.....by way of a yak.........

My Vogue Knitting has finally arrived!

The Holiday 2006 issue (not the latest one, that would be unthinkable). Only 2 months and one gentle reminder to Vogue that as a subscriber getting the actual magazine might be nice. It is a better track record than Interweave Knits. My first love is IK. That does not mean I don't appreciate a good read of Vogue. Now here is the weird thing I don't think I have ever knitted anything from Vogue and to be honest don't tend to even like anything between the pages. My reaction ranges from "I guess that is okay" to "what the hell are they thinking!". (Although there was one little shrug in a past issue that will be given its turn on the needles at some point - well once I can figure out the pattern directions, you know translate them to english from double dutch.) But they do stir a comment and that is what keeps me an active reader. Unlike many other (unnamed) magazines they are not "tired". They don't look as though they are stuck in the '90's. They have a point of view, yep not mine or anyone I know but still a point of view.

This issue did not disappoint. Is it possible their models are getting thinner, like scary thin! I had such hope after their last issue with an older (but still slim, it is Vogue after all) model, such hope that perhaps they were trying to make it "more real". As always I enjoyed the ads (scary isn't it), the articles and little bits of information scattered throughout the magazine.

Especially liked this ad....

And yes it is in black and white in the magazine. This one I don't get even a little bit, in fact I had a wee bit of a dry heave, followed by a giggle. Especially when I got to the bit "You'll look elegant season after season". Elegant wasn't the first word that came to mind.

The patterns in this issue were even less likely to ever be knitted. In fact there was not one that I even considered, even with much alteration.

Verdict: not worth the purchase price unless you are like me and just like to get it - just because. (Or you are about a size 0 and want to look like this year's fashion victim - you know, unless that)

Have you ever had a project around for so long that feels like part of the family.

Slightly annoying but still you feel a commitment to it. I have a project like that.

My feather and fan scarf.

It is made out of the lovely Artisan NZ Merino Laceweight. It is my warm up to a full on shawl.

Let me digress here a little. I have knitted lace before, in fact quite a lot of lace, in regular weight yarn. So I figured how hard would laceweight be. Ummm it is a tricky little buggar isn't it. I am doing a simple fan and feather and yet, oh and yet........

So I knit and knit and then I knit some more and here is the thing it doesn't get any longer. It keeps going away for a holiday until I can stand the sight of it again (wow this sounds more and more like family doesn't it!). It has come for another visit. I want to finish it - not because I actually plan to wear, I mean I might, but because I want to experience the magic. The magic that I have witnessed on blogs and heard about in the circles I run in. The magic of blocking. It is a crumpled little mess at the moment. I frequently crush it into still more of a crumple, you know so the transformation will be even more thrilling.

So back to the plot. Yes my warm up to a shawl. I am not made for shawls. I get cold easily and I don't see a shawl cutting it to be honest and it might lose something over a thick jumper (sweater to the rest of the world) and my fleece. The other thing is unlike the Amy Blatt lovely I am not elegant. Wish I was, have tried to be but lets just say it wasn't a good fit. I think you have a wee bit of elegant going on not to look silly in a shawl.

But how, how I ask you, how can I call myself a knitter and not have knitted a shawl.

See, now you see don't you.

Maybe I could pull it off. I have always wanted to be elegant. I have some lovely silk..................