winter 2007 reviews: knitter's magazine

Up on the chopping block today is the Winter 07 issue of Knitter's Magazine. The key phrase is buried treasure.

If Interweave Knits makes good use of the Internet, Knitter's is not quite there yet. Their e mail newsletter is deeply buried in their website, and their printed "Online" column, in this issue at least, has no relation to the World Wide Web. A single editorial page called "The Knitting Universe.com," advertises the magazine's web site and another, an Internet directory, is an ad for online knitting-related businesses disguised as editorial content.

The website itself is colorful if a bit jumbled looking. Here are a few good features - an index of the first 59 issues, a bunch of free patterns, and articles on knitting techniques, but you really have to dig to find them. The most prominent content is advertising for their generally excellent publications and for their expensive Stitches conferences. They must make a lot of money from these if placement is any indication. It's like they don't care much about the really useful features their website offers. Or are their readers not Internet friendly?

Articles

Last post I noted that the editorial content of Interweave Knits was thin. Well compared to Knitter's, Interweave should go on a diet. Apart from the features mentioned above, there is a smarmy article naming the knitter of the year (who actually does a lot for charity, but the writing and presentation stinks), unfocused reportage about trends as unveiled at an Italian knitwear show, and a major profile of the Berroco yarn company. None of this is helpful or even that interesting, and the Berroco article is dicey, although no Berroco ads appear in the magazine.

In keeping with the theme of buried treasure, however, there is one gem that appears in every issue of Knitter's magazine. That is a column by my idol, Perri Klass. Perri is a physician, family woman, knitter, novelist, and non-fiction writer. If she is as good at everything else as she is at writing, she scares me. She always finds meaning in knitting and its aspects. Her book, written with her mother, Every Mother is a Daughter, while not about knitting, was one of my favorite non-fiction audio-reads. I recommend it for reading while knitting. This issue's column is about Perri trying to work knitting into a novel she wrote.

Patterns

The Winter 2007 issue of Knitter's contains 25 patterns. Of these 14 are for sweaters, 6 are for scarves (including 3 dickeys and 1 wrap), there are 2 each of hats and necklaces, and 1 jumper- dress. You can somewhat follow along with the reviews on line, but since there is no gallery, you can't see all of the patterns.

Of the 14 sweaters, 4 are for men. Now Knitters of late has published the absolute worst men's sweater patterns I have ever seen. Case in point:

Who would wear this? OK, granted, this is the worst of the bunch. It is called Prairie Patterns by Angela Juergens. But Media Man with its ridiculous zippers and pockets and Boxes and Bands with its loud stripes are almost as bad. Best of the bunch is the Kaffe derivative Meridian by Barry Klein which makes clever use of slip stitch patterning. But knit it for a woman. I don't see this on a man (although the model looks hot in it). In general, the men's patterns look like they were designed by a granny who is high on meth.

Speaking of granny, a few of the women's designs look like they are trying to be young and "kicky" but rendered by a designer whose taste has frozen in an earlier decade. To wit:

Is this the 80s? It is called Teal We Meet Again by Gitta Schrade. I'm not sure what decade it's trying to refer to, but whatever it is, I don't like it. It's pointless. A similarly faux youthful pattern is the fluffy confection Pointelle Pink, by Penny Ollman:
I can't help but wonder, are Knitter's patterns too old, even for a person of advanced years such as myself. That would seem to be the case looking at the patterns above and taking into account others from this issue such as the dull and baggy pullover Radiant Diamonds and the frumpy cardigan Honey Gold.

But while Knitter's has never run youthful designs, often their sweaters have been classic and ageless. The buried treasure in this issue are those women's sweater designs that do seem timeless to me. They include Kathy Zimmerman's Winter Wheat, a deliciously crunchy tweed in my favorite basket weave design. The sweater is too baggy and long to suit me, but would look good on someone else. Career Trends is a pin striped cardigan by Jean Frost who excels in jacket design. This jacket is not my favorite of hers, but it is credible. The best of the bunch:

This is Chased Silver by Sandi Rosner which makes subtle use of asymmetry in a two part design with an interesting under layer. Made longer, the over sweater would work on its own.

Getting into accessories, we again dip into the horrendous. The three dickeys in this issue, rendered in bulky yarn are unspeakable. The scarves are "novelties", one made of pastel stripes that is semi-wearable and one made of strings that is not. The treasure is a pair of lariats, necklaces combining beading and yarn. I don't know if I would make anything this fiddly, but they are very pretty:

Worst of Knitter's: Prairie Patterns and Teal We Meet Again (which also wins worst name).
Best: Chased Silver and Beaded Lariats.

Knitter's has been edited by Rick Mondragon since the Summer 2001 issue. Before that Rick was a designer (Winter 99), photo stylist (Winter 00), and assistant editor (Spring 01). He might have needed a longer apprenticeship. I am not saying that the mag as gone steadily down hill since Rick replaced Nancy J. Thomas as editor, but I am flirting with saying that. Knitter's still occasionally runs patterns that I want to knit, but they used to run a lot of them. Do you agree? Disagree? Weigh in with your comments.

folk shawls

The Yahoo Folk Shawls Group has chosen the Wool Peddler Shawl for its 2008 knit along. I made mine (pictured above) last Fall. I went on the Knitter's Review Forum shawls and scarves section to get recommendations for yarn to use since the yarn specified in the Folk Shawls book has been discontinued. I got confused because knitters suggested a variety of yarns ranging from dk to aran weight. I wanted to reproduce the shawl pictured (below) as closely as possible.

One of the Knitters Review correspondents suggested that I e mail the author, Cheryl Oberle, directly. I was very excited to get a reply recommending Berroco's Ultra Alpaca as a substitute. Following the pattern directions, I produced a deep red shawl that was a little smaller than the dimensions given in the pattern.

The Ultra Alpaca is very soft and cozy. It was a good suggestion; I would recommend using it. However, I wish my shawl had a little more body. The original yarn has a high mohair content, but the Knitters Review people recommended against a mohair blend. As I am partial to mohair and mohair blends, I am sorry that I listened to them, even though they meant totally well. I think there is a bit of prejudice against mohair out there in the knitting world. I am slightly tempted to knit this again, but that might fall into the category of 'will do if I live forever'. I have so many other projects in mind. And I prefer rectangular shawls to triangles, so do I really want another?

Another issue with this shawl is the blocking. Actually there are two issues. One is that the alpaca blend does not hold its shape firmly enough. The other is blocking wires. I don't have any. Thus the edges of the shawl are a little wavy. Before I wash it or block another shawl, I will get blocking wires or else use threads to hold the edges. Pins stuck directly onto the edge give poor results.

Last night I cast on for the Kimono Shawl:

Online, I bought what I thought was the specified yarn for this project: Henry's Attic Cascade Petite, a stocky lace weight of pure, shiny silk. It turns out that the yarn called for was Cascade, not Cascade Petite. I think Cascade must be closer to fingering weight or a little heavier. So in my recent stash enhancement excursion to Mosaic yarn studios I bought some Jagger Spun Zephyr, a lace weight silk and wool blend that is matte, not shiny. Putting the two together causes the yarn to be glinty, neither shiny nor matte. I guess that is ok.

As this is a shawl, I didn't worry too much about gauge, but just wanted to get in the neighborhood. So I am in the neighborhood with a #6 US needle rather than the #5 Cheryl used. For obvious reasons I like that this is not a teeny needle project. I am still working on the Bird Doo Klaralund which goes on #4 needles. Actually that is one #4 and one #3, #3 for the purl rows, a trick I recently picked up from the Interweave Knitting Daily newsletter for working on stockinette stitch. So I have enough slow paced work in hand without making the lace knit even slower.

This is a long introduction to what I really wanted to say today. That is, I love the Folk Shawls book. The projects that Cheryl presents are more or less practical. She doesn't direct you to use lace weight yarn to make a spider webby piece that you can't even feel that you are wearing. Her shawls seem like they would actually keep you warm, and most of them are in the repetitive geometric designs I like best rather than the Victorian style of going out from the center in an overall flowery design. That style is gorgeous to look at, but lost in the wearing. And, since I'm all about the product, many of her shawls are the rectangular shape that looks best on me.

Apart from the patterns, Folk Shawls includes a concise and valuable introduction that teaches lace knitting techniques such as how to cast on (all important in lace making) and gives tips like the one I am using to write each row on a separate index card and flip the cards to keep place in the pattern. I prefer words to charts.

There is also something subtly and indefinably beautiful about the book itself, especially the photos of the shawls as worn by the author. The picture of the Kimono Shawl (above) is especially toothsome to me. It has a physical and spiritual beauty at once. Pictured below is the shawl I want to make next after the Kimono. I also love the Bird's Nest Shawl. The one below is the Icelandic Feather and Fan Shawl, an earthy interpretation of a Victorian pattern knit in unspun wool.

sweater design by the book

Ann Budd is an editor of Interweave Knits who has published a number of designs and several books focusing on knitwear design. So last month, when I started a sweater of my own design, I turned to my own library and the Internet for help with the trickiest parts - neck, shoulders, armscye, and sleeve cap. For me, the most difficult calculations are for the sleeve cap.

The Knitters Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd has a section on sweaters with set-in sleeves. But I found little guidance here on sweater design. Budd works with a variety of sweater styles such as drop shoulder, seamless yoke, or raglan; sets of sizes ranging from 26" to 54" inches around; and gauges from 3 to 7 stitches per inch. Within these parameters, you can fit your own sweater design, but you are bound to the conventions of fit and proportion established by the author. Each sweater type has a long series of charts that you can follow like a recipe to know how much to cast on, where to increase and decrease, when to bind off, etc. Here is a section of the chart for sleeves. You can see that you don't get the principles of design from this. No doubt you can knit a sweater, but you wouldn't understand how to draft the measurements that would fit the sweater together and to your body.

In my library however, I found this treasured classic of sweater design:

Sweater Design in Plain English was published in 1990. In it, Maggie Righetti uses examples and simple formulas to help you calculate the measurements you need to make your set in sleeves fit, as well as calculations for chest width, length, shoulder slope, neckline, etc. In short, everything you need to design a sweater to your own specifications.

As given in her examples, Righetti's ideas of design and fit don't jibe with mine. Her design aesthetic seems dated. But that doesn't matter. With this book you get the tools you need to do it your own way.

So I designed my armscye and sleeves based on Righetti's advice. I haven't finished the sweater yet. I'll let you know how it comes out. But along the way I found two incredible Internet resources. Lucia, the Knitting Fiend, on whom I have a knitter's crush, has made a sleeve cap calculator. Check it out. And while you are there check out the endless number of calculators, tips, techniques, patterns, and how to's that Lucia provides out of the kindness of her heart.

The invaluable Jenna Wilson, through the wonder of Knitty, has also published a series called "Ravellings on the Knitted Sleeve" which includes a wonderful article on sleeve types, and a fabulous primer on creating a set in sleeve.