Review: Interweave Knits Summer 2015

Yes, I renewed my subscription. It was only $33, so I figured, why not? First, it was really nice to see some smaller, quicker projects featured in this issue. Interweave too often consists of larger projects like sweaters that would take at least a month to complete. Sometimes you want a quick knit, and this issue offers a lot of those. The first section "Section Hike" has three headband, a head scarf, and a kerchief, all of which are adorable.

My two favorites were the Berkshire headband and the Olympia headband, both knit in shades of purple/maroon.

Not only are they small projects they're super cute! I'm going to go through my stash this weekend and see if I have yarn I could substitute for the Olympia headband and knit it up over Memorial Day. The remaining three patterns in "Section Hike" felt kind of tacked on to the collection. The Applachian Thermal and the Bartram Vest are both knit in Oatmeal/brown-ish shades, which at this point makes me want to scream. COLOR. This is a summer issue, for pete's sake! The Mount Robson Pullover is knit in a beautiful forest green, and I love the ribbing in the body contrasted with the saddle stockinette shoulders. Since I don't have a man in my life to knit it for, however, I guess it'll have to wait

 The second section, titled "Wild Bouquet" did feature pieces in a variety of colors like soft green, pink, lavender, etc. The idea being a bouquet of wildflowers. I liked the slouchiness of the Phyllotaxis Hat, and the open lacework in the pattern would keep it from getting too hot. The Clove Hitch Tee is boring and boxy. I don't think it would be flattering on anyone, honestly. 

The Wildflower Bolero's pattern features the self-striping yarn and bobbles, I'd like to see it in another color but it's at least interesting visually. It doesn't meet all the way in the front, however, so I'd probably add stitches on either side to eliminate the gap. 

 Both the slip stitch and the openwork on the Dianthus Cardigan and the Blue Columbine Cardigan would get tedious after a while. They're both pretty, but I wish the magazine had better pictures of the front. The detail of a triangle of openwork on the cuffs on the Blue Columbine pattern is very cool.

 There are two shawl patterns in this collection which, even though I'm not a fan of shawls, have beautiful designs and colors. The Western Slope Tee has an open work section on the front, so you'd have to wear it with a camisole underneath. The back is worked entirely in straight stitch up to where it divides for front and back. As I'm currently slogging through a piece with a lot of straight stitch I don't think I'd find this a fun project. 

 The third collection in this issue, "Local Color," features three patterns with colorwork designs. I hate all three of them. There's the return of the browns/creams on the Magic City Henley and the Chrysler Cardigan (which the editor featured on the cover - WHY?). They both scream 'Old Lady' to me and look very dated. 

The Chesapeake Jacket has turquoise crabs and waves against a cream background. If that's your thing, great. 

 I wish that, instead of including the "Local Color" section, the editor had just chosen more patterns for the "Home & Hearth" section. The sock braided trivets are made of i-cords and were obviously included to help sell this i-cord maker thing-y Interweave is selling, but they're cute and practical. 

Since my son is always losing coasters under the couch I may make a few for the living room. The Cottage Baby Blanket is just gorgeous, even though it looks like a lot of work it would truly be a heirloom piece. Like I said, I wish the editor had chosen more patterns to fit in this section. Overall, I'd say the patterns in this issue were hit or miss. Here's a shot of the pictorial table of contents at the end of the magazine.

Of course no one is going to love every single pattern in an issue, but since this one has a lot of smaller projects perfect for road trips and summer afternoons I would recommend picking this one up. I've already started one of the headbands for my camping trip this weekend!
 - D

Review: 150 Scandinavian Motifs: The Knitter's Director by Mary Mucklestone

The moment I saw this in Knitting Daily's email I added it to my wishlist. I didn't even bother to read the article. As most of you are aware, my heritage is primarily Scandinavian, with one full-blooded Norwegian grandmother and one Swedish grandmother, and I feel a strong connection with their culture and art. I was thrilled when a friend gave it to me as a belated birthday present a week ago (thanks, M'ris!) and couldn't wait to curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and lovely, lovely knitting designs.

http://www.interweavestore.com/150-scandinavian-motifs

When I first read the author's bio, I squealed again. She's also from Seattle, and talks about growing up in the Scando community out there, and being exposed to the traditional artforms. All of which I can relate to - though my grandmother did knit, she was more into tole painting, but there were plenty of Norwegian sweaters scattered around the congregation at her covenant church. Thanks to this book, I now can identify them as lusekofte sweaters.

Not having done a lot of colorwork knitting, I found the explanations at the beginning of the book extremely helpful. They were some of the clearest I've seen for this kind of work. After the directions she provides information on how to plan a piece, how to use color and traditional motifs, and some historical background on types of garments made using the motifs. What follows is a motif directory where one can quickly reference the different motifs in the book side by side, with page numbers so that you can flip to their instructions and chart in the book.

Some of my favorite motifs were; The climbing vines of number 4, the boys and girls of number 44 (going on a pair of mittens for Connor), the traditional snowflake of 70 and 103.

It should be noted that this is not a patterns book. She does include four patterns as examples at the end of the book (none of which I liked, frankly), but that's it. This book is a more useful resource for creating your own designs and incorporating the motifs, which is why I wouldn't recommend it for a beginning knitter. You're going to need to know the basic 'how-to' of knitting a mitten or a hat in order to use these motifs, or at least know how to incorporate them into an existing pattern.

But if you are a more advanced knitter, and are interested in or like Scandinavian knitting, then this is definitely the book for you. I can already tell that it's going to get a lot of use at my house!

- D