Love of Knitting Fall 2016: A Review

Love of Knitting has released their Fall 2016 issue! Let's have a look at it.

Autumn Leaves Cardigan. The leaf detail is pleasing, but I don't like the way this cardigan lies in front.

Embossed Leaves. Very nice! The leaves are so simple and spare a detail and yet so effective, and they frame the wearer's face so well.

Leaf & Seed Hat. Rather a nice little cap.

Leafy Path Pullover. Very much like this one. That leafy panel and matching collar are so distinctive and the textured stitch works so well with them.

Parallelogram Wrap. Very well-shaped and textured.

Orbit Pullover. Excellent shaping and the collar sits well. The styling is very good as well.

Evelyn Cowl. Very basic.

Quick Finish Jacket. This one was perhaps too quickly finished -- it has an unfinished look and the front doesn't sit that well.

Crestwood Socks. What lovely stitchwork.

Clear Skies Wrap. This one has a nice textured lace pattern.

OXO Pullover. This one has an interesting variation on the traditional cable pattern.

Chevron & Stripes Pattern. Cute and striking little piece. I like the non-traditional colourway.

Hoot Sweet Hat & Mitts. What an adorable little set. It has a smartness that is usually completely lacking in most children's animal-themed stuff.

Wishbone Sweater. A very handsome take on a classic.

Byzantine Tiles Socks. These are rather fetching. It would be fun to play with the colour combinations on this one.

Day of the Dead. This one's a lot of fun and quite visually pleasing as well. The colours are great.

Garter Cable Pillow. This is fine, but I've seen cabled pillows I liked better.

Apricot Shawl. A well-textured classic shawl.

Curving Cables Swatch. That's a nice cable pattern. It amazes me how many cable variations there are.

Circus Train Passenger Car. This is the next car in the toy train set series Love of Knitting is releasing one pattern at a time. I'm looking forward to seeing the caboose!

Creative Knitting Autumn 2016: A Review

The Autumn 2016 issue of Creative Knitting is out! Let's have a look at it.

Ingot pullover. Simple but very effective, and it would be fun to play with the colourway.

Inverted V top. This is an innovative, contemporary look (and this piece also can be worn with the simple buttoned back at the front), but also one that is hard to wear. Cropped-length pieces always add several extra visual lines to a woman's body, and it's not flattering. If you love this piece, I'd suggest wearing it over a dress with no front seamlines, or at most an empire waistline that will be hidden under the knitted piece.

Morecambe Bay Cardi. A "garter stitch hooded jacket with random blocks of colour" sounds like one of those half-assed design concepts that Bergère de France is constantly serving up half-baked, but this designer took that simple idea and turned it into a polished and wearable piece of contemporary design.

Ready for the Weekend pullover. This colour blocking doesn't quite work. It has a certain unfortunate "half a pinafore" look, and I keep wondering where the skirt went.

Ulverston Color-Block Scarf, Hat & Mitts. I rather like the hat and the mitts, but the garter stitch scarf has an undesirable "beginner project" effect.

Undulating Waves wrap. A more interesting colour choice would do a lot for this piece.

Cables & Cords pullover. The shaping is good, and the laced effect is rather eye-catching. I'd be inclined to replace the I-cord in this one with a length of ribbon, which would lighten up the look.

Intertwined Elegance cardigan. This one has potential, but it needed a little more work. The gaps between the buttons aren't a happy effect, and the bottom hem look unfinished.

Origami Wrap. This isn't bad. It has a certain flair and could have a nice effect when worn over a simple outfit.

Woodland Slouch. This has a cute shape and nice texture.

Coronado Cardi. This reasonably well-shaped classic jacket deserved a more attractive yarn.

Gaines Poncho. Love the painterly colours used here, but the shape and finishing details aren't quite there.

Hint of the Highlands. This is attractive enough, but I find myself thinking how much better it would look in a more interesting palette.

Kaleidoscope Pullover. This is the sort of innovative art piece that would work better as an afghan. On an actual human being, it's both unflattering and gives one the look of a poorly adjusted TV set.

Stranded & Striped Cardigan. The design is really quite lovely... and I'm imagining it in pretty much every other colourway than this one.

Terranova pullover. This looks like mésalliance of components that were originally created for at least three different sweaters.

Twisted-Float Cowl. I could see this working as a cute little accessory, though again it needs a different colourway.

Bergère de France 183: A Review Part Deux

We've previously had a look at the first half of the patterns in Bergère de France issue 183, so let's move on to the second half.

Pattern #23, Short Sleeve Sweater -- Soft & Luxurious Version. Frumpy and dumpy.

Pattern #24, Snood. Adding the cowl does help a little, but not enough.

Pattern #25, Dress -- Flecked Check Version. I'm liking the checked effect, and the shaping is quite good, but I think I'd make this item in either a dress or a sweater length rather than as a tunic.

Pattern #26, Dress -- Classic Sparkling Version. This is supposed to be a dress, but it is not a dress. It is, rather, a clear indication that the designer needs to go back to the drawing board and to put in some actual effort next time.

Pattern #27, Sweater-Poncho. If I were editrice of Bergère de France, I'd consign the designer of this one back to the drawing board along with the designer of the previous item.

Pattern #28, Snood. And no, the addition of this cowl would not convince me to let the designer off drawing board duty.

Pattern #29, Poncho. This would look much better on a couch than on a person.

Pattern #30, Sweater. It seems to be one of Bergère de France's pet beliefs that if you throw a lot of random "decorative" crap on a design, you'll distract possible purchasers from the basic faults and limitations of the design. Which in this case is that poorly designed collar.

Pattern #31, Bodywarmer. Come on, Bergère de France, couldn't you have made some effort to shape the front sides of this piece at least a little?

Pattern #32, Beanie; and Pattern #33, Snood. Not a bad-looking hat and cowl set.

Pattern #34, Bag. Bergère de France sells these bag-making kits, and it does look like a very decent product, but they've never come up with a decent design for them yet. This one is... okay, just okay, and certainly better than some of the past horrors Bergère de France has come up with... but the kit deserves so much better. I'd like to see this bag done in a beautiful Fair Isle or cabled design for instance, or maybe something like a houndstooth pattern.

Pattern #35, Bag. Not much of an improvement on the previous design, and that cross-stitching looks crude.

Pattern #36, Hooded Scarf. This is... wearable. I suppose it might appeal to the kind of woman who visits her sick grandmother regularly.

Pattern #37, Hooded Scarf. The same hooded scarf again, this time in taupe. I am not sure why Bergère de France decided that putting a design in a different colour qualified it for its own pattern number and page.

Pattern #38, Cap; and Pattern #39, Scarf. Not a bad-looking hat and scarf set, though I think I would add a fringe to the scarf ends.

Pattern #40, Rug. Rather a nice simple rug, but be warned this is knitted with ten strands of the recommended yarn, which could be a bit of challenge.

Pattern #41, Diamond Patterned Cushion. This isn't bad -- it's even a little effective -- but I still find myself wishing the designer had put a little more effort into it.

Pattern #42, Plain Cushion. This thing is so plain, it's a nonentity. Why on earth would anyone need or want a pattern for something this dead simple?

Pattern #43, Jacquard Cushion. Simple and striking.

Pattern #44, Jacket. This is another piece that the designer apparently slapped together with minimal effort. I have to give Bergère de France credit for styling and photographing it in a way that looks very close to chic, but this jacket would look like a frumpy, droopy, undesigned nothing in actual life.