Knit Simple Spring 2013: A Review

Knit Simple has published their Spring 2013 issue. Let's have a look at the 30 patterns in it.




We begin well! I like this lacy cardigan. It's classic and simple yet distinctive and will flatter most women.






I'll review these together since the same comment applies to both: these are nice but generic lace shawls. You could find something much more striking and interesting if you cared to look further for a pattern, or you could make these and just have a simple little shawl that will serve you well enough.




This is quite an interesting and effective lace scarf.




Another really generic item. I don't think I'd recommend this one. It's so basic as to not even look quite finished.




I don't know why anyone would wear fingerless gloves in spring time. Perhaps the designer of this pair din't know either, and consequently designed them to cover as little of the hands as possible — notice how short they are at the wrists and how they cover just the base of the fingers. These are "barely there" fingerless gloves. And they're fine for what they are, I suppose, but I'd recommend "not there at all" fingerless gloves for spring.




This "textured tank" isn't bad. It's got some visual interest and is a standard-fitting, reasonably flattering item. You'll probably have to wear something underneath though.




Here we have... a tunic-length tank or camisole that you wear over a complete outfit. I'd be inclined to raise the neckline and lengthen the skirt so it could be called a dress. It would look pretty and serve a purpose as a dress. As a tunic camisole it just looks like something made by the model's mother and that the model dutifully worked into a cobbled-together outfit for her Mother's Day appearance at her mother's home. She bought some flowers for her too.




Flattering, serviceable and even rather interesting top. I find the sleeve length a little awkward, but it'll be easy to just make them whatever length you want.




Knit Simple, a scarf stitched together does not a vest make. Not that this is terrible. It's actually fairly wearable, a cute item that could be popped over a little summer dress, but the bottom looks rough and unfinished and needed some finishing detail in order to make this design a success.




Not a bad little lace top.




I keep looking at all that extra width around the body and the wrist and wondering why on earth the designer thought it necessary to put it in. It's going to add to the midsection of anyone who wears it, and "will add to your midsection" is not exactly a selling point for a sweater. Notice how the model is standing, with her legs wide apart, in an effort to balance out the proportions of the sweater. Given that women pretty much never stand that way and you are probably not interested in beginning to do so, I'd recommend changing the lines of this sweater to a standard fit. The lacy detail at the wrist and the ballet neckline will make this sweater look interesting and graceful all on their own.




This isn't bad. Again that's a lot of fullness through the hips, but at least the top is more fitted and the fullness is lower on the body, which makes it skirt-like rather than maternity top-like, and gives it a better silhouette over all. As always... stay away from the empire cut if you're well-endowed.




I'm not crazy about this one but it's not bad either. I like the effect of the ribbed yoke and the garter stitch stripes. I'd fix the dropped shoulders and neaten up the fit somewhat.




I initially thought this mesh top might be crocheted, but it isn't. I'm not a fan of mesh, which always requires layers. And you can get sunburnt right through it. Also this isn't a very flattering shape.




I quite like this tote, with its simple yet eye-catching design. It looks well-constructed and has a good shape. These colours don't work that well together, but you can choose whatever colours you like.




I'm not crazy about this crocheted bag, with its weirdly placed straps and dumpy bucket shape. The old term "sad sack" comes to mind.




I don't like this bag either, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Canadian who wouldn't be interested in making an American flag anything. It isn't a good shape. It would be awkward to carry this, and you can see the straps are pulling the top out of shape even in this picture.




A cellphone case. It's not bad. The yarn choice isn't great — the crudity of the colour is making the pattern look less polished than it actually is.





This isn't a bad little duffel bag. It looks like the perfect bag for the beach, though I have my doubts as to how it would stand up to anything heavier than a swimsuit, towel, sunscreen, and a trashy novel.




Do you really want to go to all the effort of making this pattern, only to look like you've rolled your yoga mat up in a piece of your grandmother's afghan?



Cute little vest! It's so simple a not-very-experienced knitter could make it for a second or third project, and yet it looks polished.




There are cuter, better-designed bunny hats than this one. Remember: this child model is being paid to look like she likes this.




There are also much better-designed girl's tops. I tend to cringe a little when I see kids in homemade items that are poorly made or poorly designed. It's one thing if you want to go out in the world in your beginner project that you're so proud of, but sending your child off to school in one is a different matter. You don't have that Lord of the Flies-inspired social experiment called recess to worry about. Try to be objective.




Are legwarmers really back for girls? And if they are, shouldn't they actually match something else the girl is wearing?




This is called the "Chanel-Inspired Cardi". I'm pretty sure that if Coco Chanel were to look at this, she'd take one look, let loose with a vehement, Mon Dieu, c'est quoi ça?!?!, and then fire someone. A knitted Chanel-style cardigan isn't a bad concept, but this one with its novelty yarn trim, retina-burning lilac shade and beginner project use of the garter stitch line just looks tacky. I'd like to see a Chanelesque cardigan done in more finished, sophisticated way.




This top is another bad use of novelty yarn. Which, as I keep saying in these reviews, is difficult to employ in design without it degrading the whole piece. The ruffled yarn on the sleeves are just too prominent and visually add to the width of the model's body. It isn't a flattering look at all. It doesn't help that the rest of the top is so squarish.




Another effort to use ruffled yarn, and another bad result. This looks like a piece of trimming ripped off a Rose Bowl parade float. I notice the stylist didn't even try to come up with an outfit that went with it.




Hoo boy. Usually if there's any use to which one can put a novelty yarn and have it work, it's a skinny scarf. But here we have a skinny scarf knitted in Filatura di Crosa's Ibiza, and again it looks like something ripped off a Rose Bowl parade float. Except this time half the trimming stayed attached to the float.




Not crazy about this shrug. Knitwear designs are just not supposed to look like converted afghans. No knitting project should look like an afghan but an afghan.

This Yarn Bomber's Knitting Needles Have a Political Point

This protestor, photographed outside the White House on March 11, hand-knitted a pie chart representing the allocation of the U.S. budget. It pains me to have to say this, but the pie chart's proportions aren't accurate: the U.S. spends about 20% of its total yearly budget on defense (plus another 3.5% on benefits to veterans), not more than half, as this chart indicates. And aesthetically, the execution of this project could have been better. But as a concept, this yarn bombing idea is kick ass, and this knitter made it happen and displayed it in front of the White House, instead of say, typing uselessly about it on some knitting blog.





But wait! There's more! This knitter also made herself an "Occupy Grandparents" afghan and a "Stop XL" hat that is likely a statement of opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline.

I'm almost afraid to ask what she'd do with a cowl and fingerless glove design.

Photos via Jennifer Bendery.


Coming up: Look for the Knit Simple Spring 2013 review tomorrow morning!

The Last Knit

This is Kutoja: The Last Knit, an animated short about the perils of knitting obsession, as written, directed and animated by Laura Neuvonen. Please put down your knitting long enough to enjoy this video so you don't miss any of it.

Oh never mind, who am I kidding....

Knitty Spring/Summer 2013: A Review

Let's have a look at Knitty's Spring/Summer 2013 issue.




Pretty if generic Foliolum lace scarf.





The Nori is another lace scarf, but this time with a more distinctive texture. The designer compares it to algae. I can see it.





Another scarf, this time with a quite original construction. It's called the Steps Shawl, but it reminds me of piano keys. It doesn't really do it for me, but it's not unattractive either, and it does draw the eye.





The Lunatic Fringe Shawl. The blurb for this pattern calls it "eccentric and non-conforming", but it looks pretty run-of-the-mill to me.





The Aven Shawl. I must admit this shawl is eyecatching. Partly because of the gorgeous colours of the yarn, but the ruffled texture is beautiful too. But we are going to see something other than an array of shawls and scarves in this issue, right Knitty? I don't think I can review eighteen scarves without getting a little slaphappy.





Here we have Grey Gardens, which is... an entrelac turban. I'm sorry, but this just looks too hippy dippy for me. Wear this and you've taken the first slide down a slippery slope that will lead to you becoming someone's weird aunt whose idea of the perfect wedding gift for her niece and nephew-in-law is a earthworm farm starter kit and a copy of The Comprehensive Guide to Tantric Sex.





The Easy as Pie Blanket. Oh, I love this pattern. As a matter of fact, I had already shared it on The Knitting Needle and the Damage Done's Facebook page. It's strikingly original in concept and beautifully executed. It isn't easy to make an all-garter stitch project look like anything other than a beginner project, but occasionally a really talented designer takes up the gauntlet (or the lace-patterned fingerless glove, as it were) and does it. I also like to see that this designer has designed a baby blanket in the bright colours that babies like and that are the best for helping to develop their tiny brains, instead of the usual pastels. Babies don't even like yellow.





I am not sure about the Daphne tank. It's high-impact, of course, but maybe not all that flattering — it looks to me like it's making the model's upper body look chopped up and stocky. The colour combination isn't really helping. Contrasting shades of the same colour never look all that attractive together — they fight each other like rival siblings.





The Buttonbox pattern is really good. It's a classic, and yet you feel you haven't seen the exact same pattern a thousand times before because it has an interesting texture and a collar that sits just a little bit differently than any other shawl collar.





The Etherial tank looks to have accomplished what the Daphne tank set out to do without trying half so hard. It's fitted and shows some skin in an elegant, and restrained fashion, rather than in a "everything's in the window, COME LOOK" kind of way. You will probably want to wear something under it, which I find a bit problematic in summer wear when even one layer often feels like too much, but at least it looks good layered over a simple cami tank.





The Gardenias pullover looks like what happened when the designer needed a way to use up the I-cord and a knitted flower she had sitting around and decided she'd add them to the top she'd just made that needed something. And this top did indeed need something, but not I-cord and a knitted flower.





The Shore thing tank is a competent design. It's pretty and fits well and is flattering. Of course, again, who really wants to wear a second layer in summer? It looks okay over the tank shown here, but not so much over the long-sleeved t-shirt in the other pictures on the linked pattern page.





The Dressy sock is quite a pleasing lacy sock pattern, but please do me a favour and don't wear them as they're styled here. Socks simply do not belong with floral dresses and t-strap shoes, regardless of how Knitty names the pattern or styles the picture. The kind of person who will wear this look will also wear entrelac turbans, and I've told you where that will take you.





Love the Slipstream sock pattern — the designer made an intricate pattern look organic — and am relieved to see they're being worn just as one would wear such socks, with jeans.





Not crazy about these Sunberry socklets. I suspect the design is fine, but I am being put off the colours which work but which I don't happen to care for personally, and by the length of the sock. I find bobby-length socks tend to lead to some shoe vs. heel friction issues by the end of the day. Ow.





This Child's Sock is Franklin Habit's re-creation of a pattern from Beeton's Book of Needlework, published in 1870. This is a pattern to look at more as an artefact of knitting history than to actually make. Even Habit admits it wasn't really worth the effort it took to rewrite the pattern, the original being so badly written that, as he puts it,

As you reach the bitter end, you can almost hear the anonymous designer thinking, "Screw it. My corset is killing me, the gin is calling, and it's time to go home." Her instructions give the impression of having been written in haste, without a second thought, maybe after she'd removed the corset and emptied the gin bottle.

Then to the materials list, he adds this note,

You can theoretically get three pairs of these out of one pair of skeins, if you have a lot of little children you hate.

Sometimes I think Franklin Habit owns the whole "funny knitting writing" niche and the rest of us who are trying to do anything along the same lines might as well close up our laptops and get a real job.

All Poufed Up

Back in 2007/2008, Netherlands artist and designer Christien Meindertsma (who brainstormed and coordinated the 500 sweaters flash mob) designed and created these poufs for Design Within Reach, knitting each one by hand using hand-felted yarn and giant needles. The poufs cost $800 to $1,600 each, which won't seem unreasonable when you consider the amount of work involved. However, we knitters happily have another option than laying out over a thousand dollars on what is essentially a large floor pillow: we can make them ourselves. Ravelry has a number of pouf patterns available.





The poufs look like the perfect thing for a small child to sit on, and in the right space these poufs could look fun and warm and even whimsical, like the lemon above. I found some others that looked like various other fruits and included stems, but I'm not sure you'll want to go that way and risk getting, say, a pumpkin stem wedged in the last place you ever wanted a pumpkin stem wedged.

Coming up: Look for the Knitty Spring/Summer 2013 review tomorrow morning!

Yarn, Go Sit In the Corner and Think About What You Are!

Franklin Habit, the blogger responsible for The Panopticon and for the 2009 Guys With Yarn calendar, has created a Tumblr for yarnshaming. You know what yarn he'll shame: that yarn that looked nice in the store, but that let you down by immediately pilling horribly, or shrinking, or making you break out in a rash, or collecting every human and pet hair within a block, or being full of splices, or turning out to be a bad dye lot, or having hand-dyed colours that looked so beautiful in the skein but knitted up like some horrible seventies afghan, or that you never bought at all but have because someone gave it to you and the person keeps asking what you're going to do with it.

I remember two yarns in particular I'd like to shame. There was a pale ice green chenille yarn that looked luscious and soft on the ball but that turned out to be basically thread covered in fuzz. I could easily break it with just my hands. I couldn't do any ravelling out of stitches at all without it showing (the fuzz would get wadded up leaving bare segments of thread), and since it broke so easily the things I made with it were soon full of runs. The store where I bought it only stocked it for a short time since no one who tried it would work with it twice. As one of the sales women told me coyly, "The customers who bought it come back in to the store using certain words to describe it." I can't remember the brand name but it doesn't matter as I don't think it's even in production any more.

The other yarn I hated working with was Mary Maxim's Mellowspun. I bought some several years ago to make a sweater for a friend's little boy. I’d never used it before, and was initially impressed with the beautiful shades it came in and how lovely it felt to work with. And it's bargain priced. But damn, did it ever collect HAIR. My hair, my cat Trlby’s hair, my neighbour’s dog hair from three doors down the street. I'd never seen anything like it. I was constantly ripping hairs out of it as I worked on it. I washed it when I was done and still had to pick out more hair after it came out of the dryer. Never again. And I think I'm going to go through my stash soon and weed out any yarn that I really don't like. Life is too short and knitting time too limited to waste on bad yarn.

If you've got any bad yarn stories, feel free to share them in the comments!

Reviewing Reviews for Body Policing

The regular post for today, a review of knit.wear's Spring 2013 issue, led to my having a very enlightening Twitter conversation with one of this blog's readers. Her Twitter handle is Bunny Knuckles, so I'll call her that. Bunny Knuckles told me she enjoyed my blog but what she called "the CONSTANT body policing" in my pattern reviews had made her decide she needed to stop following it.

Well, I was taken aback, and I tweeted back that I was surprised that she considered me to be body policing, that I expected knitting designs to flatter the figures they go on regardless of what those figures are like. Or words to that effect that fit into the 140 character limit. (I hate Twitter. It's not only the ugliest social media venue on the net — it's like reading code — it's next to impossible to have a coherent and intelligent conversation on it.)

But then I had another look at the review, and found to my horror that Bunny Knuckles had been right. I had essentially told my readers that one particular design, a snug, short, knitted dress, was only for young, svelte women. And I found some other comments that I thought were definitely over the line. So I got back to Bunny Knuckles, saying I thought she had a point and that I had done a hasty edit of some of my comments.

Let me be clear here. When I write knitting magazine reviews, I feel it's part of my job description as a reviewer to help knitters assess whether the patterns will flatter their particular looks. I also write from the standpoint that, regardless of what your proportions are, you deserve a wardrobe that make you look your very best. And if this is true of clothes you buy at the mall with your hard-earned dollars, it's all the more true of clothes you're going to spend not only money but a considerable amount of your valuable time and effort making.

But, you see, my task is a problematic one. The fact is, no one looks good in every style, no matter what his or her figure is like. If I'm to provide honest and helpful guidance on choosing flattering styles, sometimes I do need to say categorically that style X will not suit figure Y. It can be difficult to say that without sounding like I'm shaming people for having figure Y, even though I didn't mean that at all and instead intended to suggest that figure Ys thumb their noses at the unflattering style X and go look for a good design in style Z, which will look fabulous on them.

As much as I want to give knitters useful advice about what will look good on them, to help them choose styles that work best on their figures without making them feel that their figures are the problem, it's a fine line, and it upsets me to think that despite my best efforts it's one I'm probably going to cross occasionally. In the case of that snug, short dress design, for instance, what I should have said originally, and what I have edited my comments to say, is that if the wearer-to-be won't feel comfortable in something so snug and short, to just make the dress a few inches longer and a few inches looser. There are specific styles that simply won't ever work on specific figures (don't even get me started on how an empire cut looks over my D cups), but there are also going to be many more cases in which a design only needs a little tweaking to be perfectly wearable for most people. I need to do a better job at distinguishing between the two. I need to be clearer that I'm critiquing the knitting patterns, not people's bodies. I'm also trying to use more gender inclusive language, but that's another conversation to be had on a day when I don't already have a headache.

So I propose that my contract with my readers will be this: that I will be more vigilant about not crossing the line into body policing, and you are welcome to let me know, via comments on this blog, email, messages or wall posts on The Knitting Needle and the Damage Done's Facebook page, or in a Twitter conversation, when you think I haven't succeeded. I'll do my best to respond promptly and will edit my blog posts if I think you're right.

And then we can get back to ridiculing and critiquing the knitting patterns, because, hoo boy, that's one snark flag we can let fly.