Vogue Knitting Holiday 2013: A Review

Vogue Knitting has released the preview for their Holiday 2013 issue. Let's have a look at it.

I believe this top was made using the same yarn throughout, and the solid and sheer effects were created by knitting the bodice with two strands of yarn and the sleeves and shoulders with only one. I do quite like this concept but am not sure I care for this particular execution of it. I like the sheer part, but the bodice has a too-heavy, clumsily shaped look.

The heavy and lacy vertical bands on this one are not attractive on their own nor are they flattering on a wearer.

Very elaborate construction on this one, and it works. It's flattering and eye-catching and would be an interesting and challenging project to make.

I'm a little torn on this one. I like the lace but the bands of plain stockinette seem too heavy in contrast. I'd be inclined to take that chest band out of it and just have the lace sweater trimmed in stockinette at the wasitband, cuffs and neck. Yes, you'll be able to see the brassiere below but you would be able to see straps and a lot of midriff skin as it is, so an underlying camisole would be advisable anyway. And it looks like this model has one on.

This one is... just not attractive. At all. I think it might look better if it were done in a solid neutral colour like black or gray. The colour combo plus the gimmicky design is too over the top. Right now it's looking like part of an old afghan was stitched to a stockinette tube hat, and not in a good way.





I displayed all these shawls together because I've got just one comment to make about them: that they're exquisite.





Love the dress (so smart and flattering!), like the socks... but I can't imagine any woman wearing them both at the same time in real life without looking ridiculous. If you want to make them both, considering wearing the socks on the slopes and the dress as après-ski wear, or some such.

Really like this little jacket. It's just so chic. I do wish I could see the bottom — I have my suspicions it's a cropped length, which isn't a flattering length for many women, but if it is that's easily remedied.

I really like this smart, graphic, wearable little pullover too.

Can't say this skirt appeals to me much, but it might be a victim of the styling here. The top garments don't go with the skirt at all, but then what would one wear with this skirt? I can only imagine a plain turtleneck in one of the blues would work. And I wish we could see the top of the skirt. The centre panel leads our eyes upward but the overblouse stops us short. This is a concept that might work better in a dress.

This one looks more than a little rough and unfinished to me, but I think it might be the colour combination that isn't working here. This design calls for a colourway that's a little higher contrast. I'm imagining the navy replaced with, say, a white, and it works better.

I like this one. It should work in a number of colourways and look right at the office or at the mall or around home or just about anywhere a woman is likely to go during the course of a winter's day.

This sweater is also rather unfortunately styled. I don't see the point of putting a busy blouse under a busy jacket. I like the jacket on the whole, but I do have my concerns about the way the front is rolling underneath itself and the way the jacket doesn't meet in the front. I'd make it meet in the front and probably also add a fastening, such as zipper.

This one looks luxuriously cozy, but I would tweak it a little. I'd fix the dropped shoulders and neaten up the fit a little because it's big, and maybe put a few rows of garter stitch or a crocheted edging on the bottom and the cuffs because they look a little unfinished as is.

This sweater reminds me of the neuro knitting post I wrote three months ago. It'm not terribly impressed with the look in this case, but I suppose it will do. Although the designer went to all the trouble of knitting the front panels from side to side and all I can think is that it would look better if those front bands were vertical.

This is another big, cozy, beautiful sweater. It's not going to be easy to scale this one down as it's elaborately designed so if you make this one make sure you're going to be happy with a big, heavy-looking sweater.

Really interesting afghan stitch. Though I'd want to knit it something other than this oatmeal shade.

I rather like this one. It's amazing how good the silhouette is from the back. Though it should not have been styled over a bow-tie blouse.

Here's another big, beautiful sweater with a removable cowl. This one has batwing sleeves, so make sure you or the intended wearer of this sweater likes her sweaters big and roomy.

Not sure about the proportions of the sleeves on this sweater — I'm not a fan of three-quarter sleeves at the best of times, but these especially look really off to me. I think maybe the sweater is too boxy for them. If you like this sweater (and I do think it's cute except for the sleeve issue), I'd make the sleeves wrist length.

Another big, cozy, beautiful sweater, but this time it isn't big enough to fit over a house but is just a little oversized. This is a Good Thing.

Garment Construction Man

In the 1993 film Demolition Man, Sylvester Stallone suddenly discovers he has an affinity for needlework. Please be warned this clip from the movie contains coarse language and (very brief) nudity.

Jane Austen Knits 2013: A Review

Interweave has published a new issue of Jane Austen Knits. (You can read my review of Jane Austen Knits 2012 here.) Let's have a look at it, shall we?

A Most Sensible Bonnet. I rather like this bonnet, which does a good job of evoking a Regency straw bonnet while simultaneously looking like something that looks appropriately styled for 2013. I think the brim is wired (at least, the pattern calls for a yard of jewelry wire and my guess is at least some of it is in the brim) and so can be shaped to flatter one's face. These colours are a little on the dull side, but then this hat could work in any colour you want.

The Harriet Hap Shawl. This shawl is lovely, and timeless.

A Vest for Charles. I very much like this waistcoat. It's wearable and yet has some style, and it would suit many men quite well.

The Brighton Mitts are a nice-looking pair of fingerless gloves.

Marianne's Bosom Friend. Very nice stole. I like the concept of a plain stockinette scarf with a beautiful border.

Emma's Lace Skirt. I quite like this skirt, but don't care for the way it's been styled here. I think it probably needs to be worn with an underlayer as that top row of lace diamonds is veering close to crotch territory, but I'd be going with a custom-made slightly smaller, slightly shorter silk or satin slip rather than some baggy lace petticoat that's inches longer than the lace skirt. Hardly any women wear slips anymore — I haven't owned one for over twenty years — but slip etiquette remains the same. It's not supposed to snow down south.

Jane's Dancing Stockings. I'm pretty sure Jane Bennet or Jane Fairfax would have worn longer (and properly gartered) stockings for dancing in, but these are very nice-looking socks all the same.

Edmund Bertram's Monogrammed Socks. A very smart pair of socks. I don't see a monogram in this photo but I trust it's in there somewhere.

Very pretty little Beaded Summer Spencer.

Damask Mittens. The shape of these mittens is maybe a little clumsier than I would be happy with (I don't like pointy mittens or flaring cuffs), but the patterning is certainly lovely.

A Muffler for Mr. Woodhouse. This looks more 1910 college scarf than 1810 dashing suitor to me, but it would be a nice scarf in a better colourway.

Anne's Socks. Again, can't see Anne Elliot wearing these socks, but then perhaps they were the sickly Anne de Bourgh's bed socks. At any rate, they are quite nice with their diagonal lace work pattern.

The Love and Loyalty Pin Ball. Oooh, love this one. I sew, and I can tell you that it's a pleasure to use beautifully designed sewing paraphernalia like this, and that it's also of practical value. One could hang this pinball around one's neck while one is pinning a hem in order to have pins handy. Although I would consider putting it on wristband instead, because that will make access to the pin even handier and the cushion will stay flat on the wrist instead of twisting and pricking one in the bosom.

Open Carriage Gloves. Another wearable pair of fingerless gloves.

The Solicitude Bag. I'm not that enthusiastic about this bag. It's fairly attractive (though I wouldn't do the top part in that random brown that doesn't go with the rest of the bag, but in one of the colours from the floral design), but the overall size and the size of the opening look awkward to me. The picture suggests it's to be used as a work bag, but it wouldn't hold much and it wouldn't be easy to get much in and out of that small opening. Nor is the drawstring going to be long enough to allow for easy carrying of the bag. Before making this bag, I'd think about what I wanted to use it for, and possibly change the size and shape somewhat to suit that use.

Jane Bennet's Night Cap. This pixie-style cap does have its charm, but one would have to be under 25 and perhaps also a hipster to carry it off.

The Cottage Tea Cozy. I'm the wrong person to review this one as I hate kitschy stuff like this, but this tea cozy is actually pretty cute in its way and the details are well worked out.

Georgiana Darcy's Fancy Shawl. I wish I could see this shawl better (apparently it has 240 glass seed beads in it and I can't make them out at all), but it does look lovely in this photo.

The Strolling Scarf might prove awkward to wear if one is doing any actual strolling, but of course there's nothing to prevent the wearer from wearing it wrapped several times around the neck — or the knitter from making it shorter. I like the floral motif on the ends.

The Boteh Shawl is really beautiful. Love the Paisley-like design, which is a nice nod to the Kashmir shawl so much prized among nineteenth-century Western women. Remember how in Vanity Fair the widowed Amelia sold her India shawl (a gift from the faithful suitor Dobbin) for twenty guineas to buy a Christmas present of books and clothes as well as a term of schooling for her son, and overcoat for her father?

Really not favourably taken with the Ruffled Capelet. I think it would look better if done in a single colour. Using two just makes it too visually choppy.

The Benwick Cardigan must have been named in honour of Captain Benwick, and though it's nothing like what any of Austen's characters would have worn, it does have a certain military smartness while being a very wearable cardigan by today's standards. My one criticism is that it doesn't meet properly in the front, which makes it look too small. But then that's easily remedied.

I've softened up somewhat on spencers, but I am not sure I can get behind the concept of a long-sleeved spencer. Putting long sleeves with such an abbreviated bodice as in the Austen Spencer just makes it look as though half of it were missing.

Speaking of designs that look as though something is missing, the Northanger Pelisse is probably another such. I'm trying to imagine this jacket over typical 2013 outfits such as jeans or short skirts or dress trousers, and I suppose it would work in a way but I am just not liking that gaping lower front. It looks awkward. It's a nice jacket otherwise, but I would be inclined to make it a three-quarter length and button it all the way to the bottom.

The Falling Hearts Shawl is really lovely in its delicate, lacy way, though I will say I am not crazy about that rolling inner edge. I think I'd figure out a way to firm up that edge so it would lie flat.

The Sanditon Cape. This one isn't bad. It has a certain minimalist appeal. It will stay in place and keep your back, shoulders and arms warm (if not your front) and it will go well with the current unstructured, draped silhouette in clothes.

The Fairfax Reticule wouldn't make a half-bad evening bag, though I would put a smaller tassel on the bottom.

The Elegant Gloves are indeed elegant. I can see these working on a bride.

The Grecian Top doesn't exactly have the classic beauty one might expect from an item with its name. I get what the criss-crossed strings are supposed to be accomplishing here, but it's not working. The top just looks too busy and chopped up and is going to get some really unattractive bulging happening over the course of the wearer's day. I'd ditch the string ties and do this in another, more attractive colourway with buttons that actually go with the yarn.

The Oval Pelisse is probably my favourite of any in this entire issue of Jane Austen Knits. It's such a romantic and yet wearable style, and it looks like a truly original knitwear design (and let me tell you I see a LOT of patterns).

The Regency Riding Hat. This one is... not working that well. It's a shape of hat one never sees these days and would just look odd on most people. Like the pixie hood above, I think you'd have to be a very young hipster type to carry this one off. Though it might help to make the hat in another, more neutral colour, and to cut the ribbon short rather than having it trailing.

The Coquelicot Ribbons Cardigan. Not a fan of this one, which is horribly unflattering even on this very slim model (the sample sweater is a size 32). The lace bodice is so baggy, and the waist fastening is making it look like it doesn't fit. I keep staring at it and trying to figure out how to fix it but I think this isn't a pattern that can be tweaked — it needs a substantial redesign.

Thanksgiving, eh?

This year I faced the prospect of having to do two Thanksgiving posts: one for the Canadian Thanksgiving as I'm Canadian; and one for the U.S. Thanksgiving as the majority of my readers are American. I decided to put together a selection of autumnal-themed designs for the Canadian Thanksgiving post (to wit: this one), leaving the topic of explicitly Thanksgiving-related patterns for the U.S. Thanksgiving post, which seems only fair given that Thanksgiving was their idea in the first place.

The pattern above is the first autumnal pattern of this post. It's the Autumn Fall Leaves pattern by Erssie Major. Please note that this design, which is available as a $1 download, is only a chart that can be applied towards any design you wish to make, not a full pattern in itself.

This cardigan is the Autumn pattern by Ruth Sørensen, and is available as a $8(USD) download.

These are the Autumn Fire Mittens, designed by Jouni Riihelä and Leena Riihelä. Love the slightly offbeat but still autumnal colourway. This pattern is available as part of a kit.

If all that colourwork isn't for you, you might try a textured solid colour pattern. This is the Oaked hat, designed by Alicia Plummer. It's available as a $4(USD) pattern.

This is the Autumn Leaf Beret, designed by Nicky Epstein. The pattern appears in Epstein's book Knitting in Circles: 100 Circular Patterns for Sweaters, Bags, Hats, Afghans, and More.

A bit of simple embroidery sets the otherwise basic Autumn Leaves Jacket apart. This pattern, which was designed by Jenny Snedeker, is available for free.

Love these Autumn Road Socks. This sock pattern is a Sweaterscapes design and is available for $3.50(USD).

These are the perfect autumnal socks. There is no pattern available for these socks as Ravelry user Lunitink improvised this pattern from a basic double knit heel sock pattern, but it should be easy for a good knitter to do the same with the help of the picture.

This is the Autumn Leaves Hat, designed by Terry Morris. The pattern is available as a $5(USD) download.

These are the Oregon Handwarmers, by Alice Starmore. This pattern is available as a part of a kit, which includes the pattern and materials to make not only the handwarmers but also a cowl, hat, and gloves.