Thursday, November 13, 2008

Twist Collective, Winter 2008

Oh, my friends. You have to go check out the new issue of Twist Collective. There are many, many stunning patterns. While sitting here, I'm knitting on a garter stitch lengthwise scarf for charity... perfect knitting for reading articles. I just read Taking Good Care by Margaret Klein Wilson and loved it. I know you will, too. I have to admit, I've never gotten knitting magazines for the articles. I'm all about pattern pron. Hah.

Anyway, I LOVE LOVE LOVE almost all of the patterns... no ... all of the patterns in this issue. The one I'll probably knit is called Vaila which is a textured pullover that is so.beautiful. I have some Dream in Color classy in November Muse (browns) in my stash which I'll probably use. This will wait until everything else is off my needles, though. We're on lockdown here, folks. I also love Norah Gaughan's cabled cardi... even the color. This one might go on the queue list. A few other faves: Ysolda's cabled cardi... such feminine shaping! The Harika socks, they look like fun! The entrelac beret looks like the perfect 'something different' project. The cable panel on Sylvi is STUNNING. I might buy this pattern down the road just for the panel. I do have to admit that I don't like where it is placed on the cardi... what a shame to have all that detail hidden underneath a hood!? I might use it on an afghan ... someday. The post war mittens are also very cute.

I also love Stormsvale, Rebecca, the Ariosa cowl ... gosh! I could go on! Twist Collective is a 'free' online publication full of beautiful lavish photos, articles, and columns. You can browse the patterns and purchase them individually. I think this is brilliant. The benefit is that designers get proper credit for their work and they make money from each sale by folks purchasing the patterns individually.

I was not aware that designers of knitware were paid so little when selling their designs to larger publications like Interweave Knits. Just a couple hundred dollars for something that could take off like wildfire just doesn't seem right... as knitters we can identify with how long the planning process takes to knit a sweater, let alone write out an original design. I have a lot more respect for designers after reading various articles and listening to a few podcasts on the subject. It's something I took for granted before. In fact, the first issue of Twist, for me, was just eye candy. I took it at face value and the creators didn't shove in our face why their way was better. They don't need to do that. It's all the other twitter around blogland that has brought it to light. Now I look at this second issue of Twist a little differently. Now I
care.

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