Interweave Knits Fall 2013: A Review

The Interweave Knits Fall 2013 issue is out. Despite several missteps, this issue has some first-rate designs in it, and there are at least four I want to make, so although I don't buy many knitting magazines, I'm going to buy this one. Let's have a look at the 24 designs in it, shall we?

And we begin very well with the Barnard Raglan. I haven't a nit to pick where this one is concerned. The ballet neckline and the cable detailing give this sweater flattering lines and visual interest. This is a simple yet distinctive sweater most women could wear just about anywhere.

The Bryn Mawr Dress is another good design. I think some women might want to make it with a little more ease and/or lower the neckline and/or change the length of the sleeves, but as long as it suits you it's a good design as is. Love the texture.

The Clear Creek Pullover is another simple, flattering pattern with just the right amount of detail to catch the eye. I'm not sure I'd want to wear a strappy top underneath it, but that may just be me. I've linked to the pattern page on Ravelry for now because the link in Interweave's preview page isn't working.

The Nexus Cowl is another pattern I like. I wonder if that cowl is long enough to double around the neck? If it isn't, I would make it long enough to do so because it's such a bonus to have that second wearing option with a cowl. And that's some standout stitchwork there, but did anyone else do a slight double take when he or she first saw it because it looked a little like interlocked skeletal hands?

The Seven Sisters Pullover is another good, wearable, and simple yet interesting design. I am especially loving the ballet necklines in this issue, which are so flattering and yet seem to occur relatively rarely in knitwear.

The Crinoline Tee is really basic, but it's a competent, wearable design and would be a good way to showcase a beautiful yarn in a colour you really love.

The Permanent Way Cape. I'm not a fan of capes, but I must admit this is a good example of one, and has been constructed with considerable skill and care.

I do like a glove with an elongated cuff because it's so much warmer and more comfortable to never have any wrist bared to a Toronto winter, but the Ballast Gloves are a little longer than I would like. One usually puts on one's coat before one's gloves, and with these one will either have to reverse that order or wind up awkwardly stuffing the arm of the glove up one's coat sleeve. They can be made shorter, of course, and other than that one concern these really are well-designed. Love the detail on the back of the hands.

This is the Surrey Jacket, and I can't say I'm taken with it. There isn't a photo of it done completely up, and it just looks awkward and ill-fitting when worn open. Someone needs to figure out a way to make double-breasted styles look good when worn unfastened.

Love the Minstral Scarf, which is just ever so ethereal and lovely. It will catch on everything, it won't provide any significant warmth, but who cares. Sometimes it's enough for an item just to be aesthetically pleasing.

This is the No. 6 Shrug, and I can't say I consider it a successful design. It just looks awkward and as though the model is trying on an unfinished part of a sweater for size.





The Haberdashery Cowl isn't bad. I'm not crazy about the colourway, which is a little on the dreary side, and it doesn't look all that good worn unbuttoned — the buttons and loops are just hanging there looking untidy and useless in the "open" shot.

The Concord Jacket is well-designed, and it's attractive, but that is one trying fit that will not flatter most women. Cardigans that don't meet in the front just tend to look too small.

Quite like the Rheinfels Mittens. I'd be inclined to whip up a hat to go with the mittens, or at least carefully choose their colourway to go with my coat. I think they'd look better when visually tied to something else than they do as a one-off.

The Trieste Cardigan is a really darling baby cardigan. It's simple yet has such style, and it's so carefully finished.

The Plowman Cardigan is something a bit different, but it works. The garter shawl collar and belt work really well, and the arrow intarsia motifs are strikingly graphic.

The Epeiric Vest is an excellent design with an elegantly understated colourway and is a very worthy addition to the long and lovely Fair Isle sweater tradition, but I will say that this sample has one major flaw. The v-neck was very poorly done and it's distorting the design — those horizontal design bands should all run straight across the chest. If you make this sweater, either pick up more stitches for the neckband than this knitter has done or don't cut the neck so low that it needs such a deep v-neck.

Love the Dressage Cap, but I will warn you to take care to make the cap's visor wide enough to suit the wearer, which is to say it should be a touch wider than her face. You can see here that the visor is narrower than the width of the model's face, and it's not doing her any favours.

Love the Cornhusk Pullover. The use of gradient colour and the eyelet cables is just inspired and a perfect blending and balance of two striking design elements. Those three-quarter length sleeves aren't for every woman, but there's no reason they can't be lengthened or shortened to suit the intended wearer.

I do really like the drop lace stitch shoulder detail on the Prisma Dolman, but I can't say I care for anything else about this design. The visible seams and rolling hems aren't really working here and just make it look crude and unfinished.

The Converge Pullover isn't really working either. It looks like a beginner knitting project with some glaring mistakes in it.

I do quite like the Filtered Pullover. The dropped stitch bands really work here, setting up an interesting contrast to the cables. The cropped length isn't for everyone, but the sweater can be easily lengthened.

The Corrugated Tunic isn't without a certain aesthetic interest, but man, this is one seriously unflattering item. Even the model isn't working it, but is gazing off to the side with a "Why am I wearing the same look as the wall I'm leaning against?" expression. If you really want the effect the Corrugated Tunic will create, save yourself the knitting time and don a Corrugated Box.





I do not know why the designer of the Joan of Arc Sweater saw fit to add saddlebags to what would otherwise have been a perfectly nice cabled pullover, but it wasn't a happy thought.

Oversized and Over-Patterned: a Selection of Knitting Patterns from 1980-1989

This is the ninth post in my series of selected twentieth century knitting patterns (you can see the other posts in the series here), and it offers a sampling of knitting patterns dating from 1980 to 1989. I've been rather dreading this post, because I think the design aesthetic of the eighties was the most hideous of any decade of the twentieth century. Eighties design followed a curve similar to that of the sixties, in that the look of the first half of the decade was generally prim and conservative, and then got very loud, shapeless, and tacky once past the midpoint of the decade. I know this because I was there. I was around for much of the seventies too, but I was only six when 1980 dawned and all I really remember about seventies style was the appliquéd dresses my mother made me, my older brothers' hand-me-down sweaters, and my Cindy Brady bangs and ringlets hairstyle. (Yes, there are pictures, and no I will not post them.) I remember the trappings of my eighties all too clearly: the dayglo and pastel colours, the cropped pants, the batwing sweaters, the teased bangs, the frosted pink lipstick, the acid wash jeans. And unlike my Cindy Brady ringlets, I can't blame these things on my mother, because I chose all these things myself.

But after looking at a lot of eighties knitwear design while researching this post, I have to say that the eighties really were a good time for knitting. Vogue Knitting went back into production in 1982 (their original incarnation having closed its doors in 1969), and there was also Simplicity Knitting, though it didn't last long, McCall's Needlework & Craft Magazine continued the good work it had been doing for decades, and a number of women's housekeeping-type magazines offered a very decent pattern in each issue. Another change was that with the growing importance of "name brands", and thanks in no small part to Vogue Knitting, knitting designers became "names" in a way they had never really been before. Kaffe Fassett, Alice Starmore, Susan Duckworth, Jean Moss, and Nicky Epstein all became star designers during the eighties.

Of course a lot of eighties knitwear design looks unqualifiedly terrible now. The pastels and primary colour combinations and crude geometric patterns that are so typical of eighties style aren't at all appealing by contemporary standards. And then there was the shaping of eighties garments, or more accurately, the lack thereof. Oversized sweaters and tops were inexplicably in (I remember seeing other girls in our school change rooms helping each other stretch out their sweaters and t-shirts to make them even larger than they already were), and big baggy sweaters don't do anything for any figure. However, the best knitwear designs of the eighties had a gorgeously rich complexity (if you look back over the designers I mentioned in the last paragraph, you'll see they're almost all known for the sheer intricacy of their patterns) and those graphs and charts can be used to make beautiful standard-fitting sweaters that will be very wearable today.

However, despite my knowing that there are loads of beautiful eighties patterns in existence because I have many of them in my own knitting pattern library, I did have a hard time finding enough for this post. Eighties patterns aren't old enough to be public domain, yet very few are available for sale online. I finally had to relax my rule about selecting readily available patterns. A number of the patterns I have chosen were originally printed in books or magazines that are now out of print and are not available for downloading, but some have been reprinted into more recent books that should be easily purchased, and if you really wish to find a particular design that hasn't been reprinted, I think you will be able to find them in your local library or buy a used copy of the original book or magazine online.

The Season's Smartest Blazer is not what I'd call the season's smartest blazer, but instead a classic. Though I'd definitely make it in some other colour, and lose The Dress for Success styling. This pattern originally appeared in The Australian Women's Weekly in June 1980, and is a free pattern.

This child's White Rabbit sweater, by Nicky Epstein, is a cute nod to Alice in Wonderland. It originally appeared in Vogue Knitting's Fall/Winter 1985 issue and is available for $4.95(USD).

This felted shawl collared jacket, by Deborah Newton, was originally published in Vogue Knitting's Fall/Winter 1985 issue and is available as a download for $6(USD). I'd nix the third colour used for the front edges and collar and just knit it all in one colour with contrast piping trim.

This is one of Kaffe Fassett's inimitable designs, Spanish Combs, which appeared in the still-in-print Kaffe's Classics: 25 Favorite Knitting Patterns for Sweaters, Jackets, Vests and More in January 1986. You will probably want to reshape this sweater as it's quite boxy.

I may have criticized eighties colourways above, but I've got nothing but admiration for the palette used in this Bellmanear Sweater by Jean Moss. Though again, this sweater needs some reshaping. The dropped shoulder really took hold in the eighties. This pattern appeared in Rowan's Designer Collection Summer & Winter Knitting, which was published in 1987.

This Argyll Sweater, designed by Sarah Dallas, is a nice twist on the traditional argyle sweater. I'd want to change the colours to something a little more typically menswear to bring it a little more in line with the kind of thing men can feel comfortable wearing. This pattern appeared in Rowan's Designer Collection Summer & Winter Knitting, which was published in 1987, though this individual sweater pattern is not on Ravelry.

This is the Blackwork design, from Susan Duckworth's Knitting, published in 1988. I don't know why the security tag wasn't removed from this item before the photo shoot.

This is the Plum Blossom design, from Susan Duckworth's Knitting, published in 1988. I've limited myself to two designs from Susan Duckworth's book, but much against my will, as the whole book is a visual feast that has me just as excited about the patterns in it as I was when I first bought it, even though most of the sweaters need some serious reshaping and updating of colour schemes to look right for 2013.

Kaffe Fassett's Persian Poppy Waistcoat, which was originally published in Glorious Color: Sources of Inspiration for Knitting and Needlepoint in 1988. I have to admit, the few times I have made a Kaffe Fassett design, I cheated by whittling the colour palette from ten or twelve colours down to four or five.

I quite like this floral cardigan from Vogue Knitting's Spring/Summer 1989 issue, though the colourway needs a total overhaul. As awful as eighties geometric patterns often were, eighties designers usually seemed to do florals very well.

This is Alice Starmore's Thoroughbred vest, originally published in Vogue Knitting's Fall 1989 issue, and it's not only been reprinted but is available as a kit from Virtual Yarns. And it's a unisex pattern.

Knitting Makes Strange Cellmates

In the 2010 movie Cop Out, knitting provides a moment of connection between two inmates. Please be warned that this video contains coarse language.

Knitting is a Piece of Cake

I've never cared for knitted representations of food. Clever and skilfully made as they may be (and some are absolute marvels of design), they're just so useless. Edible representations of knitting are another matter, however. There are in especial loads of beautiful birthday knitting-themed cakes on the net, and today being my birthday I've decided to offer a selection of knitting-themed birthday cakes in today's post.

Love the basket of yarn cake above. Although just looking at all that sugar has made all my teeth fall out.

Cute. I'd want to be represented as having a bit more style, though. Knitters are not all matronly or elderly ladies.

Love this one. Simple and effective.

A cake like this would be a great way to gift a knitter with a new pair of knitting needles.

I marvel at the sheer skill and artistry of all these cakes. I'm a pretty good cook, but have never had much success with icing. I usually have to fall back on doing what I call a "Jackson Pollock icing", which means that I drizzle the icing on in a random yet hopefully artistic way.

This cake maker had some good design notions.

This cake is more about the knitter than the tools of her trade.

The perfect cake for the knitter who's into swatching.

A cake for the knitter on the go. I totes relate.

These cupcakes are less impressive than the cakes above, but they're cute and look more to be at my icing skill level.

Painting with Wool

If you've ever wanted other ways to use wool than to spin and knit with it (and I know you probably haven't, but humour me), you can always check out the work of Scottish artist Jill Harrison for inspiration. Harrison makes art with sheep's wool.






Harrison, who lives on a small farm near Fraserburgh in north east Scotland, uses the wool from her flock of 14 sheep for her artwork. You can see something of her process in the video above and view galleries of her portraits of humans and animals and the rest of her work on her website.

Knit the Bridge

The largest and most ambitious yarn bomb in U.S. history was installed over the last two days. You're looking at the Andy Warhol Seventh Street Bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the final completion of "Knit the Bridge", a project that has been months in the making and that has involved the efforts of over a thousand volunteers from all over Pennsylvania and even some from other states and abroad. The towers and entire railing of the bridge have been covered in tens of thousands of knitted and crocheted acrylic afghans. Some of the afghans were donated as a whole, while others were assembled from squares and panels that had been donated separately.




The Andy Warhol Bridge will remain covered in these blankets until September 7, at which time the afghans will be removed, cleaned and given to the homeless. For more details, see the video above or visit the Knit the Bridge project website.

Tiddly Tiddly Pom Pom

If you'd like to learn to make these floral pom poms, the blogger at Mr. Printables can tell you how. The technique can also be used to create pom poms with other visual themes. Mr. Printable writes that he's going to try "animal faces, polka dots, stripes, [and] little globes" next.