Creative Knitting Spring 2013: A Review

Let's have a look at Creative Knitting's latest issue.

I've done my share of scrap yarn projects like this hat, just making them up as I went along. Most knitters have probably done the same, although this designer actually wrote up a pattern for it and sold it to a magazine. It makes you think.

Very pretty little purse, though that daisy sticking up at the side would drive me insane. It catches the eye but would also catch on everything else possible. I'd put it on the side of the purse or leave it off entirely.

I'd love to try turned wire knitting some time, but I think I'll wait until I come across a better pattern than this. This bracelet just looks like it's all bent out of shape.

Speaking of waiting for better patterns, this looks like knitting and beading's bastard stepchild. This could work as a bracelet, but as a necklace it's just hanging there limply, neither fish nor fowl, and neither scarf nor necklace.

It's the spring issue, Creative Knitting. Why are you giving us more cowl and fingerless glove set patterns? That said, I must admit this set is very pretty and graceful and suitable for late winter/early spring weather.

This looks like one of those Home Ec projects you make as an adolescent and are very proud of at first, but that within a few months becomes a source of embarrassment that you'd like to forget all about — if your older siblings would let you. But they won't forget, and if they're especially cruel they'll go behind your back to publish it in knitting magazine with a circulation of oh, 72,000 or so. This means war. It's diary publication or girlfriend- or boyfriend-stealing time.

This isn't bad. It's simple yet has a little interesting detail, and its standard fit and style will flatter most women.

This is probably supposed to look minimalist and contemporary but only looks not only unfinished but as though it shrunk in the wash.

This is probably supposed to be a relaxed, casual look, but it just looks sloppy and won't be flattering.

Here we have another sweater that calls itself asymmetrical and just looks as though it shrunk in the wash. Maybe the next time you do shrink a piece of your knitwear in the wash, you should just wear it with an insouciantly confident air and casually refer to it as the latest in asymmetrical style. It seems to be how the knitting designer pros do it.

This is a really cute child's cardigan. The tabs on the front make it look a little like something one of the von Trapp children would have worn, but it would have been on one of the cute little ones instead of the older one who snuck out her bedroom window to have a tryst with her Nazi boyfriend, so all is well.

I like this lace tunic on the whole, but I can't help thinking it's a little on the dowdy, drab side. I'd do a little tweaking to pep it up a bit: shorten the sleeves and hem, make the fit a little neater, and go with a fresh, spring-like colour.

The blurb for this pattern suggests that you can wear this wrap several different ways ("wear it buttoned at each side of the neck for a unique look, or simply fasten at the neck or shoulder as a long wrap"). It looks a little on the skimpy side when worn as a wrap and a little bit afghan-like, but somehow I am having a hard time condemning it. I may be biased in its favour because of the colour — green and teal is one of my favourite colour combinations. It would be easier to be objective about the patterns I review if they were in black and white, but it would also be far less of a pleasure to look at them.

This little cardi has two attributes that I normally condemn out of hand — it's cropped and too oversized — yet it looks attractive here. There are a couple of factors that make it work: it's worn over a dress which means it hasn't added another horizontal line to an outfit that already has one (as it would with a two-piece outfit); and it's lightweight and lacy enough that it has a shawl-like effect rather than bulking up the model's figure. If you're reasonably trim and intend to wear this over a dress, you can probably get away with it as well.

This top broke a couple of knitting design rules. For one thing, it looks like something the designer whipped up to use some leftover yarn. Not that there's anything wrong with leftover or scrap yarn projects (I have made many myself), but the end result should look deliberate and as though you wouldn't have changed a thing even if you had a truckload of yarn to choose from. This doesn't. And secondly, no sweater should make a woman look pregnant when she isn't.

Lovely little baby blanket!

I'm not crazy about this scarf, but I suppose it's wearable. I can't give those felted buttons a pass though, partly because they look random and pointless and partly because if I were to try to wear this scarf I'd somehow manage to catch them on things and whack myself in the face with them.

Love this scarf — the shape and the lace pattern are really sriking — though it does look a little overwhelming when worn with a tank top.

Very pretty rainbow scarf. I do like to see a variegated yarn put to good use.

Erhm. This isn't bad. It fits fairly well; it has an interesting texture. But if I wanted a pattern for a cute, textured summer top, I'd look a little further for something that looks just that little bit smarter and more finished. There are too many wonderful patterns out there for any knitter to have to settle for anything that just warrants a meh.

I'm not enthusiastic about these, but I suppose they could look cute and playful in the right kitchen. They're not terribly practical, though. Knitting isn't best fabric to wipe your hands on (think "gunk collecting in the weave") or to protect your hands from a high heat (think "scorch marks").

Inspirational words as a design element have been around for quite some time, and I suppose it was inevitable that someone would manage to come up with a way to incorporate them into a knitting project. These aren't by any means bad examples of their kind, but I do wish people would show a little more creativity and attitude when they choose "inspirational words". I've seen "Faith", "Believe", and "Hope" so often it would be refreshing and delightful to see words like "Question", "Challenge", and "Get Real".

This afghan is supposed to have a woven ribbon effect, and of course it does, but I am put off by the rather crude colour scheme and the "beginner project" look of it. I'd use a more sophisticated blend of colours to upgrade the look.

This not only screams "beginner project", it screams "little girl's beginner project". If you are a grown-ass woman wanting to make something for yourself, please trust me when I say that there are better beginner projects out there that you can be proud to wear in public rather than something you can only carry to your niece's tea party for her dolls.

Here we have a cowl that matches the purse just above. The same comments apply.