Sunday, February 11, 2007

The Second Time Around



Over the weekend, I've returned to the Tiger, Tiger Scarf - almost through with the second half. The scarf version is going so much more smoothly than the stole did. It could be because I only have one horizontal pattern repeat instead of three. It could be that while I don't exactly have the pattern memorized, it is now so familiar that on most rows I only have to glance at the chart (and I usually spot any mistakes before I get more that 3 or 4 stitches past them - easy picking). Or it could be that this yarn isn't cursed.

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I grabbed this off a magazine rack on a whim. (I was wandering around Shopko, waiting for my pupils to dilate)

It has a very good article by Deborah Newton on altering knitting patterns for a personal fit. I buy knitting magazines mostly for articles on technique or patterns that have a technique I want to understand. The Newton article justifies this purchase for me.

The actual patterns are a mixed bag. A couple of very basic sweaters for men. Summery items for women. Some cute baby items (Trish has pictures of her version of two of the hats posted at My Merino Mantra). There is a very nice little girl's sweater by Linda Medina, using a slip stitch color pattern (so nice because you only work with one color at a time), bell ruffles at the lower edge and sleeve cuffs, and a collaar edged with picot crochet.

And then there is this:



It looks as though someone has gone and sewn washrags to the shoulders and sleeves of an otherwise perfectly nice, basic little boy's sweater. I don't get it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, those warshrags do not improve that sweater. At first I thought the shoulder ones were an attempt at epaulets, a quasi-military touch which made me say bleah, but then I saw the ones on the lower sleeves. Dumb.

The cover *fashion ensemble* kinda leaves me cold, too. A June Allyson-type blouse under a ripple afghan tank top? No thanks.

But that fitting thing... I may need to look for that magazine.

Anonymous said...

I got a laugh out of the little boy sweater. At first I thought it was supposed to be the kiddy equivalent of professorial garb--the tweed jacket with the suede patches on the elbows. But then I realized the dishrags are in the wrong places.

There were some other things in that magazine that I didn't get also. I flipped through it at Borders but decided to give it a pass.

Looks like Baxter is pretty well behaved around your knitting. I have my Legends of the Shetland Seas packed away unfinished because Mimi Mighty Mothslayer kept getting it out of the bag and dragging it around the room!

Cindy G said...

**grin** I almost asked why the designer attached a sweater to some perfectly good dishcloths...

Calamintha, I was cringing at the thought of Mimi dragging "Legend" around. Baxter is much older and more sedate. Plus he was asleep when I set things down for the picture... I still don't leave anthing unattende for long, not because he would want to drag it so much as crawl on it and possibly start with the "kneading with claws out"

Robin said...

I may have to pick this mag up for the article you mention...usually I don't like the patterns in this one mag, demonstrated by the little sweater you mention! Sometimes I wonder what these designers are thinking?!