Title: Knitter’s Magazine, #62, Spring 2001
Date: 2001
Publisher: XRX
Length: 112 pages
Illustrations: full-color
photographs, mostly by Alexis Xenaki
Quote: “Nancy [J.
Thomas] has another reason to want to stay closer to Jersey City: adorable
grandson.”
In my part of the
world, older people used to call magazines and catalogues “books.” So it was
with embarrassment that a wool shop worker pointed out to me an issue of Knitter’s magazine as a “book,” then
reminded herself—“Knitter’s magazines
are as good as books, anyway.”
I agreed. Issues edited
by Elaine Rowley or Nancy Thomas were similar to many paperback pattern
books—sometimes better. Each issue had a theme, and that theme was not just
“Rush Out and Buy What Our Sponsors Want to Clear Off the Shelves.” Each issue
had something to teach even an experienced knitter. Each issue contained a few
acknowledgments of “fashion” trends, while also presenting a mix of techniques
that could be used to make classic clothes or non-clothing projects. Most
issues contained some designs made with “novelty” yarns that weren’t available
to all knitters, but a majority of designs made with yarns that were easy to
find, sometimes even in Michaels, or Hobby Lobby, or even Wal-Mart. Most issues
included patterns for things other than women’s sweaters, and most of the
sweaters looked like something I could imagine an actual woman wearing, just to
keep warm, without being paid to model it. This was a much-needed contrast to,
especially, Vogue Knitting, some
issues of which contained twenty-some sweaters all of which looked as if somebody had to be paid thirty dollars an
hour to put them on.
Also, at a time when
other knitting magazines worked with the assumption that knitters didn’t want
to read (at least while knitting), Elizabeth Zimmermann affirmed that in fact
many good knitters knit while reading (or talking or watching television), and
her protégé Alexis Xenakis provided articles knitters could enjoy reading.
Knitting designers, most of whom were based in local yarn stores rather than
New York, became the “stars” of his “Knitting Universe.” Not only did Knitter’s present patterns as articles
with the designers’ by-lines and mini-biographies, or even print articles by
designers; it also sponsored Stitches Fair events where knitters, designers,
merchant, and manufacturers mingled. This gave Knitter’s the feeling of a newsletter. Opening this magazine, I
saw: “So this is what Thomas and Xenakis and also Nancy Marchant, Linda Cyr,
Ginger Luters, Lily Chin, Susan Guagliumi, and Kathy Zimmerman are up to!” On a
“social” rather than really personal level, the magazine gave knitters personal
connections to knitting—and shopping. Before blogs were invented, it was the real-world equivalent of following several good knitting blogs.
Issue #62 marked a
transition that was amusingly historic but, on the whole, I’d still say, a step
down. Other magaines had yet to hire their first female editor. Knitting
magazines had had more female than male editors for years; Rick Mondragon got
“breaks the glass ceiling” attention for being male. I want to be charitable so
I’ll lump older male-edited knitting magazines together with his share of Knitter’s and say that, while that
magazine’s extraordinary community spirit
boosted Mondragon’s work, and so did the fact that (unlike some men who
presumed to edit knitting magazines) he did knit...some
jobs just require a certain level of blood estrogen. I rate Issue #62 the last
of the really great vintage of Knitter’s.
Issues #63-125 were good, but never again quite as good as #1-62.
The theme in this issue
is multicolor yarn. Even for Knitter’s it’s
always hard to keep that theme separate from “Rush Out and Buy What Our
Sponsors Want to Lose,” but it can be done. There are articles about dyeing
your own multicolored yarn, or mixing yarns from your stash into a new
multicolored yarn.
The first pattern is
for advanced knitters, an exercise in mixing one-color yarns to make stripes
that look like what people hope to produce with multicolored yarns.
This is followed by two
simple vest patterns designed to get beginning knitters past their first
disappointment with multicolor yarns. Beginning knitters go to stores, see
mixes of colors that look good on the shelf, and think those mixes will knit up
into an equally attractive fabric. When they see that the yarn produces
irregular stripes, going around and around the waist if they’ve made a
traditional sweater, broken up by globs of color that may blur the most
incompatible colors in the mix or form fist-sized blotches right in the worst
places, they want their money back, and they’ve probably ruined the yarn by
ripping back several times and sweating into the white sections...One simple
solution: knit an easy sweater or vest pattern that’s worked sidewise, so the
stripes run up and down. (Articles in the magazine discuss various things
knitters do to prevent a blotch right in the worst place.)
More challenging solutions
use more complicated stitches and stripes of solid-color yarns, and offer more
room for creativity. Jean Frost’s “Neutral Track” jacket is knitted for the
picture in an expensive novelty yarn and white. Regular squarish patterns like
this one can make a sweater wearer’s shoulders look wider. That’s an effect
many people want, so this sweater was a must-knit for me. I used some plain
cream-colored yarn I found on sale and scraps of several neutral colors,
keeping the undertones warm, instead of buying a novelty yarn. Result: a quick
easy knit that cleared space in my stash bin and looks good on a small,
narrow-shouldered woman.
Speaking of small
women... “Oversized” was still in fashion and Knitter’s printed several complaints showing that they never quite
understood the concept of what an extra-small woman’s garment should be.
Kennita Tully’s “Painterly Impressions” jacket is bulky and likely to form
horizontal stripes. I had some Lion Brand Homespun yarn, which has long
sections of blended colors that at least form subtle broad stripes rather than
blotches, so I knitted the “extra-small” size, thinking of an extra-small
person who wouldn’t mind a bulkier top half. She’s 4’10”, 30-19-32. I followed
the pattern and obtained a good fit for me, 5’4”, 35-25-34 at the time of knitting. Hmph. Most White
American baby-boomers are bigger than I am but, relative to the general
population, I’m right about average. Things that fit me are medium. Things marked “extra-small”
should fit people who weigh 90 pounds.
My other must-knit-now
pick were Kathy Zimmerman’s “Turquoise Waves” jacket, Katharine Hunt’s “Color
at Play” baby set, Kaleigh Young’s “Garter Stitch Monet” shawl, Gayle Roehm’s
“Dawn of the Cape” shawl, and of course the serial afghans. I don’t know why
more knitting magazines don’t feature patchwork afghans as a series. Get
knitters started on one of those things and we’ll run back to the store to
watch for each issue to finish the afghan, ka-ching, ka-ching. In the case of
the six serial afghan patterns I collected in Knitter’s, I don’t feel exploited at all. Anyway, those were my
picks; your favorites will probably vary. With five cardigans, three vests, a
baby set, two pullovers, a twinset, three shawls, three hats, a T-shirt, a
pillow, a placemat, and the afghan to choose from, you’re sure to find
something.
What if you don’t want a riot of colors? Well, first of all, that afghan was knitted all in natural white wool. Other than that, if you’re
knitting for someone who is allergic to dye, some other back issues of Knitter’s may be more appealing to you.
However, anything knitted in multicolor yarn can also be knitted in one-color
yarn if you so choose. The three lacy shawls would be particularly pretty and
distinctive if knitted in plain undyed Shetland wool, in any of its range of
nine natural colors (including a “red” brown and a “blue” grey).
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