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.

Vogue Knitting Holiday 2014: A Review

Vogue Knitting has released their Holiday 2014 preview! Let's have a look at VK's idea of festive knitwear, shall we?

Pattern #1, Black Lace Shawl with Pearl Beads. This is... nice enough. It's hard to go wrong with a lace shawl, but I'm not all that taken with the change of direction in the lace stripes. The pearl beads are a nice touch and look very elegant against the black lace.

Pattern #2, Beaded Scoop-Neck Tee. This is definitely an original take on the horizontal stripe sweater, and it's kind of cool, if probably not for the well-endowed woman, because that narrow band of beading will not sit well on bosom of size. And do not adjust your knitting, as it is supposed to look this way, but I can't help staring at this design and waiting for it to come into focus.

Pattern #3, Lace Pullover. This top is quite striking (the lacework is gorgeous and the black trim on the white makes for a stand-out look) but it is wretchedly unflattering even on this professional model. If you want to make this, I'd suggest you make it in a standard fit, ditch the mullet hem, and add waist shaping.

Pattern #4, Directional Tunic Top. I'm surprised to find myself writing this, because I'm a hard sell on this sort of modern, conceptual design, but I love this. It's a very dramatic and lovely and even quite wearable as it's well shaped and would suit most women.

Pattern #5, Lacy Batwing Pullover. This top is very 1930s in style, which normally I would love, but this isn't doing it for me. I think the problem lies partly in the colourway, which isn't quite working, and partly in the shape. Replace the dull gold yarn used here with, say, a silvery gray, and neaten the shape up a little, and this top should look much smarter.

Pattern #6, Bow Cardi. Totally cute, with excellent shaping and texture.

Pattern #7, Double Seed Stitch Pullover. This one was the cover look, and I don't know why, because it looks like a beginner project from Knit Simple's back files.

Pattern #8, Shawl-Collar Jacket. Great texture, and an elegantly relaxed look. I would want to scale down the size a little. There's relaxed fit, and then there's sloppy, and this is on the borderline.

Pattern #9, Cropped Moto Jacket. I think this pattern was stuck to the back of Pattern #7 when it was retrieved from Knit Simple's files.

Pattern #10 Oversized Turtleneck Pullover. Another simple one, but this one looks luxuriously comfortable and pretty. It's the yarn choice that makes it.

Pattern #11, Cabled Coat. Don't much care for this one. It lacks the shaping and details that would make it look like a coat and instead looks like a sweater made by someone who got too into binge-watching The Good Wife to remember to measure the length from cast on edge to the armholes.

Pattern #12, Ribbed Sleeve Pullover. This looks like something slapped together out of pieces left over from other projects.

Pattern #13, Belted Cardigan. Now this is more like my idea of a knitted coat. Great texture, good shaping, and the belt is the perfect finishing touch.

Pattern #14, Cable and Garter scarf. Not taken with this one, which looks like it was begun by a beginner, taken over by a well-meaning experienced knitter, and then finished by the beginner. The combination of garter and cable stitch just isn't integrated. Gorgeous yarn though — it looks luscious.

Pattern #15, Textured Tote. Lovely classic tote bag, but I would nix the pom poms.

Pattern #16, Hooded Waistcoat. This has some good points, but I am really hating the cutaway shaping, which is too costumey a detail for a hoodie. I'd knit this to be the same length back and front. And be warned, this is a sweater that will hug the wearer's every curve, so it'll pay to do something advance thinking about whether the wearer will want her curves to be hugged. (By a sweater, that is. Other types of hugs may be quite welcome.)

Pattern #17, Hat. Pretty hat. Rest assured, however, that matching one's eyeshadow to one's hat is optional.

Pattern #18, Cable-edged Vest. Nice little vest. I'd want the zipper to zip more of the front however, as this very abbreviated one looks a little silly.

Pattern #19, Faux Fur-Edged Cowl. I like the concept of a faux fur edged cowl, but I don't like this one, as the fur here looks a little on the skimpy and ratty side. Beautiful cabled work here, but I'd edge this one with a fringe or a picot edge or something similar in the main colour yarn.

Pattern #20, Cable and Chevron Top. Nice top, but I would neaten up the fit a bit.

Pattern #21, Fair Isle Cardigan. Love this one. The fresh, bright colours used and the hearts in the fair isle yoke make this an appealing new take on a classic style.

Pattern #22, Fair Isle Poncho. Quite like this shoulder cape. It's neater and smarter looking than most examples of this style.

Pattern #23, Modern Fair Isle Raglan. Very pretty. And you can have fun playing with the colour combinations for this one.

Pattern #24, Icelandic-Style Pullover. Another nice pattern. And I think there are better colourways for it, though admittedly this one is quite Icelandic.

Pattern #25, Sideways Turtleneck. This is another interesting, modern take on the fair isle. I'm finding the colour scheme a little retina scarring, but of course you can knit this sweater in any colours you want.

Pattern #26, Fair Isle Stole with Pom Poms. Not a bad design at all, but I'd nix the pom poms and instead finish this item with a simple fringe. I'm not anti-pom pom, but I do think they have their place, and that's usually not on anyone over 25.

Pattern #27, Brioche Lace Stole. Absolutely gorgeous lacework here, though I can't say I care much for the yarn employed to make this item.

Pattern #28, Winter Whimsy Cap. Cute cap. Bobbles are a grown-up's alternative to the pom pom.