Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2013: A Review

Interweave Knits has come out with another special issue, one on holiday gifts. And they've even released it early enough to give you decent lead time before the Christmas holidays. Let's have a look at the 41 gift ideas in the Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2013 issue.

This is the Joe's Coffee Cosy pattern. I can't help but think this going to get coffee dripped on it with every use. It's cute, though, and I like that the knot and loop fastenings are so organic to the design. I've seen sweaters designed with much less care than this little item.

The Dala Horse design is based on the traditional Swedish Dalecarlian horse, which is an interesting folk craft to read up on if you have a few minutes. However, if you're not Swedish or into that particular tradition, they do look cute but a little non-descript.

The Southern Cross Afghan is a good design. So simple (it's all garter stitch), and yet with such strikingly graphic appeal. I can see it working equally well on a couch or in a baby's crib, depending on the colours chosen.

The Faun Baby Jacket design is simple and cute. I'd be sure to make this in colours that coordinate with whatever colours the child has in her closet, so as to make it as wearable as possible.





The I Heart You Cowl has an adorable pattern on it, but that cowl does appear to have a more than slightly awkward shape. It isn't sitting well in either picture here.

The Star of the East Afghan is another sharply graphic garter stitch afghan. I see it's the work of the same designer as the Southern Star afghan above, Ann McDonald Kelly. She's a designer to watch for.

The Shifting Afghan is another good piece of work. Of course it helps that the yarn used is so gorgeous.

The Fair Star Dress certainly has its good points — I love the full lace skirt — but is lacking from a practical perspective. I'm guessing from the shoulder ties and the see-through skirt that it's meant to be worn over a full outfit, like a pinafore, as it is here, and I can't say I care for the concept at all. This resulting outfit looks cobbled together and like a child playing dress up rather than a child dressed properly and becomingly. I'd make this design into a proper dress with sleeves and shoulders and buy or make the little wearer a petticoat to go underneath.

Love the Heartgyle Pullover, though I'd either coordinate those buttons better or leave them off the design altogether.

The Pinecone Cap doesn't really do it for me. It doesn't look quite enough like a pine cone to have earned its name, and it's not really working aesthetically. I think I might like it better if it were in different colours, and named something else.

Can't say I'm a fan of the Knitted Pinecone Ornaments either. Again, they just don't look enough like real pinecones, and just look kind of cheesy, like Astroturf on a lawn.

The Boy Vertical Vest. I'm wavering on this one. I wasn't quite sure whether those vertical lines passed successfully as an abstract design or just looked kind of random and pointless, but I think they work and that I'm going to come down on the side of liking this design.

The Parquet Stole is definitely a design that lives up to its name. And it's a lovely piece of work.

The Gracile Scarf is a fun, flirty little thing. Not practical, of course, but then not everything has to be.

Oh, I love the Imogene Shawl. It's feminine in a way that is totally unlike the very feminine Gracile Scarf just above and which is much more to my own personal taste: it's graceful and elegant rather than frivolous and frilly.

The Bingham Hill Scarf is another lovely design. It has a very fine gauge and as you can see from the photo, you'll be able to wind it around your neck repeatedly without it getting bulky.

The Corsage Scarf is your basic oblong scarf, but with an interesting texture and end-finishing.

The Hope Chest Scarf is another classic oblong scarf, with an even more interesting texture and end finishing. I see that this scarf and the Corsage Scarf above were designed by Angela Tong, and she's another designer to watch for, because she's one who can take a very basic item that's been done to death and turn it into something interesting and polished.





The Pecan Pullover is a very traditional design with a few different touches: the cabled detailing is unusually well done and the long cuffs can be buttoned to bracelet length or worn wrist length. That could come in handy for doing dish washing or meal prep around home, though I think if I were wearing the sweater the sleeves would spend most of their time turned down and the buttons would just sit there and bother me.

The Caldicott Scarf is classic yet distinctive and it's one that most men would happily wear, unless of course the man we're speaking of is my father, who scorns not only scarves of any design but also hats, gloves, and coats. And who has had pneumonia twice in the last two years.

Quite like the Veronica Slouch, even though I don't normally like non-functional buttons as design elements. These ones, however, have been turned into an integral part of the design and would be an excuse to splurge on some really beautiful interesting buttons.





With the Albatross Cowl, we have a case of a design looking too much like its name. Entrelac is a difficult stitch design-wise, because it tends to look so bulky and rather crude. This buttoned cowl really does not look good when unbuttoned and worn as a scarf, though it looks okay as a cowl.

The Everstar Scarf is a very classic design, so much so that I feel like I've seen it before.





The Woodcutter Hat and Woodcutter Mittens are also very classic, though this time they're just distinctive enough that I don't think I've seen a hat or mittens quite like them.

The Pretzel Scarf is a beautifully textured and wonderfully warm-looking.

The Leadville Cowl is a beautiful piece that seems to sit well even when the model isn't pulling on it.

The Leeward Pullover is a classic gansey that's been given a few modern touches such as slightly different sleeve construction and rolled neckline. It's very wearable and flattering and a sweater a woman will be able to keep in her wardrobe until it's worn out because it will never go out of style.

Love the Walker Scarf. But then I'm a sucker for a classic cable. I blame my Irish ancestry.

I quite like the Beekeeper Slouch hat too.

The Trimble Court Scarf is a beautiful item, but it does look regrettably stiff and awkward when on.

The Stevie Mitts are cute.

The Mint Chocolate Mitts are another fun example of that reversal of colour trend I've seen a lot in mittens, gloves and socks.





The Sailor's Mittens look just like oven mitts to me, and that's not a good thing.

I see we're continuing the kitchen homage theme with the Complements Hat, which looks like a tablecloth. The design is fine, but I would knit this hat in any other colour to avoid making my head like a supper table at the Ponderosa.

The Alpaca Road Socks are totally cute. Love the plaid effect.

Love the Tartan Mitts. Plaid works so well in small doses.

Love the Frosted Pines Hat. Not only is the lace overlay with a darker lining very pleasing from an aesthetic perspective, it'll also make this hat much warmer. Lacy caps and scarves and gloves are all very well, but wear them out in a really cold wind such as we tend to get in January in Toronto and you'll feel as though all lacework is vanity and vexation of spirit.

The Big Brim Hat is... okay. I would probably like it much better in nearly any other colour. Try as I will, I have a hard time getting past my dislike of mustard yellow.

Not a big fan of the Bezold Hat and Cowl. It's not a terrible set, but it's nothing special either. It looks like something that was whipped up in very little time without much thought or effort. And that cowl does not sit well.

Knitter's Magazine Issue 112: A Review

Knitter's Magazine has released issue no. 112. Let's have a look at it, shall we?

I'm not a poncho/capelet fan, and I don't like this colourway personally, but this Square Fare pattern isn't a bad design. It has some shaping and was made with care, which gives it some character.

This Diagonal Ribbons piece has a really interesting texture and I'd love to see what could be done with it if it were used in an actual design (something with, you know, shaping and finishing), instead of just being randomly whipped up and slung onto a model so that it hangs on her like a remnant torn from an old curtain. I don't speak against curtains, mind you. All I'm saying is that when Scarlett O'Hara made a dress out of curtains, she took the trouble to actually make a dress.

Ripple Ridge. I wish I could see the whole length of this top, but from what I can see this is an attractive, polished piece that can be worn with a suit or jeans.

Career Checks. This one is very Chanel-esque. I almost think I should add it to my post on Chanel-like sweaters. The loopy detailing down the front is rather unusual and not something I'd ordinarily like, but I think it works on this design and keeps it from being too staid and run-of-the-mill.

The All Ears hat isn't for every adult, but I have to admit it made me laugh (in a delighted rather than a sardonic way) and that that model's laugh also looks very much like one of genuine enjoyment. It's a playful, well-constructed design and could be fun on someone with the sense of fun and chutzpah to carry it off. Just don't go down to the woods in it during hunting season, because you'll be in for a big surprise.

This is the Eggplant Tunic, and I can't sign off on something that looks like a dreary pinafore that was named what it was because you can spill eggplant on it and not make it any worse-looking than it already is.

The Points on the Curve design is referred to in its description as a "fichu". This designer has gone for a modern fichu look, because this looks like nothing that would ever have been worn by say, the ladies of Cranford. I can see this working on a woman with a very modern dress sense.

I wish I could see the front of the Forest Hoodie as I'm not sure about how that front pocket will look dead on, or about the finishing on the front, but I think I like it. I can't help liking the tweedy elbow patches.

The Cirque Jacket is one of those designs that made a brave beginning but didn't get where it deserved to. I like the vertical bands on the front, I like the garter stitch, but those lapels and button fronts look just awful and I'm more than a little concerned about the shaping through the hips, which looks like it flares out too much and won't be at all flattering when viewed squarely from the front.

I like the Red Line sweater except for one thing, and you can probably already guess what that one thing is because, like me, it's all you see when you look at this photo. I know the zipper is supposed to be an accent, but it just isn't passing for one. It's just too nuts and bolts to be aesthetically pleasing, especially on an otherwise sharp and polished design. I'd omit the zipper, because this sweater can easily be pulled on over the head without it, and maybe put a stripe or two in the cuffs if I felt the sweater needed something more.

The Tribal Jacket pattern isn't bad. I think I'd suggest just one tweak: that it doesn't need the contrast trim around the body of the jacket and cuffs. It just seems to be that one thing too much that makes a jacket with a lot of visual interest too busy. I'd make the trim in the same colour as the bodice pieces.

I very much like the Red & Wine jacket, which could be knitted in either attention-grabbing colours as it is here to make it a statement piece or in neutrals, to make it something a woman can wear with many of her outfits.

This is the Street-Smart Stripes design, but I can't imagine that anyone who ventured out on a city street in this would look like anything else but country cousin in her 4-H knitting project. I think there might be a good design in there somewhere, if someone would attempt to make this in two or three colours that actually go together, but I can't look at it long enough to be sure of that because it's making me cross-eyed. And for some reason Knitter's Magazine chose to make this their cover look. Lord.

I actually rather like the Lush & Lacy Trapeze design. Ordinarily I'd have nothing good to say about all that bulk around the hips, but one can get away with that kind of thing in a sheer. And it's still not for everyone, but I do have a friend with a very modern dress sense whom I can see totally rocking it.

I can only say I love the Glacier Lake design unconditionally and without end. It's a fresh new take on a traditional pattern and it's striking and lovely and totally wearable.

I very much like the Cables and Saddles design, which is a simple little number with perfect detail and that will probably become indispensable to any woman who owns it.

The Pewter Pair design, which comprises both of these patterns. Again, I'm not a capelet fan, but this is a good example of one, and it was great thinking to turn it into a part of a modern sweater set by pairing it up with a matching tank.

The Garter to Go shawl is quite a pleasant little piece. It's not easy to make a garter stitch project look polished, but this designer has succeeded, so much respect for that.

I'm just not liking the stripes on the Glimmers in Rust design. Maybe it's the colour combination that isn't working for me – why are designers so fond of that dreary tan? I'd like to see this done either in a different colour combo, or all in one colour, even if it's variegated.

I'm really impressed by the texture in the Ivory Leaves design. Just think, knitting designers have only two basic stitches to work with, yet after over 1000 years of knitting design they're still coming up with new effects. This sweater is going to be more than a tad on the bulky side, but it will be warm and it's certainly attractive.

The Triple Threat design looks to me like a Tetris game in progress. And I like Tetris, but I'm less than impressed with the sweater version. I don't like all those rough colour changes.