Elka Knits: Not Worthy

February 28, 2005

Not Worthy

Wendy recently did a post about worthy projects. Apparently she is getting guff for not knitting Wendy skill worthy stuff. I don't normally read her blog for various reasons but just happened to pop in when this post was up. It is timely because I got a new project for work~ woo hoo good reason to not knit on STTS. Beautiful yarn from K1C2:

The design is called 9 Scarf Vest and is geared towards beginning knitters. According to the blurb if you have only knit scarves and thought you couldn't knit a sweater think again~ knit 9 scarves, sew them together and voila a vest. Something like that. The pattern is upstairs.

I am disappointed. I consider Helene Rush one of the greatest, and highly underated, designers of our day. Her designs have, in the past, been extreemly classic and wearable. I have stated before she is a master of the set in sleeve. Thats a digression. The premier issue of IK had two of her older sweaters redone in modern yarns. I think they were from the 80's so we are talking classic as in staying power. One of the first sweaters I did after she purchased K1C2 was Mini Diamonds Cardigan:

See what I mean? You could wear that to the work, at home, or out. Classic. I just don't see that falling victem to fashion cycles. So yeah I am disappointed. I don't know if this is because she owns the company and does all the designs so has to put out stuff for any sort of experience level and taste or if its because knitting has become kinda dumb. Whoa there!

You know there is a problem with been around the block too many times knitters when we think the vast majority of patterns {and yarns} are dumb. Its not true. I have some of my old knitting books and magazines. Trust me they were knitting some gawd aweful yarns and patterns in the 80's. For every filled with dreck pattern mag/book and 'stupid' question we face today there was an equal number of filled with dreck mags/books back then and we were the ones asking the stupid questions. Trust me. And for all the gems which increased our vocabulary of techniques back then there is a modern day equivalent. Actually there are more. Lets think about it. EZ, Walker, PGR are all still in print. Those were the biggies back in the 80's. And sorry to say I think EZ patterns are not fashionable tho some can be cute. Thats the thing about formulas~plain and boring until you add your touch. Her daughter, Meg, presents formulas and techniques in much more stylish garments. Knitters has turned into dreck but we have IK now. AS and her Fair Isle is, in my humble opinion, overshadowed by Feitelson for color and Knitting from Camp for techniques. AS and her Aran Knitting[a relatively late book from 90's wasn't it?] has Szabo, Zimmerman{Kathy}, and Lavold. Her pattern books can be met by Ron S and Feitelson again. MacGregor has been reprinted~ except for the small and relatively unknown Traditional Knitting which was a 30pg or so overview of history. Nancy Bush presents doable projects chock full of techniques. Hiatt is over rated~ trust me I had the book, parted with it, and reacquired it and I still only use a few pages. Tessa Lorant is overshadowed by Sharon Miller. Why it is safe to say that almost all the books I treasure above all others are currently in print. Lets give the newbies a break OK? And the 'experts' one too. 20 years of knitting means that sometimes a person just wants to veg out instead of strain the brain. Well I don't know how long Wendy has been knitting but long enough where she should be allowed to knit whatever she wants whenever she wants. After all she has the skill :^>

Still disappointed in the 9 Scarf Vest.....

TTFN knitbuds. May you have a yarny day and knitterly evening.

Posted by Elka at February 28, 2005 10:07 AM

Comments

I more than agree with you Elka - a knitter should be allowed to knit what he/she wants to when he/she wants to. I do think it's nice for us more recent knitters to try to stretch our skills a bit with more challenging techniques but not always necessary. BTW how do you get this gig knitting for companies - do you get free yarn out of the deal? Boy I'd love free yarn but I don't envy you having to knit things you don't want to knit. Hope the 9 scarves project isn't too boring.

Posted by: Jessica at February 28, 2005 12:26 PM

BTW, Helene Rush is also a very nice person. She bought my first pattern as editor of Cast On.

Posted by: terri at March 1, 2005 12:43 AM

Came across your post when trying to find information on Tessa Lorant (don't know anything about her). I agree with all you have to say. I'd also add that AS's larger motif colorwork is overshadowed by Poetry in Stitches and Norsk Strikkedesign. The only thing though - I don't think anybody has surpassed Niebling. He is amazing, and I wish they would just reprint all his stuff already!

Posted by: c at August 17, 2005 01:24 PM