Interweave Knits Fall 2013: A Review

The Interweave Knits Fall 2013 issue is out. Despite several missteps, this issue has some first-rate designs in it, and there are at least four I want to make, so although I don't buy many knitting magazines, I'm going to buy this one. Let's have a look at the 24 designs in it, shall we?

And we begin very well with the Barnard Raglan. I haven't a nit to pick where this one is concerned. The ballet neckline and the cable detailing give this sweater flattering lines and visual interest. This is a simple yet distinctive sweater most women could wear just about anywhere.

The Bryn Mawr Dress is another good design. I think some women might want to make it with a little more ease and/or lower the neckline and/or change the length of the sleeves, but as long as it suits you it's a good design as is. Love the texture.

The Clear Creek Pullover is another simple, flattering pattern with just the right amount of detail to catch the eye. I'm not sure I'd want to wear a strappy top underneath it, but that may just be me. I've linked to the pattern page on Ravelry for now because the link in Interweave's preview page isn't working.

The Nexus Cowl is another pattern I like. I wonder if that cowl is long enough to double around the neck? If it isn't, I would make it long enough to do so because it's such a bonus to have that second wearing option with a cowl. And that's some standout stitchwork there, but did anyone else do a slight double take when he or she first saw it because it looked a little like interlocked skeletal hands?

The Seven Sisters Pullover is another good, wearable, and simple yet interesting design. I am especially loving the ballet necklines in this issue, which are so flattering and yet seem to occur relatively rarely in knitwear.

The Crinoline Tee is really basic, but it's a competent, wearable design and would be a good way to showcase a beautiful yarn in a colour you really love.

The Permanent Way Cape. I'm not a fan of capes, but I must admit this is a good example of one, and has been constructed with considerable skill and care.

I do like a glove with an elongated cuff because it's so much warmer and more comfortable to never have any wrist bared to a Toronto winter, but the Ballast Gloves are a little longer than I would like. One usually puts on one's coat before one's gloves, and with these one will either have to reverse that order or wind up awkwardly stuffing the arm of the glove up one's coat sleeve. They can be made shorter, of course, and other than that one concern these really are well-designed. Love the detail on the back of the hands.

This is the Surrey Jacket, and I can't say I'm taken with it. There isn't a photo of it done completely up, and it just looks awkward and ill-fitting when worn open. Someone needs to figure out a way to make double-breasted styles look good when worn unfastened.

Love the Minstral Scarf, which is just ever so ethereal and lovely. It will catch on everything, it won't provide any significant warmth, but who cares. Sometimes it's enough for an item just to be aesthetically pleasing.

This is the No. 6 Shrug, and I can't say I consider it a successful design. It just looks awkward and as though the model is trying on an unfinished part of a sweater for size.





The Haberdashery Cowl isn't bad. I'm not crazy about the colourway, which is a little on the dreary side, and it doesn't look all that good worn unbuttoned — the buttons and loops are just hanging there looking untidy and useless in the "open" shot.

The Concord Jacket is well-designed, and it's attractive, but that is one trying fit that will not flatter most women. Cardigans that don't meet in the front just tend to look too small.

Quite like the Rheinfels Mittens. I'd be inclined to whip up a hat to go with the mittens, or at least carefully choose their colourway to go with my coat. I think they'd look better when visually tied to something else than they do as a one-off.

The Trieste Cardigan is a really darling baby cardigan. It's simple yet has such style, and it's so carefully finished.

The Plowman Cardigan is something a bit different, but it works. The garter shawl collar and belt work really well, and the arrow intarsia motifs are strikingly graphic.

The Epeiric Vest is an excellent design with an elegantly understated colourway and is a very worthy addition to the long and lovely Fair Isle sweater tradition, but I will say that this sample has one major flaw. The v-neck was very poorly done and it's distorting the design — those horizontal design bands should all run straight across the chest. If you make this sweater, either pick up more stitches for the neckband than this knitter has done or don't cut the neck so low that it needs such a deep v-neck.

Love the Dressage Cap, but I will warn you to take care to make the cap's visor wide enough to suit the wearer, which is to say it should be a touch wider than her face. You can see here that the visor is narrower than the width of the model's face, and it's not doing her any favours.

Love the Cornhusk Pullover. The use of gradient colour and the eyelet cables is just inspired and a perfect blending and balance of two striking design elements. Those three-quarter length sleeves aren't for every woman, but there's no reason they can't be lengthened or shortened to suit the intended wearer.

I do really like the drop lace stitch shoulder detail on the Prisma Dolman, but I can't say I care for anything else about this design. The visible seams and rolling hems aren't really working here and just make it look crude and unfinished.

The Converge Pullover isn't really working either. It looks like a beginner knitting project with some glaring mistakes in it.

I do quite like the Filtered Pullover. The dropped stitch bands really work here, setting up an interesting contrast to the cables. The cropped length isn't for everyone, but the sweater can be easily lengthened.

The Corrugated Tunic isn't without a certain aesthetic interest, but man, this is one seriously unflattering item. Even the model isn't working it, but is gazing off to the side with a "Why am I wearing the same look as the wall I'm leaning against?" expression. If you really want the effect the Corrugated Tunic will create, save yourself the knitting time and don a Corrugated Box.





I do not know why the designer of the Joan of Arc Sweater saw fit to add saddlebags to what would otherwise have been a perfectly nice cabled pullover, but it wasn't a happy thought.