interweave fug redux

I feel a little guilty for what I am about to do: trash talk Interweave Knits again. I can't help it. I'm critical and judgemental. I never intended to turn this blog into a rant, but when I see wrongness, I just have to point it out. Mind you, no evil enjoyment intended.

OK. The Summer 2008 issue came out. Eunny says it's all about color. Color is good, but does being colorful require that you spew color as if you ate paint:

Or perhaps this model is graduating from clown college. Some of the designs in this issue rival those of Knitters for cluelessness. They are LOUD, although I will say the IK designs tend to have better shapes.

Now that I've got that off my chest, I will say that I really like some of the designs from this issue, mainly the cover piece, the lace hoodie, and the plaid halter. The lace designs are nice in general. But this post isn't about the good.

Here (right) is another loud and bizarre design from the current issue: I include it because I recently came across a related design in a different publication, the book More Big Girl Knits by Jillian Moreno and Amy R. Singer. This book contains, in my opinion, a lot of outstanding designs that any one of any size would want to wear. Here is the Big Girl version below:

Not my favorite design from the book, but , you have to agree, much saner than the IK one.

I have to ask - What is Eunny thinking? She must be thinking of differentiating herself from her predecessors, making her mark, changing the style of IK. This is clear when you compare covers over the years.

Under its first editor, Marilyn Murphy, IK was a bit dour and frumpy: Under Melanie Falick it developed a crunchy granola warmth that I like the best. I think its style made it stand out from other knitting and fashion magazines even if I don't think its design standards were the best:

Today's IK? Trying to be slick.

And why did they inconveniently separate the garment photos from the pattern instructions? Is it more slick that way? And I miss the model who looks a little like a beautiful camel. You know who I mean. OK. I'm done ranting.

yarn memories

I took another trip to the past yesterday. A local yarn store, the Knitting Worksphop, is having a moving sale, and I went. A note for Chicagoans: they are moving from their present location on Lincoln just north of Webster to Damen just north of Webster. But I can remember when the Knitting Workshop was the Weaving Workshop, owned and operated by Marilyn Murphy, the first editor of Interweave Knits and its current publisher. How's that for history?


At that time the Weaving Workshop was on Sheffield between Fullerton and Diversey. That was where I bought the Harrisville yarn for the Fair Isle vest I blogged earlier this week. Judith Swartz, the designer and knitting book author, now based in Wisconsin, sold it to me. I remember it very well. The yarn was wound off from cones, and that was the first time I had seen a coned yarn. Of course, it was coned for weaving. I only need an ounce or two of each color, so Judith wound it off into skeins. She told me to wash the skeins before winding them into balls to get the bloom up and also, I suspect, to wash off the oil.


In those days department stores like Marshall Fields sold yarn (as well as yard goods), and there were not many local yarn stores. The Weaving Workshop was the best ever, selling high quality and affordable yarns that you couldn't get elsewhere at the time. It's still a good store with a large and varied selection. Here are the bargains that I couldn't resist yesterday:

This is Silky Wool in black at half price. It isn't that expensive a yarn in the first place so, as I tell Roger, half price was practically free. I have 11 skeins. What to make? Maybe a Rowan sweater or a skirt I have an idea for.

The other yarn I bought was Katia Arc en ciel (Rainbow?), a variegated, worsted weight acrylic/cotton blend that was sort of expensive though put up in large quantity. I have had the idea of making a neutral colored Clapotis in cotton yarn, so I bought enough for that - four balls. I would like to have such a scarf, but I will save the knitting for a time when I will need a soothing project.

I bet you think I'm a color bore, but hey, I'm not wearing bright purple or hot pink.

Speaking of boring colors, and since this is a trip down memory lane, here is an ancient yarn that I bought in the little import shop on Ashalnd next to Weibolts. Do any old time north siders remember this shop? This yarn is the darkest of navies. I can't imagine what I was going to do with this or what I am going to do with it. I have about 850 yards. It is a light worsted weight with a twist, which would be good for stitch definition, except the color is so dark the stitches wouldn't show. I welcome your ideas.