My latest Vogue Knitting arrived on Wednesday, and I've been perusing it for the past day or so.
My general thoughts are: overall mediocre article quality and wildly varying pattern quality
Patterns
The cover pattern was basic, yet promising. I don't think the rest of the magazine really lived up to it. First the good.
Knitted Chair Cover was +++. I know I won't make it, but it was gorgeous and made me think of interesting places to live and things to see. A beautiful piece.
The Roses Shawl was amazing. I've had objections to Annie Modesitt's designs in the past (her baby couture design most recently), but this was beautiful without feeling overdone. I'm not sure I'll ever get a chance to make this, but I will always stop at this design and drink in its beauty.
The High Neck Pullover is such an unromantic name (like most VK patterns) for such an interesting top. One of my friends posited that it wouldn't look good on someone who was busty, but I'm not convinced. It uses a modest amount of yarn, so I will probably try and make this sometime in the new year.
I'm not normally a big fan of either prints, but Sasha Kagan's Leaf Pattern Vest was an eyeful. With a muted 7-color pallette, it was subtle with nicely feminine styling.
In the Nutcracker Sweet gallery, I really enjoyed the Lacy Dress, Strappy Tank and Lace Shawl. They all embodied that clean light feminine grace that I wish I epitomized.
The not so good and downright bad.
Reindeer Cardigan? I don't think I really need to say anything more about something elegant with intarsia reindeer. It's a cognitive dissonance.
The Russian Coat was pretty nice and a couple of my friends liked it, but it only comes in one size. That size is generous, but I would never think that a coat with an above bust measurement of 44" is Large. I would swim in it, but it would be too tight on half the people I know.
Delightful Turkish Motifs ---. The Turkish Pattern Dress might be pretty in different colors and with different stylings, but the model looked dowdy and uncomfortable.
Great Scott! (Yes, I jumped ahead.) I found the oversized, sculptural and assymetric stylings unflattering and coarse. I just don't want to go through the effort of knitting and have my clothing look unfinished at the end.
And for this issue's candidate for You Knit What, the Textured Pullover. Ribbing and a variety of textured patterns and colors play havoc with the senses, especially the top's puff sleeved bobble monstrosity. It's not my style and I'm not sure if it could be saved.
Most of the rest was basic or otherwise unmemorable. The article about adding gussets was interesting and useful. The article about ganseys felt superficial.
