I'm not sure if you know this about us, but Knitty is sort of like a potluck supper. We're sent submissions of every possible description four times a year, and we choose the best among them to fill our issues. This means we're not adhering to a look book or desgn theme... instead, we are lucky enough to get sent exactly what the designer probably wanted to wear themselves this season, and that means that there are likely many others craving exactly the same thing. It's an intuitive, intimate approach to curating a magazine, and I love it. Does the pattern feel right to us? Then we'll publish it.
That means that sometimes we get a lot of desserts and not so many hot dishes. Or an overload of appetizers. Some careful editorial cold storage ensures that patterns sent at the wrong time for one issue will be just the thing for a future issue.
But something else happens that's kind of interesting. Last issue, I noticed how many of our patterns were classified as Piquant. In our lexicon, Piquant means there's a lot going on at once in the pattern and you have to pay more attention.
Well, this issue, we're almost exclusively Tangy! That means taking a more relaxed approach to your Spring+Summer knitting. You don't have to concentrate so hard to get gorgeous finished projects. That suits us just fine.
So off you go, then! Find something wonderful in our Pattern index. Poke about. Add things to your Ravelry queue. Cast on!
And if you need any help with casting on, this issue, we feature our first Video Techniques Column from our newest contributor, Kristin Fraser. Kristin shows us five key cast ons and a few extra tricks, for good measure! Welcome, Kristin!
Stay tuned to the knittyBlog for our ongoing year of contests! Watch our Twitter feed just because it's fun and silly, and because if anything spontaneous happens, it gets announced there first! Join in the fun on our Facebook page. And tell new knitters, whenever you meet one, about Knitty. Share the fun...
Amy R Singer
[editor, Knitty]
photo: Amy
Singer
Aching for color.
I don't know about where you live, but here in Michigan it has been a long grey winter. I am desperately longing for the first signs of spring, some blue sky a little bit of green.
My brain has already shifted in to warmer weather mode. I am itching to clean up, clear out and try new things, maybe buy new things.
I'm ready to clear out and organize my fiber stash. I want to drag out the fleeces I bought last year and wash them in big bunches, just to see a back deck full of drying fleeces.
I am really ready to sit outside and spin.
I hope the patterns in this issue get you excited to spin outside or in; there's a fabulous headwrap, Grey Gardens, by the women of Spincycle, the Buttonbox waistcoat spindle spun out of BFL by Elizabeth McCarten and a lacy shawl by children's book author and spinner, Joanna Johnson.
There is something new for the spring here at Knittyspin. We're relaunching the Knittyspin column with a new perspective. For the next year I'll be writing about spinning to knit, a passion of mine. I'll be talking about the facets of spinning that go into making a great yarn to knit with. I hope it excites you as much as it does me.
If you have an
idea for a project or article for
Knittyspin write me.
Knittyspin submission guidelines
are here.
If you have fiber,
spindles, books, or other spinny
products or tools that you'd like
us to review, you'll find information
how how to get your products in
to the hands of our reviewers here.
I love to talk about it all.
Have
you seen the Knittyspin shwag? Check
out the Knittyspin
gear. Cozy sweatshirts,
long-sleeved tees, and much more!
Show your spinning pride and
your love for Knittyspin!
