I've had rather mixed feelings about Interweave Knits lately. Sometimes there are patterns I love, sometimes not much, and I even toyed with not renewing my subscription. But then there are some designers whose patterns I adore, and their presence in the magazine alone make it worth the price.
It is not surprising therefore that I love Angela's newest pattern, the Inversion Gansey. I can honestly say I adored it as soon as I saw the cover of the magazine, before I knew anything about the pattern or the designer, and this is something I am looking forward to making and wearing.
There are two other patterns in this issue that I like but my feelings are a bit mixed about both of them. They are not, like the Inversion Gansey, sweaters that scream "Me, Me, Me! Yes, Yes, Yes!" and yet, I can't quite let them go.
Rosemary Hill's Leyfi Pollover keeps drawing me in despite the fact that I don't usually like sweaters knit in the round (this applies to Angela Hahn's pattern as well, although Ganseys are usually pretty well structured). In fact the more I look at it, the more it appeals. I like the airiness of the lace at the yoke and neckline, the way it provides shaping across the shoulders and upper chest, and the continuation of the lace pattern down the sleeves. The problem was never whether or not I liked the sweater, but whether I would actually wear it. It wasn't really until I looked at the designers photos on Ravelry, which I find far more appealing than the ones in the magazine, that I accepted that this is a sweater I could actually wear and love.
In the same way, it was the Ravelry photos that won me over concerning my third choice from this issue.
Once again, I was somewhat attracted to the pattern, Deborah Helmke's Cloisonné jacket, but with reservations. At first however I couldn't quite put my finger on the perceived problem. The shape is good, the button at the top, the lace bottom, the three quarter sleeves. I liked the intarsia pattern combined with the lace.
It was only after looking at the project page for this sweater on Ravelry that I figured out that my reservations were actually due to the color combination more than they were to the actual pattern. This surprised me somewhat as usually brown and turquoise are a favorite combination, and I am usually able to see beyond the color and look at the design and schematics to see my own version of the design. Not this time.
I see now that I do really love this sweater but I personally would wear it in a more subdued combination of colors. Or perhaps I would use contrast but make the intarsia and lace have a stronger value than the background; it all depends on the colors chosen. And as soon as I recognized that I was reacting to the color and not the design, the potential became obvious.
All photos in this post are from Ravelry and not Interweave Knits. The photos from Interweave are too grainy to scan well.
