For Those Knitters Who Feel They Haven't Been Putting Enough of Themselves Into Their Work

For some people, hand-knitting is just so passé; arm-knitting is where it's at. Maggie of the blog Simply Maggie shows us how to arm-knit a scarf in half an hour and how to arm-knit a blanket in an hour.

Knitter's Magazine Issue 110: A Review

It's time once again to review the latest issue of Knitter's Magazine. I've been looking forward to the next issue, because I really was quite impressed with their last one, which was a skirt-themed issue. In this current issue, the Knitter's Magazine editors have elected to focus on tops.

Let's have a look at the patterns in Knitter's Magazine Issue 110, shall we?





I'm not all that enthusiastic about this pattern or this yarn, but both are serviceable enough. And perhaps useful as camoflauge if you want to disappear into the nearest tree trunk.





This is pretty but a little full around the hips for flattery.





At this point I'm feeling as though if one has seen one pretty little lace shawl, one has seen them all.





Eh, mesh. Be forewarned that I have an anti-mesh bias. This isn't terrible but it's not all that appealing either. You'll have to wear something under it and it will catch on everything.





Smart, graphic pattern little top. You may want to lengthen this and shape it through the waist. It looks like it might have a slightly too cropped and boxy fit to me.





Now this is a lace shawl that comes across as something rather different. The lace pattern and hem is quite striking.





Very simple, very wearable, very pretty lace top.





This item is probably intended to be a cross between a shawl and a sweater but instead comes across as an afghan with pretensions. That nubbly yarn choice isn't helping either — it's too afghan-like to use for an item that's already too afghan-like.





Here's another afghan-inspired cardigan, but it's a little more successful than the last one. There are actual sleeves. It's not ungracefully draped, and the yarn isn't unattractive. It's never a good sign when a review consists of qualified negatives, but... this isn't unwearable.





This yarn is just too dreary, but I do rather like the pattern. If you're well-endowed and or short-waisted, I would make the bottom lace section shorter in proportion to the rest of the garment to keep it from chopping up your figure, and if you've got a short neck I would also consider scooping the neck out a little more, but otherwise this is a reasonably flattering garment.





This lace pattern must be on the back, which makes me wish Knitter's Magazine had shown us the back so we'd know exactly what we're getting into if we make this pattern.





Another pretty little lace top.





Lately I've complained in a few other reviews, most notably the Knitscene Spring 2013 issue review, that knitting magazines were offering us a lot of wool hat, scarf and fingerless glove patterns for spring. This scarf actually looks like something one might wear in spring and summer. It's light and lacy and has the delicate, opalescent tints of a seashell.





I don't think these super long tops really flatter anyone. It never hurts a woman's appearance to have legs that appear to go on for miles, but who wants a torso that does? I'd chop this one down to the length that suits you best. If you routinely make clothes for yourself, you need to know what that length is. Get out the top that has always looked perfectly proportioned on you and measure it.





I like this skirt — I'm very impressed with the way the hem has been made to mimic a pleated ruffle — but I do have my suspicions of possible bulk around the waist.






This is another afghan masquerading as an item of clothing. And it really should have known better. Afghan, didn't your mother ever tell you that being the most striking, beautiful, mitred-edge afghan you can be is better than being any kind of poncho?





Here's another smartly graphic top. With the same model striking the same kind of artful pose that makes me wonder if the top isn't a touch too cropped and boxy to be really flattering. But that's easily fixed.





Beautiful lace vest, but it is more than a touch skimpy even on this model. Make sure that you make it big enough to look as though it fits the person you've made it for.





This design is so graphic it almost seems to weave before the eyes. Really striking look, but again make sure it's not too cropped or too boxy on you.





This one's a little heavy, but there are cool days and evenings even in summer where a heavy cotton pullover like this comes in handy. I like the lace sampler design. The sleeve length looks a little awkward, but of course you can make the sleeves any length you like.

Alas, this issue was something of a let down. It's not terrible by any means, but it's nothing like as good as the previous, skirt-themed issue. There's nothing in it that struck me as really wonderful or made me want to rush out and buy it. But there's always next time. Which one must hope will not be fingerless glove-themed publication.

Does Anybody Really Knit What Time It Is?

Norwegian design student Siren Elise Wilhelmsen's final student assignment at the Berlin University of Art before her 2010 graduation was to design something on the theme of "Everything Counts". Wilhelmsen created a knitting clock that she entitled "Developing Time — Time Developing", and that shows the passage of time by showing a process. This clock is an impressive multi-tasking appliance, as it can be used as a 24-hour clock and takes one stitch every half hour. Anyone who buys a clock like this will have to stick to the stove top timer if they want to cook an egg, but will have a new 2 metre/6'7" scarf at the end of the year.



Wilhelmsen, who is now working as a designer, talks about her knitting clock project in the video above. The knitting clocks don't seem to be widely available as yet, but Wilhelmsen dreams of designing for IKEA, so it may happen. In the meantime we're just going to have to knit our own scarves.

Coming up: A review of Knitter's Magazine Issue 110, set to release tomorrow morning!

At Least It's Not Another Infinity Scarf

That is not actually a piece of bacon, but a scarf knitted or crocheted to look disturbingly and alarmingly like bacon. Perfect for the unapologetic carnivore in your life! The chart is available from Monster Crochet for $5.

A Smokin' Hot Knitting Pattern

There are only two aspects of this vintage pattern photo that have dated badly from an aesthetic perspective. This handsome, well-dressed model is wearing white or light gray gloves that don't really work with his outfit, and he's in danger of setting the gloves on fire.

The Cosby Sweater

It would seem the Cosby sweater is back, the distinctive crazily colourful sweater that was made so iconic on the eighties-era Cosby Show that I couldn't write about knitting sweaters for even a month without referencing it. Hipsters are wearing them ironically and designers are reinventing them. There are websites the celebrate the Cosby sweater, such as The Cosby Sweater Project, the author of which creates original artwork inspired by the different sweaters in the show; and Huxtable Hotness, which examines the sartorial choices of the show one episode at a time (more than one episode at a time would be simply too overwhelming for us all).

This article from Collector's Weekly tells us the back story of Cliff Huxtable's sweaters. The sweaters came from a variety of sources, and were sometimes ordinary department store sweaters, sometimes loaned by designers, and sometimes custom made, one-of-a-kind pieces. The Cosby Show's costume designer Sarah Lemire says the sweaters were not (contrary to popular belief and image Google results) designed by the Australian company Coogi. “My sweaters were busy to a certain point, but it wasn’t to that extreme,” says Lemire. “I still can’t stand those.”

Lemire sometimes designed the sweaters herself and had them handknit by a Boston architecture student, and explains that the sweaters were chosen because they were appropriate for wearing around home and because they wouldn't shift about as noticeably and make it difficult for the director to match the frequent close-up shots of Cosby to longer shots. Lemire sewed Cliff Huxtable's shirts to the sweaters to make certain they didn't shift between takes.

Some of the sweaters Cosby wore on his show were designed by Koos Van Den Akker, a Dutch-born and Paris-trained New York designer whose work Bill Cosby and his wife discovered for themselves. Van Den Akker created collage sweaters that were wearable art for Bill Cosby, and he's still designing today, as this current design from Vogue Patterns attests.

I don't think I'll be donning any Cosby sweaters myself, either ironically or in all seriousness. One thing I'm realizing more and more as I write this blog is how classic and conservative my tastes are, and I'll be sticking to my beloved Fair Isle, cable, lace, and vintage patterns, with maybe the odd hand-dyed yarn if I feel like walking on the wild side. But one insight I'm taking away from all The Cosby Show costume analysis is that Denise Huxtable's costumes, weird as they looked at the time, have aged far better than the attire sported by the rest of the cast. If you want pictures of you to appear attractive several decades down the road, you have two options: updated classics, or outfits so off-beat that they'll never go out of style because they were never in style to begin with.

500 Sweaters, One Knitter

Loes Veenstra of the Netherlands knits so very quickly that she has made more sweaters than she could ever give away. Many, many more. She had a surplus of 500 never-worn sweaters, dating back as far as 1955, stored away in her home on the 2nd Carnissestraat in Rotterdam.

Christien Meindertsma, a Dutch designer and artist whose work explores the life of products and raw materials, with the aim of regaining understanding of processes made unfamiliar or obsolete by industrialization, heard about Veenstra's collection when it was displayed at the Museum of Rotterdam as part of the exhibition "Over leven in Carnisse" (Life in Carnisse), and decided something more had to be done. So she included the sweaters in her project, "DNA Charlois", which involves materials and crafts by people from 160 different countries, and prepared a forthcoming book about the sweaters. When even that didn't seem enough, Meindertsma organized a flash mob event featuring the sweaters, a marching band, dancers, baton twirlers, and a throne for Veenstra to sit upon while she enjoyed the event. This video of the show also features bonus observant cat and dancing dog.

I hope you enjoy the video and getting to see all the sweaters in it. I especially liked that one can probably hazard a pretty good guess as to the vintage of these sweaters from the design, as some are quintessential examples of knitwear design from a specific era. The Cosby Show could have hired this woman for their wardrobe department, is what I'm saying.