Ok, that’s it… I am done with winter. With snow on the ground, and more coming soon, I just don’t want to look at tweedy yarn or wooly fabric. My wooly WIP? Going into the basket until late summer. I’m not working on it anyway, due to its mind-numbing boring-ness. It’s time to look toward spring, and I’m going to give myself permission to start work on some lovely warm weather projects! With that in mind, I went looking for the new spring knitting patterns, most of which are out or at least previewed by now.
First is the new Knitscene, which is in stores. How am I not going to love it when Connie is the featured designer? She has designed my most favorite sweater projects. I love her henley (first below) which has some great details and looks like waffle stitch (love me some waffle stitch) and the geodesic cardigan, which besides having a cool name rings one of my current bells – laceweight yarn knit at a loose gauge. There are also some really beautiful shawls in this issue, including one knit in worsted weight (I wear my worsted weight lace shawls constantly… they are both warm and classy!)
The preview for the new Interweave Knits is out as well. I have to tell you, I am not feeling it. I like a few pieces, and I will buy the magazine because I am a collector, but with the exception of Connie’s tank (do I sound like a broken record here?) I am not sure there is anything I would make. OK, unvarnished truth time here… I really hate the loose knitted camisoles over long sleeved shirts. It’s just odd, and I don’t know anyone who dresses like that. Now, I’m sure the camisoles may be nice on their own, but the styling is just weird. I don’t really knit camisoles anyway (in my experience, if it’s hot enough for something strappy, I don’t want a sweater) but I can’t be the only one who just hates this look.
Ok so… enough whining about that. I also took a look at Rowan’s offerings this season. First of all, I’m really excited that they are doing a dedicated crochet book.
The designs are nice too, although some of them are a bit too oversized for my taste. Love the white off the shoulder top above!
Rowan Magazine 47 is not bad for a summer issue. I’m not sure I will pick it up, because it’s a little blah, but I’ve noticed that they tend to struggle with warm weather items. I don’t subscribe anymore for that reason, and I usually only buy the winter issues. They also have a new yarn made from recycled clothing, and a really great dedicated pattern booklet to go along with that.
I can’t tell much about the clothes from the photos, as the model has terminal slouch. And maybe it’s the whole “British country” look that I love again, but at any rate isn’t the purple color pretty? I really want to check out this yarn!
And finally, while not exactly new, I’ve finally broken down and bought a copy of A Stitch in Time by Jane Waller.
I’ve wanted it since its release, but I kept waiting for a US edition. No such luck, but with my recent rediscovery of vintage (well, I didn’t forget about it, it’s just that I started caring more about dressing that way I wanted) I had to have it. If you love vintage, you need this book! The styling is gorgeous, and the patterns are just as they should be – faithful to the original styles, with updated terminology. There’s nothing more than I hate “updating” a vintage pattern – sure, expand the size range, but don’t change the things that made it so great in the first place (adding large amounts of ease is the biggest offense here.) In addition to the cover sweater, which is glorious, these are my favorites:
It was hard to pick favorites – I love most of the book! Most of the sweaters are knit in fingering or sport yarn, with a few gauges that are crazy tiny. And remember, once of my New Year’s resolutions was to knit more in small yarn. Many of these would make great spring sweaters, as lots of short sleeved numbers are included. I do have lots of vintage knitting patterns, but these are easier to deal with, and I’ll get to some of those eventually!
If I keep wishing, warmer weather will come, right?
Green apples - Stitchywitch Creates 
Hi,
Most of the Summer Crochet pattern aren’t in Cotton Glacé. They’re mainly in 4 ply.
This site has the yarns and quantities for each project:
http://www.colourway.co.uk/rowan/sumcroc/sumcroc.htm
Lovely book – I’m battling through my first project now!
Oops – my bad, I’ll change to reflect that!
Nice selection. I’d already been salivating over the geodesic cardigan, and the white chrochet off-the-shoulder is adorable (and since I usually rather dislike crochet, this is extra thumbs up for the pattern : ). And the Rowan photos are just brilliant, they get me into a romantic nostalgi mood in a split second!
Looking forward to seeing what you make! : )
I love that little shawl. In southern Indiana the weather goes from snow to sweltering so fast that a spring sweater never sees the light of day, but a shawl can be thrown on indoors to guard from an air conditioning draft. Anyway, even sweltering sounds good right now.
The white off-the-shoulder top looks great on the model, but I wonder how all those horizontal lines would work on a normal person.
I love the English country look, too. I’m definitely going to check out that brochure!
I SO didn’t need more projects to put on the list but I just added about five. 🙂 Thanks for the looksee at the spring patterns!!
Those vintage style sweaters are beautiful – LOVE LOVE LOVE the dress on the right.
I am super excited about spring knitting. I loved the Geodesic cardigan – I went out to buy the magazine as soon as I could, and I haven’t done that in a long time.
The vintage patterns are lovely, too. I’d love to see that dress as a blouse, I think it would be quite pretty. I’m curious to see which of these you will knit.
Ooh, I love the sweaters from A Stitch In Time. I’m hoping to get my hands on a copy, but so far I’ve only seen it offered for very expensive prices so I shall have to wait. But the patterns do look delicious.
It does seem like Knitscene is the stand out so far, love a lot of stuff in there. I think Interweave spring stylists “discovered” the belt in the new issue.
I think that red sweater from A Stitch in Time is totally you… except maybe not in red… 🙂 I also really like the off the shoulder crochet sweater and the Geodesic cardi. The cardi kind of drapes like that one you made from Elann Luna… I bought that yarn but still haven’t decided what to do with it!
Not to boast but it was in the mid 70s here yesterday! 😉
Oh how I love your knitting magazine reviews! I was nodding my head through the whole thing–especially the rip on IK’s styling…there is an art to layering and somehow they miss that mark nearly every time! And it’s so distracting you completely miss a good design due to bad styling–so glad you brought it up–letter to the editor time!
I am so in agreement with you on IK; will they ever get it? Not just the strange styling, but also the lack of pictures from multiple perspectives so that you have a chance to judge how the garment truly fits. The Knit Scene makes me feel like there really will be spring under all this snow and ice in River City. That shawl will make a perfect summer wrap. Once again your reviews are on point. Bravo!
I too agree with your review of the new IK. My issue hasn’t arrived yet but it somehow seems like it doesn’t matter now anyway, since there isn’t a pattern I’m truly excited about.
May I ask where you found your copy of A Stitch in Time? I checked Amazon and Book Depository (US & UK for both) and no one seems to have a copy. Those patterns look wonderful!
Hi there, I’ve nominated you for the kreativ blogger award and here is the link http://sulovessew.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/award/
happy sewing and knitting, can’t wait to see your next projects
I crave the Stitches in Time book too! Lovely blog today, full of useful info!
Oh thank heavens someone else agrees about the hideousness of short sleeves over long sleeves. Shorter sleeves should be *inside* longer sleeves. That is how the universe should be! Why can’t anyone understand?!?
🙂
I really like Stitch in Time. Can’t wait to see what you do.
I am so with you on the new Knitscene magazine. I almost peed myself when I was at the store the other night, picked it up, and found that I liked nearly ALL the patterns in it. That hasn’t happened in a long time for me. I’m about 30% into the Equinox Raglan with my stashed Noro Silk Garden!
IK in general has been a bit of a let-down for the last year or so. The spring issue of IK is kind of “meh.” Maybe it’s just me but it seems like nearly all the patterns are the same, despite the issue. I went onto the IK boards on Ravelry to see what everyone else thought and noticed the designer of that camisole mentioned it wasn’t meant to be layered like the magazine shows. Which makes sense since I don’t know anyone who dresses like that either!
I’ve been unimpressed with the last several issues of IK. I’m considering letting my subscription lapse.
It’s great that you like ‘A Stitch in Time’. The original, which came out in 1972, was my first book, so you can imagine how pleased I was that Susan Crawford took it on and brought out the new, all-colour, all-singing, all-dancing version.
If you have difficulty getting hold of it, you can try http://www.knitonthenet.com
And we’re currently working on volume 2. My hands are sore from knitting 300 bobbles for a 1950s waistcoat (with matching hat, which means even more bobbles to knit).
best wishes
Jane (Waller)