Knitty Spring-Summer 2011 Review

Knitty went up yesterday afternoon, and didn’t get completely clobbered!  Which is great.  But the issue itself is…not so great, sadly.  They’ve almost given up on articles, and the patterns are both relatively few and extremely uninspiring.  Even Stitches in Time is, well, you’ll see.

Julia by Jennifer Wood: I really want to like this.  It’s got a sort of chiton, sword-and-sandal feel to it.  Something about the execution is off, though, and I can’t tell what exactly the problem is.  Perhaps it’s just that it’s so clearly a summer garment but can’t be worn alone; the neckline is way too deep, and the fabric isn’t opaque, so without something under it you’d be flashing the whole world.

Corrinne by Crystal Erb Junkins: This is the first of the patterns from this issue that is just boring.  Not that there’s anything wrong with a nice, basic pattern, but usually Knitty is a little more adventurous and a whole issue full of nice basic patterns gets old.  It’s a cardigan, with a yoke, in garter stitch.  I shall wave a tiny flag.

Adeline by Heather Hoefle: A bolero for a coverup, OK, though it’s the second boring pattern of the issue.  But I have never gotten the point of coverups with short sleeves.  Maybe it’s because of my personal quirk, where I won’t warm up unless my elbows are covered, but I don’t see the point in something that’s going to leave me still chilly, especially given that the single button lives at about navel level and the thing looks like it’s about to slip off the model’s shoulders at any moment.  It’s knitted in the world’s dullest off-white yarn, in stockinette.  And just for fun, it’s in pieces and seamed.  No thank you.

Rondeur by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark: Very clever construction, but a whole lot of effort to end up with a not-very-flattering t-shirt.  (Seems to me this is the same designer who had two of my least favorites in the latest Interweave Knits, too, which implies I just don’t like her style.)  Short sleeves are a down-check, and I really don’t like the way the bust shaping hits on the model.  Shirttail shaping on the hem is a cute touch, but it really doesn’t go with the rest of the look, in my opinion.

Daedalus by Jodie Gordon-Lucas: I can see where the designer was going with this, but it just doesn’t work.  Way too much extra fabric hanging around; it might look nice when standing but it’s going to get all bunchy and annoying as soon as you try to sit down.  It’s a great big rectangle with sleeves, about as wide as the wearer’s arm-span, and that’s just not practical; it’s an art piece, not a wearable garment.  I do like the eyelet pattern and the lace on the collar and sleeves, though.

Make Up Your Mind by Julie Crawford:  From the front, this is an OK piece, once you get around the fact that an openwork pattern on the bust means another ultra-summer garment that can’t actually be worn alone.  I like the bands of different stitch patterns, though I have some misgivings about the wisdom of horizontal stripes on people who aren’t as petite as the model.  But it’s a racerback, and I know of approximately three women who don’t hate racerbacks.  (Also, there has got to be a prettier color in the yarn the designer used, but since yarn color’s easy to change I won’t complain too much.)

Amiga by Mags Kandis: The front bands are the interesting parts of this cardigan.  They’re wider than usual, and pretty clearly picked up and knit perpendicular to the main body; the buttons are the kind where you wrap yarn around a ring.  These things save the pattern from being boring as all-get-out.  I don’t know if I’d want to use the suggested thick-and-thin yarn, but that is personal preference, and honestly the effect is quite nice.

Omelet by Joyce Fassbender: The first of three lace shawls.

OK, time for a digression.  I get why people like knitting lace.  It’s challenging, thus fun, and leads to a really pretty finished product.  What I don’t get is the determination of designers that the finished product must then be worn, as a great big piece of fabric draped over the wearer.   I am in the SCA; I have worn draped garments; you spend too much time trying to make sure that nothing falls off, gets caught in anything, or goes into your dinner to accomplish much that’s practical.  Pretty lace pattern, great!  Put it into a sweater.  Or, you know, a doily.  I guess a lot of people don’t have doily-type houses these days, but still.  Sweater.  If you don’t want to deal with fitting issues, there are ways around the problem.

Right.  Digression over, back to your regularly scheduled rant review.

So Omelet’s pretty.  It’s a pretty lace shawl.  Next?

Lilah by Heather Storta: Another pretty lace shawl.  I kinda like this one because the designer was inspired by a book I’ve read, and rather liked, that being the sequel to Sharon Shinn’s Archangel.  And most people don’t do black for lace, so that’s a nice touch, and the manipulation of the lace motifs to give the desired effect is great.

Forest Ridge by Mary Formo: Lace, and not even big enough to have a prayer of staying on through its own weight.  The yarn’s a lovely color, though.

Verdant by Susan Newhall: The technique on this one is quite cool.  There’s a background yarn, with which you work all the stitches, and also a motif yarn which is only used where you want the motif.  Therefore, on the motifs you’re knitting with both yarns at once; if you carry them correctly, you end up with the motif yarn mostly covering the background.  It seems rather more fiddly than I’d want to deal with, but the basic idea is really neat.  That said, I find the pattern kind of boring; it looks like rather like wallpaper from the era when stylized vines were cool.

Summer Neckerchief recreated by Franklin Habit:  It’s a triangle.  It’s so boring they don’t even show a picture of it laid out.  And it’s intarsia to boot.  I expect better pattern choice out of Franklin.

Ornamental, Susanna, Rivercat and Zingiber: Socks.  Apparently twisted stitches are big these days.  Ornamental has a neat heal treatment.

Evelyn’s No-Sew Blankie by Janice Kang:  A nice quick little knit for a gift or the like, and the construction is neat enough to be interesting.

Flappy Flounder by cheezombie: A really cute little toy, if you’re OK with fish and great bit googly eyes.

Interweave Knits Spring 2011 Review

IK had a promotion about six months ago with a special price for a year of the magazine, so I said sure and sent them a check.  Months later, I wasn’t even certain I had actually sent the money, because no issues of the magazine had showed up.  Saturday, though, at long last–several weeks after the issue hit the shelves–my spring Interweave Knits finally arrived.  So here we go!

The only article I found memorable is the one on picking colors for Fair Isles-type colorwork.  It seemed like a pretty good overview for easing people in to the process without being intimidating.  And it dispensed with all the color wheels and split complimentaries and rigamarole that your average color-basics source has; this is a mixed blessing, because it makes things simpler while also leaving all sorts of room for color schemes that just don’t go.  Still, worth having.

On to projects.

Echo by Kristin Omdahl: Three cables, with dropped-stitch ladders between them, in a really really bulky yarn.  It’s reversible, which is nice, and has buttons rather than being fastened in the möbius configuration.  A nifty piece, and probably fun to knit, but not even kinda my style.  You’d have to be way more boho than me to get away with it.

En Pointe Pullover by Alice Tang: This is close to being a nice sweater.  It’s a fuzzy laceweight, which means it’s great for warmth without adding lots of bulk, and almost anyone looks good in coral so the color choice was good too.  It even makes some stabs at a flattering shape.  But there’s a huge drapey thing right over the center of the torso that ruins the whole effect unless you’re really skinny.  And the drapey part is not optional; it’s knitted into the sweater and as it’s a pullover you can’t even unbutton or whatever.  I think the designer decided to go for “interesting to knit” over “useful finished product”.  Plus it’s cuff-to-cuff, which is just asking for all sorts of stretching out of shape in loose stockinette–though the fuzziness of the yarn might help avoid that.

V-Yoke Cardigan by Amy Cristoffers: In both the shots of this one, the transition between the front hem and the back is hidden by the model’s arm.  I have to wonder if that’s deliberate, because the back is rather longer, like shirttail length, and it might look funny at the sides.  That said, it’s got a nice deep V-neck that’s flattering for those of us of the ample persuasion, and the yoke construction looks neat from what I can glean out of the picture and schematic.  Having points on the sleeves is a nice touch, too.  I’d go with a color other than ashes-of-roses, myself, but I’m weird like that.

Gathered Front Tank by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark: No one will look good in this.  The construction is very clever, so that all the stitches radiate from a central half-length button band; that means that it’s all nice and baggy in the front, just where no one needs it.  Nice green, though.

Heliotropic Pullover by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark: I’m not sure how many people look really good in a very wide boat-neck with a broad yoke; the model’s doing an OK job but you get the feeling she’s reluctant to move her arms lest a shoulder make a break for it–SCAdians, think “really extreme cotehardie neckline” and you’ll have the idea.  It looks as if that neckline might be impressively wide on me, and I’ve got shoulders like a three-quarter scale linebacker.  I imagine it’d be salvagable with a little tinkering to add a few rounds at the beginning.  Nice flattering orange, too, for those who can wear orange.

Swirl Crop Jacket by Andrea Babb: OK, again, coral is a good color, and a short jacket for transitional seasons is not a bad idea.  I happen to hate big floofy necklines, however, and this thing really has one.  If you don’t hate floofy necklines, it’s worth looking at.

Garden Plot Dress by Victoria Myers: A very cute dress for a little girl.  Sleeveless, and I think I might carry the cream from the lace panels in the skirt up into the bodice a little more, but very cute.  The shirt they have her wearing under it does not match in a really epic way, but  she’s about 7; who cares?  In the summer, it’d be wearable without a shirt under, but for spring the extra warmth is handy.

Cranberry Island Throw by Amanda Scheuzger: There’s no actual intarsia going on in this, despite all appearances; you knit a central circle, then knit fairly short rows (but not, you know, short rows) around the edge of it, then do actual short rows to fill in the corners to make squares.  Very fun construction.  I might consider it, though I’d have to do something about the colors, which are painfully dull.  (Also, as an aside: I possess a fairly epic last name, so I feel for the designer here.  After a while you get to feel like your last name is “Scheuzger, that’s ess-cee-aitch…”)

Hourglass Pillows by Daniela Nii: These are actual intarsia.  Nifty mod effect; I don’t like them, because I don’t like mod.  Others’ tastes may vary.

Rain on the Prairie Scarf by Maureen Hefti: I admit I don’t see the point of scarves that are so short they’re always in danger of slipping off.  However, this one is a simple, pretty openwork pattern that I’m sure could be expanded if you liked it that much.  The yarn’s very pretty, too, in shades of gold and brown.

Leaf and Picot Cardigan by Laura Grutzeck: There are no good shots of this, but the overall impression is reasonable.  It’s hard to go wrong with a basic cardigan in an attractive lace pattern.  The only thing I don’t like is the color; it’s yellow, which is hard for many people to wear.  But color is probably the easiest thing to change in a sweater.

Rose Lace Stole by Susanna Ic: Pretty lace, though the motif is nothing particularly rosy; I think she went with the color rather than the look of the lace.  Knitters wear shawls; it’s a thing I don’t get, but that doesn’t make it unworthy.

Tatiana’s Sweater by Raye Schwartz: There is something just off about this sweater, and I can’t tell you what.  Maybe it’s just the way the model is standing, which, as the Samurai Knitter would say, demonstrates that she knows how to work it.  I mean, the texture pattern is very interesting, and it really ought to look nice, but it’s just…off.  Maybe I don’t like the neckline?  Too open to be a V-neck, too deep for a boat neck, I dunno.

Drop Mesh Tee by Cathy Carron: If there’s a total loser in this issue, it’s this.  The body’s a mesh, created with deliberate dropped stitches; the sleeves are solid.  The combination makes the raglan decreases look sloppy and the sweater as a whole seem unfinished, plus what good is a light, summery garment you have to wear over something to avoid indecent exposure?  And the color is a really unattractive yellowy green.

Curvy Squares by Bonnie Paul:  I’m torn.  Entrelac is fun, and seems to be used to good effect here; on the other hand, it makes the model look like she has no waist.  And it has cap sleeves, despite being knitted in a fairly heavy yarn.  All in all I’m gonna have to go with a thumbs-down.

Hexagon Petal Tee by Maria Leigh: I want to love this one, because the fuchsia yarn makes me so very happy, but it has many of the same problems the entrelac one does.  The yarn, at least, is cotton, so having no sleeves is less of an issue, but despite the model’s efforts to the contrary it’s clear the hexagons it’s constructed of left no way to make a waist.  Still, the rail-thin could wear it and look good in it.  And hey, now I know Cascade Ultra Pima comes in fuchsia.

Diminishing Gore Skirt by Gwen Bortner:  Nifty and neato, with the increases for a full skirt hidden in the entrelac construction.  Assuming one can avoid the pitfalls of knitted skirts, it’s worth a look.

Pinkerton Shawl by Susan Dittrich: This would probably be all sorts of fun to knit, with funky direction changes and stuff…but then you have a smallish scarf in an awkward shape, and what do you do with it?  I’d expect this kind of thing in Vogue Knitting, where no one cares if it’s practical.

Lara Bubble Top by Faina Goberstein: OK, for one thing the Samurai Knitter would call this “big butt length”, and to make it more fun there’s a nice tight band at the bottom.  Sleeveless boatnecks are not flattering on anyone, and to top it off the body drapes in the perfect way to make the wearer look pregnant.  Heck, even the schematic looks like a 30s cartoon of a really curvy woman. It’s not the unmitigated disaster of the mesh thing, but all the same no thanks.

Draped Vest by Carol Feller: A racerback vest, that doesn’t meet in the middle?  We can tell the model’s hands are the only thing holding it closed, thanks.  And I dunno what’s up with the yarn, but it looks like it’s only half-spun.  Bleh.

Ruched Yoke Tee by Annelena Mattison: Comes in sizes suitable for a little girl as well as an adult, there’s some waist shaping, and the yoke is neat.  I wish it had sleeves, it might be worth knitting.

Gossamer Smocked Tunic by Shelley Gerber: I don’t quite like this one, but it’s not actually ugly; just not to my tastes.  Sleeveless–sigh–but the color’s pretty and there’s some semblance of a waist even without the model bending.  It’s transparent, though, so it’d have to be worn over something.

New Yarnz

It’s no particular secret that I buy a fair amount of yarn from Knit Picks–they’re great for workhorse yarns at decent prices, whereas I go to the yarn shop if I want something special, in a very particular color, or that KP just doesn’t carry¹.

Anyway, I discovered today that the new Felici colors are out; Felici is one of their sock yarns that comes in limited-edition colors.  So I went and looked.  I have two words for the current selection of colors, in both sock and sport: ugly and boring.  The only color I vaugely like is Caprica, which I resent because I hated the way Battlestar Galactica ended² and it’s not fair to name a color after the project Ron Moore mutilated BSG for.

Seriously, what is with the horrid 60s colors of late?  Everything’s grey and olive and beige and teal and aqua, except for the occasional bit of tomato-orange, surely one of the world’s ugliest colors.  Even the Rainbow color has lavender and acid green instead of proper purple and grass green.

Felici used to have gorgeous colors.  I have three skeins of Alexandrite I have no idea what to do with, but I just love looking at them, and enough of the shades-of-red color that was available at the same time (I can’t remember the name) for a pair of socks.  These days, boring and ugly.  It’s depressing.

On the other hand, they have a new yarn line called Aloft which is clearly aimed at the Kidsilk Haze portion of the market (75% mohair, 25% silk) and comes in some really lovely colors.  So not an entire loss.

1: Actually a fair bit.  For example, they’ve got next to nothing in DK, and no faux-Fair-Isles sock yarn, which I like a lot.  So no, I am not starving the physical yarn stores of my business.

2: Yes, I am a geek, we have established this.

I Think Not

I love this, despite the fact that it is completely impractical.  And the yarn they want me to use for is sure comes in some fabulous colors.  Nonetheless, I am not going to buy five skeins of it, at $28 per skein.  If I decide I have to have the impractical thing, I can find a substitute yarn.

First Stop

Done with the sleeves for the blue Thermal, so I’m going to put it on hold for a bit while I finish a second pair of Kingdom gloves–this time in a color that’s light enough to see the cables.  I have many sweaters; I need some darn gloves and since I managed to lose one of the dark green ones after one wearing, I am forced to knit again.  Fortunatly gloves are fast.

For some reason I’m having a lot of fun tatting for my sampler book.  Maybe because I only have to do one or two repeats of each pattern.

OK, Cute Idea

Scared of intarsia?  Knit your argyle socks with short rows instead.

The idea is to be able to do a seamless tube.  Since there are a couple of tricks for doing that in intarsia I think it’s a problem that didn’t need fixing, but hey, to each their own.

Broken

One of my 2mm Harmonies broke the other night; I’ve glued it back together, but there are rough spots that won’t slide through the stitches.  I’m thinking I may put tape over the join just till I’m done with this sock, and then I can order another set before I start a new pair of socks.  I do have other projects I can work on in the meantime…

Serendipity

The other day it was borne in upon me that the pile of books next to my bed had gotten too big when Sebastian accidentally caused an avalanche by putting one paw on top of the pile.  So I decided it was time to find a better home for the books, if only so that Liam could get to his closet without having to shuffle sideways.  So I moved the books.

In the course of moving the books, I had to move some things that were in the spot where I wanted to put them, and thus I had to find a new home for the things as well.  And some of them were sewing-related, so they went in with the sewing stuff, which involved moving a bag with some sock yarn in it…and there, in the bag, was the second skein of sock yarn that I’d been tearing apart the living room in search of for the last week and a half.

Thus, the cathedral windows quilting experiment is being sidelined while I finish a pair of socks.  It wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the book avalanche.

Overambitious

I’m making a sock yarn blankie: it’s a bunch of mitered squares, knitted together as a way of using up the random bits of sock yarn that are left after a pair of socks.  It’s fun and reasonably brainless, and I have a bag of little balls all set to go.  Since the goal is a cover-up for sitting on the couch when it’s chilly or on the bed when the actual bedclothes would be too heavy, I’m aiming for something that will cover my queen bed with a little bit of drape; this works out to about 30 squares wide by 40 tall.

However, every now and then I run across someone else’s blankie, completed or in progress, and I’m starting to notice that none of the rest of them seem to be quite that big; mostly I’m getting numbers in the 18×25 range.  I suppose it’s possible I’ve just set too big a goal for myself; it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that’s ever happened…

I May Die of Squee

If you want to read the actual article, and see the actual picture, check the Yarn Harlot.

But what it is?  A picture of KISS (the hottest band in the world!), holding a sock. 

I guess you have to be me to really think that’s awesome, but I admit it: I think it’s awesome.