Twist Collective Winter 2013: A Review

Twist Collective has published their Winter 2013 issue. Which, besides the patterns, includes four articles I totally recommend: an article on darning techniques; one on how to adjust the sleeve length of a finished sweater; one on the process of making historically accurate costumes; and one, by Franklin Habit, on the three yarn shops he especially remembers. But let's get to the main course and take a look at the patterns.





The Folki design. I want to like this, because I like the concept of a dress with a matching and removable cowl, but I don't care for the execution of this one. This tunic will make most women (including this model) look dumpy and frumpy and that cowl bears a more than passing resemblance to a Christmas tree skirt.

The Cypri shawl is beautiful and visually striking.





The Concertina cardigan. Whenever I see a pattern for an asymmetrical cardigan I always wonder how it will look worn open. It turns out this one has been designed to be worn open or closed, and it has a very good overall shape. Nice work.

The Lawsonia design. I think this one would look cute on some hip young girl or woman. Put it on a woman over 30 and she'll look like she walked off a Soviet Russia propaganda poster.

The Ptolemy shawl is exquisite.

Love the Peloponnese cardigan. This is my favourite type of clothing design: basically wearable and classic with a bit of modern edge to keep the look interesting.

The Bascule tam and fingerless mitts set. I very much like this one too. The pattern is striking but not so bold that it would be hard to make it work with the rest of an outfit.

The Torque stole. I rather like this one as well. It's an interesting modern piece, and with its gear-like motif I can see it going over well with the steampunk set.





The Hepworth design is a simple, serviceable cardigan with some detail to keep things interesting. Love the back view.

The Scrimshaw cap is kind of cute, but the shape is a little wonky.

The Thorntower cardigan. I rather like this one. It won't look good worn open, which is a shame, but otherwise it's a solid piece of work with good lines. I especially like the way the hem curves up in the front.

The Quill vest. This one is maybe not the most exciting piece, but it will be a useful and wearable one. The lattice effect on the front was a good idea as helps make the ribbing (which tends to bulk up the wearer) more flattering.

The Dessa cowl and tam set is really lovely. My one quibble is that I would make the cowl a little longer so it could be doubled around the neck. It looks a little spare tire-ish worn single at this length.

The Joist design is a nice modern take on the shawl-collared cable pullover.

Very much like the Sulwen pullover. It will flatter any woman, can be worn nearly anywhere, and the cabled sleeves give it some interesting texture.

The Sigulda design. The patterned circular yoke pullover is an old chestnut of knitting design that's been done thousands of times, yet this one manages to look like a new take on it with its waffle-patterned body and Art Deco-like yoke pattern.

The Ceana hat and mittens set is quite cute. The gold yarn used here gives it a beehive-like effect, but I see it in blue, which would make it look more like bubbles.

The Calabash design. Another simple, wearable design. This one calls for a yarn that will wear well and is in your favourite colour, because the wearer will want to live in it in winter.

The Ruddington cardigan. Very much like the clever checkerboard-like cable arrangement on the front.

The Sablier cardigan. This one's a basic classic, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.





The Piscataqua cardigan. Very prettily detailed little piece.

The Mitsu socks. Very much like these with their crisp, graphic patterning.

The Keynote cardigan is a very classic knitting pattern, but is a good example of one. The lines are particularly good and there is waist shaping.

The Isen design. This is another lovely and interesting shawl that has that "updated classic" look. I love the fluted edges.

Not sure I can get behind the built-in fingerless mitt feature of the Tarian design, even though I am sure they could be folded back into cuffs when desired. They just look silly worn down, as though the sleeves are too long and have holes in them. Otherwise I like the design, with its "updated Gansey" style.

The Lumi cowl. This design isn't bad. It's maybe a little on the rough and unfinished side for my tastes.

The Tuin design. This is very pretty, like Delft china translated into knitwear.

The Bayonne socks are nicely detailed and finished.

The Ephyra pullover. I like this on the whole, but I do think that textured strip up the right side of the sweater could have used a little more work. It looks a little crude as is. Otherwise, this design has good lines and it was a good idea to line up the asymmetrical collar with the textured strip.

I rather like the Greek Steps tunic, though the lines of the body may be a bit too blunt and rectangular for flattery. I'd be inclined to add a little waist shaping at least.

The Mayura cowl and mittens set. I very much like this one, which is definitely going to be impossible not to notice. The colours used here are a little retina burning, but in a good way.

The Prototype hat and fingerless mitts. I don't like the Prototype set as well as I like the Mayura, but it's presentable enough.

The Moogies mittens design is very cute and actually has a little sophistication, which is a rare thing in cat knitwear.

The Chimayo cowl and hat set. I quite like both these pieces, though I wondering if wearing them together might be a little much, visually. But then it seems the set is meant to be shared.

The Pixie Farts mittens. Before I noticed the name of this pattern, I was looking at the mittens and trying to decide if those were snowflakes. Having seen the name, I must concede that the motifs can only be what the pattern name says they are. Cute pattern and that name may just be the best pattern name ever.

A Cornucopia of Thanksgiving Patterns

Last month I did a post for Canada's Thanksgiving Day that was autumnal-themed rather than specifically related to Thanksgiving so I could save the turkey, pilgrim, and cornucopia patterns for the American Thanksgiving Day post. But when it came time to write today's post, I found I again had to fall back on selecting some generically autumnal patterns in order to fill out the set of patterns, because it turns out that a lot of turkey, pilgrim, and cornucopia patterns are really pretty tacky. However, I did find a rather decent set of patterns that were very much in keeping with the spirit of the day, and I hope you like them.

The above pattern is the Fall Pumpkin design, by Sarah Hawkins. This pattern is available for free and these little pumpkins might be used to make Thanksgiving decorations, such as a centrepiece. A little knit pumpkin might also be used as a pin cushion.

These little Pilgrim Bears, by Noreen Crone-Findlay, are just too cute. The pattern originally appeared in From Knitting Today! #7 in October/November 2011, and Your Knitting Life, October/November 2011. Back issues of these magazines can be ordered.

This is the Teeves Turkey, by Lisa Tomko. This pattern is available for $5.00(USD).

This Fall Wreath, by Lion Brand Yarn, is felted but too pretty not to include. This pattern is available for free.

This is the Pumpkin Patch Socks design, by Maggie van der Stok. This pattern is available as a free Ravelry download.

This is the Pilgrim Bonnet, by Heather Buelow. I can't imagine anyone other than a plain dress Quaker having any use for a pilgrim bonnet unless it's for a Halloween costume (even in the promo shot it's used for yarn bombing), but in the event that you do want one, this one is quite a well-designed example and the pattern is available for free.

This sweater with its striking wheat-like device is the Eastlake design, by Norah Gaughan. This pattern appeared in Berroco's pamphlet, Norah Gaughan Vol. 3.

The Waves of Grain scarf, by Rosemary (Romi) Hill, is a Knitty pattern and therefore available for free.

This is the Pumpkin Patch Baby Blanket, by Dawn Brocco, and of course it could be lengthened and/or widened to be a full-sized afghan. This pattern is available for $6.00(USD).

This is the Pumpkin Spice cushion pattern, by Michelle Treese. This pattern was originally published in Creative Knitting's September 2011 issue.

These are the Little Pumpkins fingerless mitts design, by Chris Abbott. This pattern is available for $4.00(USD).

"At that time if you were not knitting around Robben Island, you were not fashionable."

Robben Island is an island in Table Bay, off the coast of South Africa, that holds a former maximum security prison, where political prisoners and convicted criminals were incarcerated between 1961 and the 1990s. Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid. Kgalema Motlanthe, who also served as President of South Africa, spent 10 years on Robben Island as a political prisoner, as did current president Jacob Zuma. A book called The Lighter Side of Life on Robben Island, which documents the things political prisoners did to deal with the frustrations and boredom of prison life, includes a chapter on knitting.

One of the prisoners, Jerome Maake, had been taught to knit during the days before his arrest in the early eighties, when he couldn't leave the safe house where he lived for fear of police apprehension. His hostess, a professional knitter, taught him to knit to give him something to do. Once imprisoned, he requested wool and needles from the prison authorities, who were reluctant to comply at first but were eventually convinced that Maake wasn't going to knit a bridge to Cape Town, though he had to settle for plastic rather than metal needles. Other prisoners asked to be taught once they saw Maake at work. He taught many of the other inmates the craft. In the evenings the prisoners would visit one another's cells, and take their knitting. “Sometimes there would be four or five of us sitting there knitting,” says Maake. The Lighter Side of Life on Robben Island contains pictures of some of the items the prisoners knitted.

The BBC video reports on Robben Island knitting as well as some of the other activities the Robben Island prisoners used to pass the time during their sentences.

How to Stage a Knit-In

A group of concerned Australian citizens has formed a political protest group called the Knitting Nannas in order to combat exploration and mining of unconventional gas and other non-renewable energy sources. Knitting Nannas Against Gas (KNAG) stages regular knit-ins in front of the offices of politicians or mining companies, at larger rallies, community, and flash mob events, and wherever else they think their presence might be effective. They believe in peaceful, positive, and productive protest, and when staging their protests (or recreating the famous "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" shot as above) they bring not only their knitting, but any other craft, cards, crossword puzzles, or peas to shell, as well as lawn chairs, tea, and ice cream or popsicles to share with everyone on those especially hot days. KNAG is inclusive and no one need be either a nanna or a knitter in order to be eligible to join. It's a great idea given how tense, tedious and protracted political demonstrations can be, and even more importantly it gives the Knitting Nannas protest group a fun and newsworthy angle that will help them get the publicity they need to be effective.

Give in now, politicians and corporations. You won't believe how easily and contentedly a knitter can outlast you. Moreover doing the right thing might just score you a pair of socks or a hat.






In this video, one of the Knitting Nannas read from the Nannafesto ("We sit, knit, plot, have a yarn and a cuppa, and tell it how it is"), and others discuss some of their concerns with coal seam gas mining. The Knitting Nannas have already formed a number of chapters (or, as they call them, Nanna's Loops) in Australia.

Knitter's Magazine Issue 113: A Review

Knitter's Magazine has released the preview for Issue 113. Let's have a look at it.

I'm not normally a friend of asymmetrical design or of zippers in knitwear, but I love the Diagonal Zip design. This jacket's asymmetry is balanced, with the two collars flowing along one line, and the front zipper looks right because it's echoed by the two cuff zippers. The texture and the overall lines are very good. I don't know how good this design will look worn open, but it looks so damn good zipped up, who cares. Excellent work!

We move from a great opener to.... the Chartered Lines design. Which is a cropped-length and top-buttoned style that even the model isn't carrying off, has a textured pattern added to an already very busy tutti frutti-coloured yarn, and is that fringe on the collar? It makes me wonder how the previous sweater got along with this one during the photo shoot, because they don't have much in common. I'm imagining a coolly aloof attitude on the one side and belligerence on the other.

The Shaded Diamonds design one isn't at all anything I would ever wear myself, but it's such a fine piece of design that I can only admire it. The mitred neck detail and the edgings have employed an variegated yarn to wonderful effect, and the lines are so good.

The Incline Wrap. Entrelac is another design element that can be problematic, because it adds such bulk, but again it's been made to work here, in this sleeveless wrap. Using entrelac in a design that's meant to be worn as an outer layer makes the bulkiness much less of a issue (eliminating the sleeves also helped), and this piece is well-shaped. It will work well over both short skirts and relatively fitted trousers.

The pleated waist section and the striped raglan detail in the Iron, Slate & Moss design are competing somewhat, making the pudding more than slightly over egged. I'd go with one of those elements, not both, with the pleating being section being my pick to eliminate as it won't flatter many waistlines. Finishing off the sweater with the dark blue ribbing that's been used at the neckline and cuffs would work well.

This Smoke & Ice design's... okay. It looks like one of those 1990s-era single pattern leaflet patterns that somehow came into your possession and that is too nice to weed out with the hopeless 1980s era leaflets, and yet is not nice enough to make.

This Rainbow Grove vest is a lovely piece of design. Well-endowed wearers and/or those without a waistline they want to emphasize will want to decrease the waistline ribbing to just an inch or two, and feature more of that gorgeous stitchwork.

The Confetti Design. I don't care for the smock-like shape here, which would make most women look dumpy. I'm afraid even to ask how long that back hem is — it continues beyond the limits of the picture. The yarn choice isn't helping. I can't even look at the picture of this sweater for very long before I start wondering if I'm hungover or something — and it's been months since I had a single alcoholic beverage.

The Tangerine Leaves design is quite a pretty little open front cardigan. A woman who owns this piece will get a lot of wear out of it, because it can be worn with many outfits and will always look polished and be warm and comfortable.

The Tilt vest is another attractive, useful, go-anywhere piece.

Not liking the Weather Ready design. It does have some good points, namely its cabled texture and collar, but the overall shape is just so sloppy and unflattering that the model can't even carry it off despite the bravest of smiles.

The Slip-up Mobius hat and scarf. This isn't appealing to me, but I think it's the fault of the yarn choice here, which I personally find more than a little eyeball-searing. If I imagine it sans pom pom and in a yarn colourway I actually like, it's a decent set.

The Garter Epaulettes design is a nice, simple piece, though I find it just a touch too simple. I'd maybe add cuff detailing that echoes the epaulettes to kick up the level of visual interest just a bit.

The Ladies Only cardigan is a good, polished-looking piece of work. The top-buttoned style really works here because it's so organic to the design.

The Unfinished Business design looks like it began life as a simple tank and decided it was born for high fashion, and so added random side draping, regretted it, couldn't figure out how to get back to the simple life that had really suited it much better, gave up on itself, partied too much and ran out of yarn, and is now bound for an ignominious death in some forlorn and filthy rooming house. Seriously, this is one nearly unwearable item that almost no women will be able to get away with wearing, and even then the question is why would they?

The Blues & Berries scarf isn't bad. I actually think it would have looked better with a basic denim jacket than with this "pull out all the stops" styling, but you have to give Knitter's Magazine credit for going the extra mile, even if that extra mile was beyond the finish line.

The Blues & Berries hat and scarf set (the scarf is the same design as the one above done in a second colourway) is really basic but wearable and presentable enough.

The Shifting Bands cardigan is a very competent piece of work. It's got enough interest to make an outfit, and yet not so much that it won't go with anything in a woman's closet or can't be worn often.

I don't even know what the Zigzag in Cables design is. I think it's supposed to be some kind of architecturally structured cowl or scarf, but it looks like a pile of swatches from the design studio have inexplicably gone rogue and are trying to throttle the model.

The Step-up Shawl isn't a bad piece. The choice of mitred squares is an interesting and visually distinctive one for a shawl. My response is rather tepid because of the colour scheme — this one is a little on the muddy side.

This is a second version of the Step-Up Shawl, and it confirms my theory about the colours dampening my enthusiasm for the first one. I love this version.

The Chevron vest isn't a bad piece of design at all, but all I can do is stare at that closing detail and think about how I really don't like it. I'd go with a simple silver clasp there, or at least a better-looking knitted loop.

The Uncharted Lace pullover is another good wearable design. The touch of lace detailing at the raglan seams gives this simple, classic piece distinction.