Showing posts with label Interweave Knits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Interweave Knits. Show all posts

Monday 25 September 2017

Interweave Knits Holiday 2017: A Review


Interweave Knits has released its Holiday 2017 issue. Let's have a look at it.





Alcova Scarf. How handsome! And the scarf is very attractive too. (Sorry, more than a little deprived here.)





Buckwheat Cowl. An attractive, classic piece.





Cable & Seed Knee Socks. It's hard to go wrong with such classic stitchwork. Though I would like to point out that these socks go nowhere near the model's knees. I suppose the name "calf socks" doesn't have quite the same ring.





Cookie Decorating Set. This is meant to be a play set for a child, and I suppose a child baker might have some fun playing with it. The oven mitts are too cute.





Dickensian Dolls. These are quite a good recreation of Scrooge and the three ghosts from A Christmas Carol. I'm not crazy about the blank faces, though I know perfectly well it is difficult to create likenesses with yarn. The blank face does work in the case of the Ghost of Christmas Past, because it makes him look scary, and he's supposed to be scary.





Entwined Shawl. Very nice!





Fantastic Fox Family. These don't look very much like foxes, but they are undeniably cute and cuddly.





Frost Mittens. These are pretty, and they're lined for extra warmth.





Jacquard Mittens. These are different. I don't know if they quite appeal to me, but they certainly have a lot of textural interest. In this brown yarn they have a certain "woven from straw" look.





New Growth Shawl. A lovely, even elegant, wrap.





Oslo Hat. I don't even like this style of hat, but this one is so well rendered, so nicely detailed and carefully shaped, that it's appealing.





Parallelogram Hat. Nice classic cap.





Powder Puff. This is pretty basic, but like most basic designs it's wearable and useful.





Solstice Hat. Love this one. The fair isle design is beautiful and the slightly offbeat colourway works really well.





Tree Boughs and Trails Hat. I'm really liking the combination of the pine-needle branch-like cabling and the twisting cables.





Two Cables Socks. This is a very handsome pair of classic cabled socks.





Wayworn Cap. Another classic cap.





Winter Sky Mittens. These are cute, but I do wish they had a more graceful shape and fit more snugly around the wrists. Leaving the wrists that open is not going to be too conducive to keeping the wearer's wrists and hands warm in winter.





Winter Snowflake Stocking. Really cute design. I'm liking that the designer didn't just make a classic snowflake pattern stocking, but added some interesting extra touches: the lace at the top, and the cream heel and toe with a decorative line of seed stitch in the main colour and a contrasting colour.





Winter's Chill Cowl. This is a pretty little piece. I'm liking the combination of pale blue, aqua, and white.





Woodland Lace Stole. This a fabulous piece of knitted lacework. It's modelled on traditional Shetland shawls, and indeed, it could pass for one.





Yeti for Bed. This doesn't look much like my idea of a yeti, which are usually depicted as furrier/hairier than this, but I must admit that the idea of dressing a fearsome creature in long undies (complete with a buttoned flap on the rear end) and bunny slippers is a very witty one.

Wednesday 9 August 2017

Interweave Knits Fall 2017: A Review


Interweave Knits has released its Fall 2017 issue. Let's have a look at it.





All Who Wander Cowl. Lovely. The pattern is very attractive, and I'm also enjoying the offbeat colourway.





Angelina Pullover. The yoke is good, but that is one unflattering shape.





Astral Road Ruana. That cape is one beautiful piece of work, but I can't help feeling it would show to better advantage on a couch.





Cash Pullover. Nice piece. The cabling has an Art Deco feel.





Free Falling Pullover. A very decent piece, but I can't help feeling that it needed a more finished-looking neckline.





Gold Rush Shawl. What an exquisite piece of lace.





Goldsmobile Top. This isn't such a badly designed piece -- the cables and shaping are good -- but I can't get past the thought that a heavy, turtlenecked vest isn't a concept that makes much sense.





Hank's Pullover. A very decent, wearable piece.





Highway 61 Pullover. A classic piece, though I have my reservations about the fit through the lower body -- it looks too loose and floppy in several of the pictures.





Madame George Pullover. Nice wearable piece with some textured stitchwork to keep the look interesting.





Nelson Pullover. Love this one, which perfectly integrates contemporary (the drawstring neckline) and classic (the cables) details in an attractive, wearable piece.





Prairie Wind Cardigan. I'm liking the fair isle and the hood, but that is one dowdy shape.





Subterraneans Cardigan. Beautiful, classic cardigan... that deserved better than this "sister wife" styling.





Tangled up in Gray Pullover. Nice! I especially like the back detail.





Whiskey Creek Pullover. This one isn't bad -- the shape is excellent and the shawl collar sits perfectly -- but I think it needed something a little more, like a marled effect in the reverse stockinette stitch panel.





Whitman Hat. Cute and rather eye-catching cap.

Friday 5 May 2017

Interweave Knits Summer 2017: A Review


Interweave Knits has released their Summer 2017 issue, and as they often do, they've selected designs according to a theme, which in this case is two of William Shakespeare's most famous comedies, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. Let's have a look at the forms of knitwear unknown, as the designer's scratch pad and needles turn them to shapes and give to airy nothing wearable knitwear forms and a pattern name.





Goodfellow Top. Nice lacework, but I never can get on board with these tiny cropped tops over a big shirt. It has that absurd "shrunk in the wash and didn't think anyone would notice" look.





Helena's Shawl. Speaking of Helena, I fondly remember a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream that I saw in the spring of 1988 when I was 14 and in which the actress who played Helena dropped on all fours and pointed as she uttered the line, "I am your spaniel!" Hilarious as that was, thankfully a woman who wears this item need not be so abject and instead may carry herself with all grace and dignity this very attractive shawl imparts.





Hermia's Shawl. Though this shawl be but little, it is fierce.





Hippolyta's Cover Up. This must be the modern equivalent of Hippolyta's magical girdle, and like its predecessor, it seems to exist more for its enchantment (or seduction) value than as a practical item of wearing apparel. But I kid because I love. This cover-up is a very fetching and high-style little number, even it won't block many UV rays.





Malvolio's Cowl. This is quite a handsome piece, and a much more suitable accessory for the Puritan-minded Malvolio than the yellow stockings and cross-garters he'd been duped into thinking his beloved Lady Olivia wanted him to wear.





Midsummer Kimono. This isn't bad, and it would be a good compromise for someone who wants a wrap or shawl-like effect but can't be bothered with trying to keep them in place.





Olivia's Cape. What a fantastic piece. Everything about it is so beautifully done: the shaping, the herringbone pattern, the I-cord finishing, the finishing touches of the leather buckles. And while it's a piece rendered in a very romantic style, it's not too costumey to be wearable for real life.





Orsino's Vest. A handsome classic for the man who's busy trying to decide whether he really loves Lady Olivia or his handsome new page boy, Cesario, who is actually Viola. With such a confused lovelife, who has time to think about his clothes?





Puck's Tunic. This is quite a pretty and wearable summer top, and it's the perfect thing to wear when one is that merry wanderer of the night who is blithely toying with other people's lives for her own sardonic amusement. It will also work for the office, lunch with friends, or a date.





Titania's Shawl. This is a gorgeous, exquisite piece that's definitely fit for the queen of the fairies, even if she does fall in love with a partial or complete ass.





The Tudor Rose Shawl. Another fabulously beautiful lace shawl. This one and the previous one are both fit for a princess.





Viola's Coat. I'm not liking this one much. The collar has a skimpy look and the fronts sits so poorly that it brings to mind that old "gunny sack tied in the middle" simile. But then perhaps Viola, like Orsino, has no time to think about her sartorial choices. She's been shipwrecked, doesn't know whether her twin brother is dead or alive, is posing as a boy, working as a page, and dealing with several potential suitors, but she's also responsible for the momentum of one of the world's most famous plays.