Spring publications and a bit of progress

Well, the knitting on the horse sweater is DONE. Except for the collar, which I have to pick up and knit once I sew one shoulder together.


My favorite part is the waving bangs on the horse on the right:


However, the finishing won't happen until I've woven in the hundreds of ends. Gah!


I am SO CLOSE to being done though. I've already started my next sweater project, which is for me, and is also in the FIRE element, even though we're supposed to be leaving that behind. I've still got a few things I wanted to finish up before switching gears. Because the first thing in the EARTH element to work on is Spanky's sweater, which I swear will be done before I do anything else in brown, green, or metallic!

So, also, spring seems to have brought a new crop of knitting and crochet magazines. I received my Vogue Knitting for Spring/Summer and was prepared to be completely underwhelmed as always, but this time, I was pleasantly surprised! I think this is one of the issues I've liked the best in terms of the wearability and styling of MOST of the garments. Here are my two favorites, both of which I hope to knit someday:


Also, I was surprised by how many of Vladimir Teriokhin's designs I actually liked. Usually I can't relate to his stuff much, but I loved this vest, which I can see myself wearing ALL THE TIME.


Finally, I have to point out this awesome swing coat, which I want to own much more than I want to attempt knitting it, although I may actually try it someday. It's so beautiful and flattering and not overly fussy like the rest of that layout, which was impressive, but impractical.


All in all, I'd say I liked a lot more of it than I disliked. There were only a couple of shoots that seemed to be leftovers from other issues, "Urban Outfitters" among them. And what was with the 12 year old model in the "Shore Leave" spread? She wasn't sexy at all! You could see her all dressed up in those adult outfits, but her gangly pre-teenness came right through. gross!

Anyway, I also recently subscribed to Interweave Crochet, and I got the Spring issue of that as well. I really like this magazine! I think I am going to hazard an opinion that Kim Werker is doing a better job of continuing the classic Interweave style than Eunny Jang is over at Interweave Knits. While I admire Eunny, I haven't been as thrilled with Knits since she took over. Granted, it's still early days, so we'll have to wait and see, but still. I'm pretty impressed with Crochet. You can see the preview here, but my favorite was the green Tolmie Cardi Vest. I also liked the Arachne's Tears scarf, which I can see myself making for Christmas presents for people at work.

The Winter 2007 Crochet showed up right before the other one, since that was the current issue when I subscribed, and that one has a lot of great patterns in it as well (including the gorgeous Flowers for Eryn wrap that I really wanted the issue for). I definitely recommend that anyone who crochets as well as knits should get a subscription. When I went to buy the Winter 2007 issue on the newssstand, it was $7.99! The spring issue is $6.99 for some reason, but a subscription is just a little more than the cost of two issues!

Finally, my mother has already sent me my birthday present, almost a month early, (Thanks, Mom!) which is two books:
THe Knitter's Book of Yarn, by Clara Parkes, and Cables, Diamonds, Herrongbone: Secrets of Knitting Traditional Fishermen's Sweaters, by Sabine Domnick.

I had only asked for the Parkes book. I don't know why my mom thought I would want to knit a fishermen's sweater. I've never told her any such thing. But it's a nice thought anyway, and it's actually a very interesting book, about the traditional patterns used over the years, and getting into the construction of the sweaters in great detail, basically walking you through the process. There are also lots of beautiful historical pictures, which are just great reading, even if you aren't planning on knitting an actual fisherman's sweater yourself. And who knows? One day I might...

But the Book of Yarn is amazing. It was worth the wait--I kept almost buying it, and then backing off. It makes a great present though. And I love that it comes with so many patterns too! I loved the excerpt that appeared in Interweave Knits recently, and I've been planning on picking up the book ever since, because Clara Parkes writes in such a straightforward manner that it was easy for me to understand and absorb the information. If you really want to know about not only types of yarn, but how yarn is constructed and why it does or does not do the things you want it to, this is a great resource, and it comes with tons of patterns too!

Anyway, more pictures when I've finished the weaving in and seaming up of the horsey sweater. Next up, the Deep Breath sweater and the Downtown Cap Sleeve Sweater, both Webs patterns. Once those are done, I'm going to finish up the two pairs of socks I'm in the middle of, and then FINISH SPANKY'S SWEATER. And then I have some fun things planned--green stripey knee socks knit toe-up, a felted bag, and my clementine shawlette! But in between, I also have to knit another London Beanie and some fingerless mitts for the friends who put us up in Melbourne. A labor of love, folks.