Interweave Knits

If you don't know Interweave, as far as I can tell, you are missing out on one of the truly great knitting resources of our time. It's a quarterly magazine, full of interesting product reviews, essays about knitting philosophy, great articles on technique and page after page of delicious knitting photography. I can only aspire to be so pretty on this blog. The patterns they publish are usually close to my tastes- sophisticated, but comfortable, with just a touch of special pretty detail, eminently wearable without being boring. When I sit down to start a big project, I know I'll spend upwards of $50 on supplies and weeks of time committed to the project, so I want it to intrigue, challenge, and ultimately satisfy me. Interweave always has at least a few patterns I immediately like and a couple that grow on me. And of course, no one can be happy all the time, but they hit the mark more often than not. Go and take a look, then come back and we'll talk.

My favorite sweater this issue is probably the cover sweater, the Diminishing Rib Cardigan, a very simple, clean design shown in a pretty wheat color. I love the waist definition, the subtle belling at the three quarter length sleeves and the swingy open front. I want to make it immediately.

I also love the violet Silk Cocoon Cardigan. I think the neckline is probably too wide for me, but the wrap would be flattering and there's just enough interest in the bubbly stitch pattern at the cuffs and shoulder. The yarn is the fine and completely luxurious Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk. I very rarely consider the recommended yarn for sweater projects, mostly because it's never within my budget, but this sweater would be so perfect in that yarn it's hard for me to think of a substitute.

I will say that I don't understand the Watered Quartz Tee even a little. The big horizontal stripes and basic square construction make even the very pretty model look unfortunately broad and flat. The texture is appealing, but the whole shape of the sweater seems terribly off to me...

On the other hand, the strong ZickZack Tunic would look horrible on me, falling as it does a good foot below the posterior, but I love the way the drop sleeves create a little flutter and the cowl wraps you in warmth, despite the short sleeves and all over sharp lace patterning. I wonder how this would look if I shortened it to a more realistic length for my hips, maybe with that ribbing starting at my natural waist and continuing to just past the belt line. This sweater was not an immediate favorite, but it has a lot of apparent potential.

The first project I'll probably actually get to is the Baa Rug- a really cute moss stitch throw rug knit with roving, instead of spun yarn, on size 50 needles. I happen to have a whole bunch of chocolate brown camel roving that has just a few too many gaurd hairs left in it to be something I love spinning- this will be a perfect project to use it up.

Interweave also picked a number of accessories that I think are great including the Float Stole, Bettie's Lace Stocking, Net Duffle, and Blooming Cotton Scarf. Small, fun projects like that will be perfect summer knitting for when it's too hot to work with wool.


The article I was talking about yesterday was "Start as Many New Projects as You Can" by Vicki Square. She urges knitters to imagine that each unfinished project has been given to you by another knitter and you have free reign to do whatever you want with them. Like felting down a fair isle project into hat, or cutting (gasp) a cardigan into pillowcase material. This was an idea I had not thought of- my UFOs tend to pile up and I say, "I'll finish that, or unravel that sometime soon" and the prospect of actually tearing them up is painful and daunting, so I never do anything about it. No more! I have productive energy now!

In that spirit, I managed to lose one of my favorite, awesome fair isle mittens this winter, leaving me with just the one.

Any suggestions on what to do with one lonely little mitten. I can't throw it out because it's just too pretty and i spent too long knitting it. So what can I do?