I still subscribe to Interweave Knits. Used to get FiberArts, Knitter's, SpinOff, American Craft.
I got so little from the magazines. Lame writing, ugly patterns, (Knitters,) too much glass and not-very-interesting-most-of-the-time contents. (American Craft) I'm sure it's just me, but the so-called art world pisses. Me. Off. (The same stupid question - Is it art or is it craft. Fuck You.) FiberArts had some really good stuff, but not enough. And SpinOff seemed to be a repeat of stuff from past issues. This mild rant could continue for many paragraphs. I guess what I am trying to say is that I don't feel a need for what these magazines have to offer. Your mileage will vary, I am sure.
Anyway, my sub to IK is good for at least another year and so every three months, it arrives. I thumb through it, read the articles, look at the ads - in about an hour. Then it joins The Pile.
I won't recycle them yet, because my mood and needs may change and I will need That Pattern someday. But it is more like at some future date, I will look to these magazines for inspiration, not the particular.
My internal thermostat is running hot so I don't need another sweater for the winter except maybe a light cardigan. Neither does Sweetie, ever since he discovered sub-artic polypropylene undies. I have plenty of sock, shawl, lace patterns to last my lifetime. I'm not a beginning knitter or spinner. Even crocheter.
So. The latest IK arrives and Sweetie and I flip through it together. He could tell that some of the patterns were ugly and/ or stupid without my help. I had hoped that Eunnie would have had a greater influence on content by now. Granted, it must be hard to appeal to a diverse audience; to keep the newbies and the old hands happy. But still, good design should reign.
Two things struck me as most lovely. One was a Norah Gaughan sweater (Strawberry Hill) in an advertisement for Rowan yarns on page 4. (The pattern on page five for a Loop-d-Loop for a sweatercoat is so awful that I cannot imagine what the designer was thinking.)
The other thing that caught my eye was a pair of mitts shown on page 70. The pattern itself, Winter Twilight Mitts, is clever and I downloaded it free from their website. I thought the tree imagery would work very well for socks.
So, this is my thing. One this subscription is up, I won't renew.
