Jane Austen Knits 2014: A Review

Interweave has released the 2014 issue for Jane Austen Knits. Let's have a look at the Georgian-inspired styles therein, shall we?

Highbury Top. A henley with a lace border would have been considered underwear in the Georgian period. A piece like this makes for wearable outerwear these days.

Wheatsheaf Carpetbag. Oooh, love this one, with its unusual and beautiful pattern and detailing. An aluminum frame is used to give the bag shape. It can be knitted as a tote if you can't find or don't care to use such a frame.

Mrs. Jennings's Country Stockings. This is my favourite kind of sock: a basically plain pattern with a bit of lovely or interesting detailing added. Very patterned socks always look a little on the goofy side to me, no matter how beautifully designed.

Men's Driving Gloves. These are nice, although I'm a little unsure about their appeal to men on the whole. They might look a little gimmicky and foppish to most men.

Eliza's Hat. This one is really eye-catching. It's the particular needle-felted floral trimming that makes it because it's really something unique, but the hat does have a pretty good shape and could be trimmed in lots of different ways.

Harriet's Little Shoulder Shawl. This shawl is a little on the too little and too simple side for me. I think I'd want to make it a little larger and add a fringe or lace edging.

Jane's Barathea Mitts. Very nice fingerless gloves. They've got great texture and are so well-shaped.

Fine Stockings. Another mostly plain pair of stockings with some lovely detailing.

A Second Chance for Mr. Rushworth Socks. Classic pair of cabled socks.

Kitty's Chemise. This top needs some detailing (any detailing, for that matter) to make it work. It's just too plain as is to be worth making.

Socks for Mr. Bennet's Leisure. Love the horizontal herringbone pattern in these socks.

Cassandra's Tea Cozy. Can't say I care for this one. It just looks kind of lumpy and cheesy.

Col. Fitzwilliam's Huswife. In the nineteenth century, a huswife, or housewife as it was also called, was a little kit of sewing supplies. I'm trying to figure out what purpose this could be put to in the twenty-first century. Interweave suggests it could hold knitting notions, but I don't think I'd care to use it for that. Maybe it could work as a vanity case or cell phone case. As to the aesthetics of it, I do like the tartan pattern but the crooked embroidered lettering is really detracting.

Kellynch Cardigan. Beautiful classic cardigan. The yarn used here, Madelinetosh Tosh merino light in "Tannenbaum", is really fabulous.

Dashwood Lace Stole. This looks much more like an afghan than a stole to me because of its size and rectangular shape, although I must say it is a beautiful afghan. Love the lace pattern. If you want to wear this, I'd recommend sizing it down and shaping it.

Strawberry Picking Shrug. Very pretty little shrug.

Sweet Hearts Reticule. This is kind of cute, but it could have done with a little more shaping at the bottom. This purse will not sit upright on its own.

Regency Blouse. Very pretty top. The shaping is good and the ballet neckline, cap sleeves, and lacework add a lot of grace to it.

Accomplished Ladies' Reticule. Pretty little purse, though I'm mentally playing with the colourway in order to make it less "tea in a country garden" style, because that style is a little too precious for most women.

Susan's Bonnet. This isn't a bad-looking bonnet, but it is a bonnet. I can't imagine any woman wearing it other than as part of a costume.

A Shawl for Emma. Lovely, delicately lacy shawl.

Abbey Mill Farm Vest. Beautiful, classic fair isle vest.

Fitzwilliam's Gift. What a gorgeous piece. The lacework, the beading and that luscious yarn all combine to make something really luxurious and extravagantly beautiful.

Almost Pretty Stockings. Creative use of lacework here. That diagonal lace stripe make these socks look simultaneously quaint and contemporary.

Brighton Shawl. Lovely and gracefully shaped shawl.

Catherine's Bonnet. The shape of this little girl's hat is ever so cute. I'm having a lot of fun mentally playing with it and figuring out different things to do with it with intarsia and Swiss darning.

Little Man Waistcoat. Not crazy about this one. I find the shaping of the neck a little on the rough and ready side, and the colourway isn't doing anything for it. Fixing the neckline and going with a different colourway should make it work though.

Bergère de France Magazine 174: A Review

Bergère de France has released their Magazine 174, which features autumnal children's knitwear. Let's have a look at it, shall we?

Pattern 1, Jacket with Jacquard Yoke. Cute and very serviceable cardigan.

Pattern 2, Bobble Hat & Pattern 3, Sweater with Jacquard Sleeves. Very basic hat. Putting the jacquard pattern on the sleeves is a good idea and makes a nice change from the ubiquitous "stripe across the chest" sweater design for men and boys.

Pattern 4, Jacquard Bobble Hat & Pattern 5, Skirt with Bow. That hat is cute, but the skirt is awful. It has a terrible shape and the bow looks ridiculous.

Pattern 6, Double-Breasted Jacket. Not a bad piece overall, but I would correct the shaping somewhat, as the way this jacket balloons slightly out above the ribbing at the bottom is neither flattering nor attractive.

Pattern 7, Bobble Hat & Pattern 8, Cable Sweater. Basic but nice hat. Love the sweater. Those two single rows of colour give a classic style a contemporary look.

Pattern 9, V-Neck Cardigan. Very cute striped cardigan. Pattern 5, the skirt with the bow, is making a second appearance and you can just tell it knows it is out of its league from its sad sack-like look in the first photo and the way it's hiding behind the striped cardigan in the second.

Pattern 10, Sleeveless Tunic. Cute and rather original design, but I would want to add a few inches more skirt to this tunic and call it a dress, especially if, as in this case, it were to be worn as one.

Pattern 11, Beanie; Pattern 12, Scarf & Pattern 13, Cable-Stitch Sleeveless Sweater. That is the most basic cap and scarf set ever. The vest is also quite run-of-the-mill. There's nothing wrong with these patterns, but then a fairly skilled knitter isn't likely to need any of them, because she or he can either make these patterns up as she or he goes, or will have them already.

Pattern 14, Cross-Over Top & Pattern 15, Arm-Warmers. The top is unattractively baggy and bulky. The arm-warmers are fine.

Pattern 16, Long Sweater. Lovely, classic sweater that can be worn almost anywhere a little girl is likely to go.

Pattern 17, Coat. This design is a bit on the rough side for my liking, but it is quite cute nonetheless.

Pattern 18, V-Neck Cardi. This one is fairly basic. I'd make it in a beautiful yarn to elevate it a little.

Pattern 19, Round-Necked Embroidered Sweater. This one's a little bizarre. The small patch on the sleeve gives it a slightly military air that will appeal to boys, but the weird pumpkin-like face with the heart-shaped mouth that is embroidered on the front is not something most boys will want to wear. I'd nix the embroidery and instead do some sort of cabled device on the front.

Pattern 20, Balaclava & Pattern 21, Muff. A Russian-style fur hat and muff wouldn't be a bad idea for a pattern for a little girl, but then the designer had to tack on a bunch of crap knitted in variegated yarn and turn the hat into a balaclava. Het.

Pattern 22, Tube Dress. This dress looks silly worn over a blouse but it wouldn't be appropriate for a little girl to wear the dress alone. I don't think tube dresses are for little or adolescent girls, period.

Pattern 23, Shoulder Warmer & Pattern 24, Crocheted Arm Warmers. Both of these designs are badly shaped and unattractive.

Pattern 25, Sweater with Jackquard Panel. I'm not liking the use of the light gray for the one side, because it looks a little too much like the maker of this sweater didn't have enough of the charcoal yarn. It isn't all that easy to make colour blocking work. I think adding some gray stripes to each side of the jacquard panel might fix this, but it's probably safer just to stick to one background colour.

Pattern 26, Sweater with Jacquard Stag Design. The concept of working a simple representative shape in a stripe on the front of a child's sweater is one I am going to have to keep in mind, because it totally works.

Pattern 27, Beanie & Pattern 28, Scarf. Quite like this set, but I would probably want to scale down the size of the hat, because it's absurdly tall.

Pattern 29, Stag's Head Sweater. I don't know how it was that Bergère de France saw fit to follow up the previous hat with its creative, fun, and even sophisticated use of the stag theme with this thing. But then Bergère de France does have a penchant for tacking extraneous crap on a basic item and calling it a design.

Pattern 30, Roll-Neck Cape. I like this one. Good shaping and nice use of finishing details, such as the buttons and embroidery on the hem.

Pattern 31, Zip-Front Cardigan & Pattern 32, Bobble Hat. This set is... not bad. The colourwork is a little odd when one looks closely at it, but the overall effect is fine.

Pattern 33, Zip-Front Coat. This is quite a nice piece. I think I'd put those colour splotches that appear on just the front of this sample on both the front and the back of my version, or leave them off entirely.

Pattern 34, Jacquard Snood & Pattern 35, Jacquard Sweater. Not really a big fan of this set. I don't know how willing young boys are going to be to wear a cowl, and the "jacquard" patterns on the front of this sweater looks too random and clumsy.