Rowan Knitting & Crocheting Magazine 56, Part 2: A Review

Welcome to Part 2 of my review of Rowan Knitting & Crocheting Magazine's issue no. 56, Part 1 having been published two days ago.

The Martina design is a good piece of work. I do like to see a vertical stripe pattern now and then. Designers tend to go with the horizontal stripe so much more often, probably because it's easier to knit, but the fact is that vertical stripes are so much more flattering that they're worth the extra work.

The Gisela pullover. Very pretty. It has a certain vintage-like feel to it. Smart little short-sleeved knit tops were a wardrobe staple for women between the 1930s through the early 1960s.

The Anja design. This isn't bad. I wouldn't pair it with a flirty little skirt, though. It looks more to me like a very casual piece that belongs with jeans.

The Franziska pullover. I can't get behind (or more to the point, into) the very oversized sweater thing. They're unflattering for most women and they catch on things and generally look sloppy. The overall design of this is quite attractive, but if I were to make this I'd make it a standard fit and raise those dropped shoulders.

The Karolin sweater. This is attractively and interestingly patterned sweater, but I wouldn't wear it with that pink skirt. For that matter, I wouldn't wear that pink skirt with anything.

The Brigit sweater. This is totally cute. Love the polka dot and stripe combination, and the shape is excellent.

The Lea pullover. Another little top with vintage appeal. This is really adorable.

The Isolde Wrap has a southwestern U.S. style, an offbeat colourway, and a name from a German opera. There's nothing like a little eclecticism, I suppose, especially when a knitter can take or leave all three. I do like the wrap, though it would need to be styled a certain way to work.

The Ulrika cardigan. I would have called this one The Coat of Many Colours, but it doesn't seem like a design likely to arouse much jealousy in one's siblings. I think it falls down on the sleeves, which look too drab and disconnected from the rest of the sweater even though they do echo the brownish stripe used through the body, and in the shape, which is too much on the shapeless side.

The Symphony design. This lace tunic is pretty in its way, though I am trying to figure out how one would style it. One would need to wear basically a full outfit under it (unless one is, say, Rhianna), and that would take some thought, because layering another sweater under it would be too bulky and I don't think wearing trousers under it would look right. I don't think even this professionally styled outfit is quite working. I may seem to have gone off topic here, but figuring out how you'll wear an item should be part of your decision process when you decide whether and how to make it if you want to be able wear it once you're done. I have one sweater I have yet to wear even though I love it, because nothing I own looks quite right with it and I haven't gotten around to buying or making something specifically to go with it.

The Poetry sweater. This is pretty basic but it's a competent piece of design and could be a useful item for a woman to have if the tunic-length sweater is her style and works on her figure.

The Muse pattern. This is a very simple item, but it does have some texture and the shape is good. The thing to do with basic patterns like this is to make them in a beautiful yarn in a colour you love, because it'll wind up looking like a special piece as well as one that you can wear to death.

The Prose design looks like a costume straight off the set of Depressed Housewives. If you're going to knit this one, make sure it buttons through the hips, because "a few strained buttons done up in the middle" is not a flattering look. You can probably also find a more appealing colour than this drab oatmeal.

The Song tunic. This piece is filet crochet. I like it — the shape is good and the chevron pattern is a nice look.

The Melody sweater. Not a bad piece, though I think I'd go for a more sophisticated colour than a pastel.

The Lyric pattern. Not a bad little piece but it won't be the easiest sweater to wear. It would me look terribly dumpy. Shortening the cap sleeves by a few inches and lengthening the body/making the waistband shorter would make this an easier item to carry off.

The Ballard pullover. This is one of those designs even a model can't carry off.

The Drama pattern. I don't know why they named this pattern Drama because there is no drama in sight. The split hems are the only design feature here, and they aren't adding anything. I'd give this pattern a pass entirely, because it's nothing special in any way and there are so many wonderful patterns out there.

The Verse design. This isn't a bad basic sweater, but I'd neaten up the fit somewhat.

The Stanza sweater. I like this one. I think my favourite thing about it is the wide turtleneck, which is a good way for those of us who don't look good in turtlenecks to wear a turtleneck.

The Rhyme design. I like this one, but I would make those sleeves more fitted. Baggy sleeves never did a woman any favours.

Rowan Knitting & Crocheting Magazine 56, Part 1: A Review

Rowan Knitting & Crocheting Magazine has released issue 56. It has 41 patterns in it, which is a bit much for one review, so as per usual for me when I write Rowan reviews, I'm going to review the first half of the patterns today and the remaining patterns on Friday. Let's look at the first 20 patterns, shall we?

We begin with the Ordie design. I like it, and I like the idea of incorporating stripes of colour, though I don't care for the colours used in this sample.

The Moraig design. Like this one too. It's classic, and yet that fair isle pattern is a little different from any I've ever seen before.

The Ness design. Love this one. The colourway is gorgeous and that's a really original rendering of a fair isle yoke. I'd be inclined to continue the pattern all the way down the sleeves and just work a cuff length in the main colour, though. This does have a slightly unfortunate dropped shoulder visual effect.

The Ashie pattern. Very much like this tartan and cable pattern, though the colourway doesn't appeal much.

The Carlochy design. Love the tartan design of this one, but have my concerns about the shaping. If those front edges don't meet in the front, I'd reshape them so that they do, because that is not a flattering style for most women.

The Heilen pattern. This is a decent design except for the sleeves, which manage to look both stretched out and shrunken. I'd make the patterned part of the sleeve no longer than cap-length and knit the rest of the sleeve in the blue.

The Scaven design. This is a nice piece, though that gradient yarn effect isn't quite working as it should — it looks a little muddled. It can be difficult to find yarns that are just the right shades for a project like this.

The Brack Cape has a good texture but I don't know if anyone will notice it because they'll be too preoccupied with wondering if the wearer's arms are deformed.

The Roan jacket. This is quite a gorgeous piece of design (love the stitchwork and the colourway), but I would raise those dropped shoulders.

The crosses used here make the Fergus design a new take on the classic cabled pullover for men, because they stand out so much. I'd say they work quite well.

The Laide pattern. Love this one. It's simple enough to go with a pattern as it does here, with this kilt, and yet interesting enough to be worn with a basic skirt or jeans.

The Brora sweater. Love this one too, with its classic cables and very well integrated leaf vine motif.

The Ailish turtleneck. This one is a very decent piece of work. I don't think I like the colour change in the cuffs — they look a little random. I'd do the cuffs, collar and hem in the same colour, whether that colour is the main colour or one of the colours from the tartan.

The Craggie turtleneck. This is a little unusual in terms of menswear, but I think it works. If you're knitting this for a man who isn't you, I'd run it by him first to make sure he will wear it.

Quite like the Fyn jacket.

The Katja sweater. I knew as soon as I saw the thumbnail for this design that this had to be a Kaffe Fassett design, and it is. I can't imagine I'll ever criticize a Fassett design for its colourwork, as he is a master of colour, but I will recommend raising the dropped shoulders and maybe neatening up the fit of this design a little.

The Tanja design is another Kaffe Fassett piece. It's an eye-catching piece and the shape is good.

The Elsa pattern. I like this one, but am I imagining things or do I see a subway stop in that pattern?

The Heike design. I like this one, though I am fighting the urge to make a bib joke.

The Angelika design. Another pretty one. It's perhaps a little boxy in shape, but that's not hard to fix.

Look for the second half of the Rowan Knitting & Crocheting Magazine issue 56 review this coming Friday!

More Power to Your Knitting Nell!

New York-trained and based Canadian soprano Melanie Gall hates knitting, but knitting (which totally doesn't hate her) has lured her into its meshes, as knitting tends to do. Gall's sister Deborah is an avid knitter, and in 2009 the two sisters launched a podcast called The Savvy Girls, in which they "take a playful and thoughtful look at knitting, travel, and life". Members of their audience began to write to Melanie and Deborah in order to tell them about knitting songs dating from World Wars I and II. Melanie Gall began to get interested in this subgenre of music and to collect old knitting songs. Once she had over a hundred wartime knitting songs, she decided to use them to write a show. And so the one-woman show, More Power to Your Knitting Nell!, came into being. More Power to Your Knitting Nell! is the story of Sadie Goldstein, an aspiring singer who gets a singing gig playing "Knitting Nell" on a radio show intended to promote knitting for the war effort during World War II. It would be a dream opportunity except for the unfortunate fact that Sadie hates knitting.






More Power to Your Knitting Nell! was performed, among other venues, at Fringe Festivals in a number of locations including Orlando, Edmonton, London, and Winnipeg, in a knitting store in Calgary, and at the National Museum of Military History in Luxembourg where the Battle of the Bulge was fought. If you were weren't able to take in any of these performances, the video above offers a quick preview of Gall playing Sadie Goldstein playing Knitting Nell.






Gall has also uploaded a video of her show performance of "I Wonder Who's Knitting for Me Now".






And here is a video of Gall's performance of "Soldier, Soldier Dear Unknown".

In 2012, Gall also recorded and released an album called Knitting All the Day, which contains the knitting songs she used in the show. You can listen to samples of each song and purchase the CD itself at CDBaby.

Knitscene Fall 2014: A Review

Knitscene has released its Fall 2014 issue. Knitscene has taken a turn for the classic with this issue, and added some good menswear. Let's have a look at it, shall we?

The Dauphine Cardigan. Classic cardigan with a bit of a twist in its play of cables.

This is the Clocktower Kimono. I quite like this piece. It's got a seventies retro vibe, and yet it feels very 2014, and it also has a certain relaxed elegance.

The Dauphine Hat. Clever design of interlacing cables.

The Steampunk Pullover. I like this pullover, but I'm not sure if your average steampunk aficionado will. Steampunkers are given to sniffing that sticking gears all over things do not make them steampunk, and given that this is otherwise a modern sweater with a gears motif, it might not pass muster. It does with me, as this is a striking design cleverly worked out, and the overall shape is good.

Deer Isle Pullover. Solid classic piece.

The Block Island Sweater. I quite like this one, but the dirty-looking colourway here is really pretty awful. I had to squint at the pictures to make out the details. In an attractive colourway this sweater will really sing.

The East Neuk Hoodie. This is an updated take on the guernsey with a lot of surprise details in it, including pattern on the back of the shoulders and hood and elbow patch detailing. Nice work.

The Bournemouth Cardigan. Not too thrilled with this one. It's fine in general, but those pockets bother me visually. They look too much like they should be top opening pockets.

The Plum Island Pullover. The female counterpart to the Deer Island Pullover, which works just as well for women. I take it we're going with a hunter/gatherer gender divide in the names?

The Rockland Socks. It's hard to go wrong with a classic cabled sock.

The Eastbourne Sweater. This isn't a bad piece overall, but I'm really not liking those sleeves. The fullness combined with the length is so unflattering. At that width I'd make the sleeves full-length or shorten them to a cap length. Alternatively, if you want to stick with the elbow length, make the sleeve more fitted.

The Kittery Hat. This designer has translated a traditional guernsey stitch pattern into colourwork, and it's worked out quite well. I like the finishing touch of a line of red around the edge. Nice piece.

The Vista Scarf. The texture of this piece is so visually satisfying and polished that it needs no other details.

The Lory Shawl. A simple piece with a bit of contemporary appeal in the raised rib pattern.

The Stout Scarf. Classic houndstooth scarf. It might be fun to try making this one in an offbeat colourway.

The Larimer Scarf. Nice piece if you (or the intended wearer) can handle the bulk.

The Roslyn Farm Scarf. As a Canadian, all I can think when I look at this piece is that I would have called it the Canadian Tire Scarf, as it looks like a free promotional item featuring the Canadian Tire logo. It's not a bad piece in its own right. I wouldn't do it in red and green, though, as that is both too Canadian Tire and too Christmassy.

The Soldier Canyon Scarf. Very attractive and wearable classic scarf.

The Baleshare Cardigan. This sits so badly, flopping and sagging all over, that even the model isn't able to make it work. Was this sweater named the Baleshare cardigan because one is supposed to share it with a bale of hay?

The Glenveagh Mitts. Cute, fairly basic little fingerless mitts. I would have some fun with my yarn and button choices with this pattern in order to punch up the look a little.

The Callanish Cardigan. I think I would make this one as a single-breasted design. Double breasted designs are always so limiting because they don't look good worn open and aren't comfortable to sit in when buttoned up. I do like the design otherwise. Jacket styling is tricky in knitwear because knits don't quite have the properties to make design elements like a notched collar sit just right, but this designer has managed fairly well. The button cuff detailing is a nice touch.

The Bluestack Sweater. Oh, I like this one! Very eyecatching graphic design and I like the drawstring details at neck and cuffs. I'm not sold on the colourway but it would be a lot of fun to come up with my own.

The Ballyshannon Cardigan is another solid classic piece with its shawl collar and back cabled panel. The owner of this sweater will get lots of wear out of it.

The Berneray Pullover. And a final fine classic piece, with a bit of added distinction in the slightly different stitchwork used in the collar, cuffs, and hem.

When in Rome, Knit as the Romans Do

The picture above is of a Roman dodecahedron, so called because of its dodecahedral shape, with twelve flat pentagonal surfaces. Over a hundred of these little bronze or stone dodecahedra, which date from the second or third centuries, have been found in Europe, in locations ranging from Wales to Hungary to Italy, with most being found in Germany and France.

The use or reason for these dodecahedra are something of a mystery, as there's no mention of such objects in the Roman literature or artwork of the time. Possible suggested uses include: candlestick holders (one found dodecahedron had wax in it), dice, survey instruments, a tool for determining optimal planting dates for winter wheat, gauges to calibrate water pipes, army standard bases, or religious artifacts.






Martin Hallett thinks he may have solved the mystery. He had a scale replica made from 3D print outs, and set to work with some yarn to see what could be done with a dodecahedron. Turns out they make a useful knitting nancy for making gloves, or as they might have called it in Roman times, a knitting dodecahredria or knitting nicé.