Knit.Wear Spring/Summer 2018

Knit.Wear Spring/Summer 2018

Last week the new issue of Knit.Wear arrived to Wool & Grace, looking great and ready for spring.  I’m completely smitten the lace in this issue.  There are three great, big wraps with modern lace.  Plus there is a gorgeous lace sweater that really caught my eye!

I’m convinced that spring is coming, and I’m craving a light but warm wrap to swaddle my neck now, and act as a layer of outerwear as the weather warms up.  The three large wraps in this issue would really do the trick, and I love their modern take on lace knitting.

Spanish Moss worked side to side, and combines straight and strong lines with soft lace.  Knit in Shibui’s Reed, this linen wrap is very well suited to warm weather.  Interesting techniques like a picot cast on and an i-cord bind off are great learning techniques and also give this piece a finished, expert look.  The rest of the knitting is easy to memorize and easy to knit.  While the pattern calls for Reed, feel free to consider other fingering weight yarns like Pebble, Loft, Kinu and beyond!

The Wisteria Stole features long lines of lace and cables.  This project also a chart with lots of repetitions.  Each row is easy to memorize, making the wonderful “Knitting for Alzheimer’s Prevention.”  It’s rhythmic without being too simple.  Your brain works, repeating patterns, but not TOO hard.  Plus, at the end of all of those brain exercises, you get an absolutely beautiful stole.  This one is, once again, a more modern take on lace.  You can play with yarn choices a lot here.  The Wisteria Stole calls for a sport weight yarn.  Hikoo’s Sueno, Madeline Tosh TML, Shibui’s Staccato or Birch and Baah’s La Jolla are all beautiful choices that will make a squishy and lovely piece.

One more lovely, lace wrap in this issue is the Aegean Stole.  This simple wrap is edged in a geometric lace pattern throughout, giving you bits of an easy lace pattern throughout a large section of stockinette.  The Aegean Stole calls for a light fingering weight yarn, but feel free to play with that a bit.  Shibui’s Pebble would be a perfect match, but also consider knitting it up in Shibui’s Birch or Reed.  Ito’s Kinu, Brooklyn Tweed Loft would also be lovely yarns for this project.

One lace piece I’m loving from this issue isn’t a wrap, but a sweater.  The Moonflower Dolman is funky and feminine.  Worked side to side in a worsted weight yarn (at a generous gauge of 15 stitches/4”), it’s a lace sweater with some unexpected twists.  I like the idea of making this in a yarn that has a bit of loft to it, so the lace is still visible and doesn’t get lost in drape.  For that reason, I think Brooklyn Tweed’s Shelter, Blue Sky’s Woolstok and Shepherd’s Wool are great places to start.  Katia’s Cotton Merino would be a dreamy choice for this, as well.  Given it’s blend of cotton and merino, it’ll be a comfortable sweater to wear throughout the year, and will have an ethereal halo to it.

There are a number of fun shells and tanks in here that are worth looking at for anyone wanting to make a summer sweater.  The other big show stopper in the issue is pieces from Michele Wang’s Wool Studio collection for Interweave.  Wang is known for her dramatic cables, and she brings it in this preview.  The James Cardigan and the Charles Pullover are the two pieces that caught my eye most.  In both of these pieces, cables don’t take over the sweater, but they are introduced in novel and dramatic fashion, making each piece striking and different than what you’ve seen before.  In both of these pieces, I think Queensland’s Kathmandu would be an awesome choice of yarn, as it can squeeze in and fit the bill at the proper gauge for both of these projects.  For the James Cardigan, I’d also consider Iris or Falkland from Pure Bliss, or even Shelter.  For the Charles Pullover, I think Blue Sky’s Extra would be a terrific, more sleek choice.

As always, there’s lots to see beyond what I have time to suggest to you.  At the least, stop by the shop and check out this beautiful issue for yourself!