. And long tight sleeves irritate me because I can't push them up. So all in all it gets a thumbs-down till better into emerges.
Bubble Cable Dolman by Sarah Barbour: It's a damn good thing the title of this pattern says "dolman", because otherwise you'd never know. Dolman sleeve+boat neck=guaranteed to make the slimmest of toothpicks look enormous. Also, more long tight sleeves. It's in a nice red at least, and the cableing's neat.
Colette Pullover by Véronik Avery: At first glance this looks vaugely Chanel; at second glance you realize that the black that looked houndstooth initially is actually a repeating pattern of cats' heads and there's not as much in the way of tailoring as you thought. And what's with the bad poses in this issue?
Puffed Wheat Pullover by Kate Gilbert: This is kind of bland and it'd look awful on me--boat necks are bad, but whatever you call it when it's a really high boat neck is much worse. Still, I adore the nifty cable up the center front.
Cirtus Yoke Pullover by Katie Himmelberg: The name says "citrus" but I think "pumpkin" would be more apt--both the color and what it makes the model look like. It even has a yoke with vertical eyelet-ribs, which end right at bust level for maximum appearance of width. What the hell, Eunny, you have better taste than this.
Celtic Tote by Jennifer Tallapaneni: Nifty bag, though I think the i-cord knotwork would look even better if the accent embroidery outlined the over-and-under of the knotwork as well as its general outline. But it has structure, which is something knitted bags can lack, and I'm thinking I might like a project bag with fewer holes than the crocheted one I've been using the last few months.
Tilting Cable Socks by Chrissy Gardiner: Why bother doing intricate cablework in a dark, varigated yarn? Not that I dislike the yarn--in fact varigated mossy greens make me happy--but I can't see any of the detail the description talks about in a static photo inches from my eyes. On the feet it's all going to be a green blur anyway, so why not just do plain socks and save the nifty cables for a more sedate yarn?
Ivy League Vest by Eunny Jang: I loved Venezia, and heck, I just finished knitting Autumn Rose, so to say that I'm disappointed by this vest is something of an understatement. It's got yet more of the two-color ribbing Eunny seems to love, and a v-neck which is nice for the bustline, but that's about all I can say good about it. The colors are saved from being entirely sepia-toned only by the faded denim blue, it's way too short (like, it might look normal-length on my ridiculously short waist), and something about the armholes makes the model's shoulders look really weird. It entirely lacks the sensibility that made Autumn Rose a homage to traditional styles while still being modern; this looks more like what you'd get if you asked a modern person to design a traditional sweater--not enough of either era to work.
Subway Mittens by Colleen Meagher: Nice basic mittens in a pleasant pumpkiny orange, but what makes these cool is a pocket for a transit-system magnetic card. No more digging through the purse!
Kilm Gloves by Kristin Nicholas: I like the pattern, and I think it's cute that the background color of each glove is the accent color of the other, but there's something about the overall color scheme that rubs me wrong. I think the bright yellow doesn't go with the other colors.
Logan River Wrap by Miriam Felton: It's a scarf. The dropped-stitch pattern is quite cool, though.
El Sol Pullover by Jennifer L. Appleby: A nice casual sweater, and I like the funky shaping at the wrists and neck. I'd pick another color for the main body, though, as olivey yellow has never done anything for me either aesthetically or cosmetically.
Farrow Rib Cardigan by Theresa Schabes: I like almost everything about this sweater except for the three monster buttons the designer picked to show (there are other buttons, but they're hidden). It's classic and tailored, the texture pattern's neat, and even the yarn, which seems to have something shiny spun in, adds to the overall look. It could have slightly longer sleeves, and a less drab color than greyish tan wouldn't be awful, but even as-is it's nice...at least, with different buttons.
Ruched Shell by Lou Schiela: When it makes a fashion model look this pregnant, you know there's nothing good going on; it may be "designed to flatter", but it's not actually doing so. An empire waistband contrives to draw attention to itself by being not only a different color but a sparkly different color, while at the same time sitting high above the actual waist and therefore making the wearer look chunky; the gathering above and below make both bust and hips look unflatteringly globular. Meanwhile the charcoal grey of the body fights for thematic dominance with the sparkly purple waistband, scoop neck and lack of sleeves.
Gathered Pullover by Hana Jason: It's just a plan old scoop-neck pullover, but what saves it from being miles of stockinette is the neat woven cable at the bust to make shaping. A neat idea. I think there may be something funky going on with the neck around the shoulders, but that can probably be worked out.
Rosemary's Swing Jacket by Cathy Carron: I like purple and I like moss stitch, but the huge collar on this thing is not great and the three-quarter sleeves sort oddly with the amount of fabric in the crossover fronts.
On a more general note, what the hell is up with the poses in this issue? Usually IK is much better about that, giving clear looks at how the garment fits, but this issue is chock full of Righetti Warnings1. Did they change photographers or something?
1: "I'll bet she has her arm like that because otherwise the neck would fall off her shoulder," or "Wait, with that scarf I can't see the neckline". Etc etc. So-called because Maggie Righetti's Knitting in Plain English was the first to articulate that this sort of thing should be a warning to knitters contemplating making the piece.