The fall pattern books arrived yesterday from Anny Blatt and Bouton d"Or and they provided some happy time perusing the pages and dreaming of sweaters. What can I say, I am happily pleased and love dreaming and reflecting time.
Actually I liked the Anny Blatt book more than the Bouton d'Or, but I realize that this is mostly just that there were more sweaters I would wear in one, although there are a lot of intersting ideas combined into what I would consider to be unfortunate sweaters in both books. As usual there are a lot of sweaters I think would be lovely in different guages or with different yarns. That is one of the beauties of this universe, that I can knit, or dream of knitting, what appeals to me while you can knit what appeals to you and we all remain happy.
I basically believe that I like the Anny Blatt book better because the sweaters are more classically elegant than the Bouton d'Or patterns, which are a little more trendy and youthful. I guess I will just have to admit that I am a pretty boring person when it comes to sweater patterns. I tend to do best with more tailored and classic looks and am not particularly comfortable with too many frills.
To begin with. I love the cover cardigan, even, for a change, in the design colors. The color choice is not really a design issue, I just like blues, but it could be pretty in many colors. One of my ongoing complaints with Anny Blatt is that I often like their multi-yarn patterned sweaters, like this one, but the yarn choices are limited in such a way that I cannot figure out how to make the sweater in a colorway that I can actually wear. Here they have done the work for me.
This sweater is knitted primarily in Angora Super, angora could you guess(?), and Victoria, a soft polyamide ribbon that knits beautifully. I love victoria as trim or accents in sweaters and have knit whole garments out of it, but they are more for occasional wear. Victoria makes great edges and cardigan bands.
Following are some pictures from the Anny Blatt book. You can link to all the photos and details here and I will provide links to individual sweaters I like, but I cannot figure out link to the photo and have it show up here in my blog.
I am particularrly fond of this shell, segue sweater, pattern #6, Angora Super. It is just a classically
lovely shell with a beautiful lace pattern that will be luscious to
wear. This is one that I will probably make eventually, although I may
or may not make it right away. I tend to assume that Angora Super will
always be around, as it has for oh so many years. But the temptation
is great.
I am also thinking about this sweater, pattern #7, Halifax. This photo is one I took of the magazine with a copy of the yarn sample card on top so you can see the yarn:
One of the things I like about Anny Blatt patterns is the shaping of their sweaters. There are very few sweaters that are just basic rectangles with no shaping and I find that the look of their patterns is worth the effort. This jacket is shaped much like a jacket you would sew. It is knitted in parts, much like a jacket pattern, two pieces for each side of the front and three pieces across the back. Each piece is shaped to match the figure. A crochet join with a couple of yarns is used to piece the sections together.
The yarn is a novelty yarn, Mimosa. Which I tried to capture at the top of the photo. It looks very light and fluffy on the swatch but the illustration of the sweater seems to have a little bit of body, that could be the shaping and the crochet joins which will add structure as well. I like the jacket; I am intrigued by the yarn but I wonder if it will be dissapointing: it is @21% wool, 47% polyamide, and 32% polyester. Of course the jacket could be knit in any novelty yarn that knits at 11 stitches to the inch and it would be a pretty fast project. The goal here is to keep it feminine yet tailored and very light. I get the definite impression that this yarn will knit up into a very light weight fabric although it may still be firm enough for the jacket. I might just have to buy one skein to start just to play with knitting this particular yarn. That swatch may satisfy my curiosity.
Here is more detail of the yarn:
As you can see, it is kind of neat, but I think I am being lured into a temporary fabric lust situtation. Better a skein to get it out of my system than a bunch of yarn that proves dissapointing.
As I continue to look through the book, I see that there are a number of perfectly nice sweaters that could be knit in these yarns or others, perhaps by changing a detail here or there. I would bore you with all the details. #9, Nassau could be nice if one ignored he fur trim and just knit the sweater. It really has enough going on and does not require the extra embellishment. At 6 stitches per inch, Cashmere Anny is a light enough yarn to make such a heavily textured sweater still quite wearable in many overheated indoor venues. I probably would not make it out of Cashmere Anny though. It is a lovely yarn, but at only 10% cashmere it is nice, but not nice enough to always justify the price tag in my mind; there are other nice sport-weight wools that I could use just as easily.
Sweaters 11 - 17 all have lovely classic shapes and great shaping: I personally would leave the rose off #15, Charleston but that is just a personal observation. #38, Regina is also lovely and would make a wonderful sweater to wear out to dinner.
The combination of the border and the body fabric on #24, Yalta really intrigue me although I don't really like the idea of a cape for me. I always get my arms tangled up in the fabric and tend to look like a crumpled up walking garbage bag -- where do I put my purse, how do I hold things? Capes are better for those less encumbered than I. Still, the border is neat and could look great on a cardigan or coat with some interesting novelty yarn combination body. What I like about this design is that it makes me start imagining other possibiliities.
And while I am on the subject of interesting ideas/knitting fabric, #28, Vancouver has really captured my attention. This sweater is knit out of Mango, which is a fine cotton/modal blend that can knit up as tiny as 8-10 stitches/inch , alternated with Fleur, which has these neat flower like loops worked into the yarn. It looks like a wool in a netting, with little flowes pulled out. You alternate rows of stockinette mango with crochetted Fleur for a combined guage of about 6 stitches/inch. It is the photo of the combined fabric, and the yarn that really intrigue me, as well as the fact that sweater seems to be an interesting design and intelligent use of a novelty yarn. I like the way the Fluer makes little flowers or popcorns in the jacket. Actually the little bumps look like the four-leaf clovers you find in Lucky Charms cereal. Perhaps I like it because it reminds me of a grown up version of a childhood treat. This could just become one of those "happy sweaters" that make the day bright just because you are wearing them.
Here is a photo I took of the pattern photo with the yarn sample next to it:
Comments