Bergère de France 178: A Review

Bergère de France has released issue 178 of its magazine. Let's have a look at it.

Pattern 1, Sleeveless Dress. Rather a nice simple summer dress. I'd go with a more interesting yarn choice.

Pattern 2, Round-Neck Jacquard Sweater. Wearable and attractive. As a crafter, I can't help liking the stitch-like stripes.

Pattern 3, Cardigan. As unadorned as it gets, but the very pretty crocheted texture is all this item needs, and also provides great edging.

Pattern 4, Short-Sleeve Sweater. Good shape and lovely texture.

Pattern 5, Short Strappy Top. Bergère de France seems to have had the stereotypical French girl figure in mind when they put this issue together. However, this isn't a bad top for someone who has the confidence to wear it, and if it's being made for a woman who doesn't care to show off her midriff, it can always be lengthened.

Pattern 6, Cardigan. Pretty, but I would lengthen this and add waist shaping.

Pattern 7, V-Neck Short Sleeve Sweater. Very basic but useful enough. I'd decrease the height of the ribbing at the cuff and waist, as I don't think it's doing anything for the design, and I'd add waist shaping.

Pattern 8, Double-Breasted Jacket. Not liking this one. It just looks kind of sad and frumpy, and won't look good worn open, which is limiting.

Pattern 9, Short Sleeved Sweater. Shapeless and bulky.

Pattern 10, Round Neck Sweater. I feel like I've seen this one before, but then that's menswear design for you. Even the strikingly effective stuff has at most some slightly original twist on the norm. Anyway, it is a perfectly acceptable and wearable design which most men would be happy to wear.

Pattern 11, Strappy Dress. Not a bad dress. I appreciate the solid bodice, which gives one a little more coverage in the area it is most needed. I'd like to see it in an interesting colour.

Pattern 12, Eyelet Cable Cardigan. Classic cardigan.

Pattern 13, Short Sleeve Openwork Sweater. Pretty texture, but the shape is a little squarish. I'd add waist shaping and shorten the sleeves by a few inches.

Pattern 14, Loose Boat-Neck Sweater. The next time I am having trouble sleeping, I am going to go online, pull up this review, and look at the picture of this sweater.

Pattern 15, Round-Neck Openwork Cardigan. Pretty summer cardigan with lovely texture and good lines. I'm also loving the way it's been styled here. Bleached greens and blues seem like such a great combination for summer.

Pattern 16, V-Neck Cardigan. Very basic men's cardigan. I'd want to do this in an interesting yarn to give it a bit more life.

Pattern 17, Short-Sleeved Sweater. The whole point of this design seems to be that it is a vehicle for this metallic yarn, but I don't think the yarn's all that and would go with a pattern that had some interest and better lines.

Pattern 18, Strappy Top. Kind of cute, but the combination of the waist ribbing and the stripes at the bottom seem to be a bit much for such a skimpy little item. I think I'd nix one of those design elements.

Pattern 19, Square-Neck Short-Sleeve Sweater. Not a bad simple top, but I would definitely go with a different yarn for it. I don't think I'll ever get the French aesthetic's affinity for oatmeal shades, and this attempt on their part to liven the oatmeal with tutti-frutti speckles seems even more inexplicable.

Pattern 20, Strappy Top with Removable Sleeves. Cute tank top. I think the kindest thing I can do for the matching arm warmers is try to forget they're in this photo. Even 1980s designers knew better than to try to get us to wear armwarmers.

Pattern 21, Asymmetric Top. This crocheted top isn't a bad design at all, but it's not all that wearable for most of us non-Rihanna types.

Pattern 22, Short-Sleeve Sweater with Openwork Detail. This top would be decent if made to fit in non-retina-searing colours, but I suppose the idea was to come up with something that would balance out those pants. Um. All I can say is.... the model's sandals are cute and deserved a better fate than this.

Pattern 23, Red Cushion. Surely even the newest of beginning knitters wouldn't need this "pattern". Bergère de France, you don't have to go to such lengths to fill out your magazine. No one would have minded if this issue had 28 patterns in it rather than 29. Not even me. Really.





Pattern 24, V-Back Sweater with Chain Detail. Arghh. I believe this is what's known as a "180-degree fug", otherwise known as "what appeared to be a perfectly presentable design when looked at from the front turns out to be a horror when viewed from the back". This back detail presents itself as necklaces about to take a suicidal plunge under the gaze of a pair of indecently voyeuristic elbows.

Pattern 25, Openwork Poncho. Shapeless and dowdy and in an ugly shade.

Pattern 26, Openwork Top with Double Straps. Not a bad little summer top.

Pattern 27, Three-Quarter Sleeve Openwork Sweater. Frumpy and shapeless. Though I do LOVE this yarn. It needs to run away with the metallic sandals worn with Pattern 22 so that they can begin a wonderful new life together on their own terms.

Pattern 28, Openwork Dress. I actually don't mind this one, though I can't help but think if it were done in gun metal gray the wearer would like an escaped extra from some very low-budget medieval action movie. And it's definitely a dress that requires an underlayer.






Pattern 29, Top with Chain Straps. Here we have another use of incorporated chain, but this time the chains look reasonably contented with their lot in life. I do rather like this shoulder chain concept (the matching gold buttons really make it work), but think the shaping of the top could use work. I'd make it more fitted and with a high armhole. One doesn't always want to wear an under layer in summer.

Knit.Purl Spring/Summer 2015: A Review

The Spring/Summer 2015 issue of knit.purl is out. Let's have a look at it, shall we?

Ripple Edge Cardigan. This is pretty but it doesn't sit well. The edgings are rolling back on themselves and it really detracts.

Meandering Top. Rather a nice piece, though it could do with some waist shaping.





Swingback Hoodie. A very useful piece for summer with some great detailing.

Stepping-Stones Shawl. Love the edging on this shawl, but I am not loving that line of big holes down the centre. It's a deconstructive look that seems at odds with the rest of this elegant design.

Wavy Lace Cardigan. Can't say I find this one appealing. It doesn't sit well and looks ratty.

Featherfall Cardigan. Another nice cardigan with front edges that roll in on themselves.

San Lorenzo Wrap. This isn't normally the kind of thing I like, but this wrap is selling itself to me regardless. Because it is a wrap, I can give it a pass on the loose fit and construction and appreciate its several virtues: good texture, an interesting contemporary look, and it'll stay in place.

On the Edge Poncho. This looks like a horse blanket.

Striated Shawl. Very nice piece. Love the linear-style design.

Linen Rib Tank. Simple but effective.

Labyrinth Cardigan. This one's a little rough and ready for my liking, but it's pleasing on the whole. The collar doesn't sit all that well, but at least it's not rolling up or sagging. Do make sure you make this item in a size large enough for the wearer. A cardigan that is pulling apart in the front between its buttons, as this sample sweater is doing on the model, is a cardigan that is distractingly and unflatteringly too small.





Moth Wing Top. Dolman sleeves are normally too shapeless a look to appeal to me, but the designer of this piece has made this piece more flattering, and more wearably modest, by seaming the sides of the sweater.

Pointed Tunic. It fits, it flatters, and it's totally wearable. Very nice!

Medallion Blouse. Not a bad piece, but it could definitely use some waist shaping.

Hanky Tank. Elegantly spare design.

Eyelet and Welt Tee. Good lines and interesting detail on this one.

Lace Dolman Jacket. Pretty little cardigan that will prove very useful piece in summer, when it can be thrown on over a variety of outfits.





Open Back Bias Tank. This is one of those designs I mentally file under the label "Not for the Faint of Heart". If you have the confidence for this, it is a cute and casual layer piece for summer. I can see it working as swimsuit coverup at the beach.

Baler Cardigan. Nice classic piece with excellent lines and lacy sleeves to keep it from looking too staid.





Ladder Tank. This wouldn't normally be my type of thing, but it has good lines and visual interest. I can see it working as an interesting layer piece for summer.

Boatneck Dolman. Not liking this one. It looks both shrunken and too large, and it's unflattering even on this professional model.

Feline Fibre Genuis and other Knitting Fables

LuLu was getting a sinking feeling she ought to have taken that left turn at Albuquerque in order to get to the yarn store.

Shea had originally been mad at her cat Kip for shredding her latest (and nearly finished) project, but when she tried on the result just for the hell of it, she decided Kip might be some kind of feline fibre genius.

Kindergarten teacher Hazel was thrilled with the new outfit she'd made to wear while teaching a unit on dinosaurs to her class. She'd also dreamed up an idea for doing "cave painting" on the classroom walls with her students, and a "big bang"" experiment to do in the playground. Going off her meds was so good for her teaching skills!

Fed up with his mother's repeated promises to finish his new striped teddy bear "sometime", Chul-Moo decided to take matters into his own hands.

Cora felt that a bulky sweater went a long way towards balancing out what she considered to be problem hips. Now if she could only figure out an effective way to get her best friend Anna to stop emailing her links to articles about body dysmorphic disorder!

After getting charged with criminal mischief for tagging, Aviva took her case worker's advice and channeled her passion for making a mark into knitwear design. She found turning sweaters into the wall-like surface she wanted a bit of a challenge, but then it was a challenge she felt up to.

Madison felt that someday hot pants and afghan stripes were going to be just as universally known and quintessentially "Madison" as the little square suit and Chanel No. 5 were "Chanel".

Elysia wasn't exactly happy about being given the part of "turkey baster" in her community theatre's avant garde Thanksgiving play, but as she kept reminding herself, a true thespian gives 100% of herself to every role she takes on.

Elysia's neighbour Vicky, who had gotten cast as "mashed potatoes and peas", was less philosophical, and instead vowed to give up her stage ambitions and write a romance novel about an aspiring actress who got all the best parts in everything as well as all the leading men, because her talent and beauty was too remarkable to be ignored.

Keefe had decided that a "swim sweater", which left a tantalizing something to the imagination, was the best way to attract all the ladies at the public pool. Much to his disappointment, he'd only been approached by one 67-year-old woman so far, and that was only to kindly advise him that his sweater was going to both slow him down in the water and hang to his knees when wet.

Easter Egg Socks

This video, from YouTube user Kris Krafter, demonstrates how she dyes yarn for sock knitting by knitting tubes on her hat knitting machine, colours them using Easter egg dye, plastic wrap, a microwave and salad spinner, winds them back into yarn balls, and then finally knits up the yarn again on her sock knitting machine, and all to a lively salsa beat. It's fun to see how the dyed yarn knits up, and the resulting socks might just make for interesting Easter egg hunt finds.