Vogue Knitting Fall/Anniversary Issue
I have just received the Fall issue of Vogue Knitting. It has loads of cover designs inside the one above, all knits are in greys and silver yarns to celebrate this magazine's 25th year. I was really excited as I flicked through. I do love this magazine and I know that when I am looking at it, I am not browsing for something to wear or something practical to knit, I am looking for innovation and inspiration and simple touches that make me green with envy I didn't do it first. And I am rarely disappointed. Even if something is not practical or a garment I would wear, I can admire the photography and think about what I would have done with a particular story.
This magazine does have class, even if it is criticised as being far too couture and not enough practical designs for real shapes. That is the idea though, that there should be a standard of knitting that rivals catwalk shows we see in other areas of the Fashion Industry and that these sorts of presentations should be wild and exaggerated and that the techniques or effects can be filtered down or watered down and act as inspiration for our own designs at street level.
We should celebrate as well, that somehow, a team of people who have worked their socks off have achieved looks that are far from lumpiness people associate with knitting. Quite often my non knitting acquaintances remark that they wouldn't want something hand knitted, that they don't like 'knitting', but are then totally surprised to find that they do indeed own knitting but wouldn't have defined it in that way.
I picked out some of my fave designs that have FREE patterns on the VK website and here they are. A 60's style shift dress, I love the simple A-line and the layout of Fair Isle lozenges. This sort of clothing is the sort I would have worn in the 80's being a follower of retro fashion of the 50's and 60's.
I also like this sweater dress. I can see this being worn over jeans, this is such a simple but striking design. Nothing too fussy or overcomplicated and proving that Vogue can be easy and does provide patterns for the beginner to intermediate knitters.
Who would have thought grey could be silver and yarns of this shade could be so interesting?
And lastly, a Debbie Bliss classic, I love the use of cables that decrease to make the flare on the lower bottom of the jacket, and the sideways cable seprating the yoke from the skirt of the jacket.
Vogue also welcome designs from new or young designers as well as the usual well known Debbie Bliss and Kaffe Fasset types. Vogue have a number of publications all looking for striking designs of all levels of intricacy. Their magazine Knit 1 is for urban and high street type fashion designs and their Magazine Knit Simple was laucnhed especially to encourage 'scarf knitters' to go onto the next stage. I have a hat, the most simple hat you could knit really with a bit of texture work, coming out in the Holiday issue of this magazine.
I can also say, that my dealings with the Vogue team, and the respect I was shown (along with the speed of the payment and contracts) was the best I have received from any magazine but now accepting anything less than that is difficult. I am having a hard time coping with magazine/book publishers who drag their feet about payment, don't provide proper contracts, don't provide copies of the publication, don't provide yarns in time and generally treat you as if you are the least important thing in their very busy lives (despite being manically busy yourself) and trying to remain calm. I design for fun, and perhaps when it ceases to be fun or I can see a long stretch of negotiating, emails and paperwork just to get what is standard, I am now avoiding getting involved in the first place and feel more comfortable turning the work down.
Not everyone is like that though, and people who have dealt with me and are reading this, the very fact your are taking time to read my blog probably indicates that you don't fall into one of these categories of bad publishers, so don't worry.
This magazine does have class, even if it is criticised as being far too couture and not enough practical designs for real shapes. That is the idea though, that there should be a standard of knitting that rivals catwalk shows we see in other areas of the Fashion Industry and that these sorts of presentations should be wild and exaggerated and that the techniques or effects can be filtered down or watered down and act as inspiration for our own designs at street level.
We should celebrate as well, that somehow, a team of people who have worked their socks off have achieved looks that are far from lumpiness people associate with knitting. Quite often my non knitting acquaintances remark that they wouldn't want something hand knitted, that they don't like 'knitting', but are then totally surprised to find that they do indeed own knitting but wouldn't have defined it in that way.I picked out some of my fave designs that have FREE patterns on the VK website and here they are. A 60's style shift dress, I love the simple A-line and the layout of Fair Isle lozenges. This sort of clothing is the sort I would have worn in the 80's being a follower of retro fashion of the 50's and 60's.
I also like this sweater dress. I can see this being worn over jeans, this is such a simple but striking design. Nothing too fussy or overcomplicated and proving that Vogue can be easy and does provide patterns for the beginner to intermediate knitters.
Who would have thought grey could be silver and yarns of this shade could be so interesting?
And lastly, a Debbie Bliss classic, I love the use of cables that decrease to make the flare on the lower bottom of the jacket, and the sideways cable seprating the yoke from the skirt of the jacket.
Vogue also welcome designs from new or young designers as well as the usual well known Debbie Bliss and Kaffe Fasset types. Vogue have a number of publications all looking for striking designs of all levels of intricacy. Their magazine Knit 1 is for urban and high street type fashion designs and their Magazine Knit Simple was laucnhed especially to encourage 'scarf knitters' to go onto the next stage. I have a hat, the most simple hat you could knit really with a bit of texture work, coming out in the Holiday issue of this magazine.
I can also say, that my dealings with the Vogue team, and the respect I was shown (along with the speed of the payment and contracts) was the best I have received from any magazine but now accepting anything less than that is difficult. I am having a hard time coping with magazine/book publishers who drag their feet about payment, don't provide proper contracts, don't provide copies of the publication, don't provide yarns in time and generally treat you as if you are the least important thing in their very busy lives (despite being manically busy yourself) and trying to remain calm. I design for fun, and perhaps when it ceases to be fun or I can see a long stretch of negotiating, emails and paperwork just to get what is standard, I am now avoiding getting involved in the first place and feel more comfortable turning the work down.
Not everyone is like that though, and people who have dealt with me and are reading this, the very fact your are taking time to read my blog probably indicates that you don't fall into one of these categories of bad publishers, so don't worry.
![Dizzy Lily <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/purchase/erssie-knits/4689"></a>](<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/purchase/erssie-knits/4689"><img border="0" src="http://www.ravelry.com/images/shopping/buy-now.gif"/></a> £2.00)
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