Tuesday, July 1, 2008

My favorite knitting magazines, part 1

Let me just say, I'm not well-versed in fashion. Never have been, because I've rebelled against what is fashionable ever since my mom made me wear stuff that she thought was and only bought me things that were far away from that standard. I've kind of been a jeans and comfy blouse or shirt, flowing dress girl, nearly all of my life.

As an adult, I've slowly learned what it means to be stylish, but not a slave to style. Talk about a trial and error process!

I wear what I think looks good on me and in colors that I love, usually bright and bold jewel-toned colors. Sometimes I wear something more muted, like in gray or tan. But never, never orange!

Becoming a knitter has naturally made me more conscious about what I wear and how shape and silhouette (really foreign concepts to me) affect my look. And I have to admit, it's been fun exploring this new territory. Magazines have helped me out tremendously in what this fashion stuff all means.

No doubt about it, my favorite knitting magazine is Interweave Knits. Even when they have just an overall OK issue, like the current Summer 2008 one, I still think they are way above the others in the daily wear department. Some might think IK is not very fashion-forward, but that's not what I'm looking for in style. Hey, if I'm going to invest 2-3 months in making something with my own slow-moving hands, I want to make sure I can wear it for at least the next few years. For the year since I've subscribed to IK, I have chosen at least 4-5 out of every issue that I'd like to knit. Since that's logistically impossible, I only end up doing 1-3 projects out of each. My current cardi and Jenna's sundress are from the Spring 2008 IK.

The sister pub of IK is Knitscene, which is slightly aimed toward a younger crowd and more fashion-forward, but I still like a lot of what I see in it. Here, I'm planning to make the papillion top and a scarf that looks like a shawl. Well, once I get some more of those WIPs done.

Next time: more of my favorite mags (and some not so favorites)

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