Skeinspotting

New Magazine Arrives!

I have been asked to contribute to a new magazine called Yarn Forward edited by Kerrie Allman from Hipknits/Magknits but as a totally independent project. I ordered the first issue so that I could make myself familiar with the medium.

On the whole I was impressed, good clear photos of projects and a lot of things I would wear myself. The magazine also contained regulars and features, including some written about designing knitwear. I liked the fact that each pattern gave a luxury, regular and cheap option for yarns used.
The cover sweater is beautiful, I hope they keep that standard every issue.

I was a little disappointed with a couple of the features though, one of which I'd hoped would explain how to knit for your own body shape but in actual fact didn't include any technical information on how to achieve this, it just included broad statements about what suits particular body shapes. I thought it was going to show some actual examples and adaptations of patterns.

Another of the articles is about the methods of designing knitwear and once again, no technical information on the different ways of doing this and general descriptions referring to graph paper without showing how this was done . As I have been designing an awful lot of accessories lately and writing my own patterns with schematics , I am intrigued when it comes to other designers approaches. However, I get the feeling that some designers come across a design by accident rather than method, or perhaps they just don't want to give their secrets away!

If I was to sum up the feel of the magazine in two words I would say 'safe' and 'classy'. I think that this magazine is likely to improve with age, especially as the producers are independent of any yarn companies and have invited readers to contribute.
The mag has a similar feel to Interweave Knits although I did find it a brief read in comparison. However, I may not be an average reader. I knit for hours every day and design a couple of things at least every week. I am yearning to have a magazine that will go into techniques in depth and at least tell me something I don't know. The same goes for books.

I have to comment that Jeni from Fyberspates who was featured in an article about careers in this magazine was looking pretty cool with her current hair colour. I felt exhausted when reading Jeni's average day, why is it that even with a knitting 'boom' people are still having to hold down a full time job as well as running a business in their own time? Some of us are providing extremely professional services and yet just earning pocket money compared with other commercial ventures in other fields.




You can order a magazine from the Yarn Forward website. Either a single copy or subscribe for a year (it is a quarterly)