an unsent post to the knitlist...

"I'm sorry, but I just have to dissent on the Interweave Knits bashing that's been popular here lately. One person called the sweaters "drab." Another just said they are "awful."

I don't think so.

I'm a 36-year-old, pale, overweight college professor. I don't go "clubbing." I don't make clothes that I can only wear for a single event. I don't worry about looking "fabulous." When I make a sweater, I want it to be one that blends in well with my wardrobe - that is wearable with a lot of things. Stuff I can wear to work and to church, because, you know, those are the two main places that I go.

I cheered when I saw the sweaters in this fall's issue - most of them are sweaters I can wear. Most of them are sweaters that will work with the rest of my wardrobe. They're not flashy or spangly or super-sexy, but I don't do any of those things. I like quiet and understated, and that's what most of the sweaters are to me.

There are lots of other things out there I don't like - see the skirt-with-flames in a recent issue of Knitty. I'd never wear that, it's not me. But it amuses me and makes me happy to think that somewhere out there, there's a woman who can and will wear that.

I also want to comment on the "drab" and "awful" dismissals...the sweaters may not be to YOUR taste, but does that make them "awful"? I don't think so. And also think about this - consider the designers. How would you feel to scroll through an anonymous online list and hear people talking about something you designed as being "drab" and "awful"? I realize they probably have thicker skins than I (you probably HAVE to as a designer) but it has to be awfully discouraging to have your work published in a magazine, and then have the constituents of the magazine loudly and verbally trashing it.... like the old line from Bambi, sometimes, "if you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all." I'm not promoting censorship - I'm promoting a little civility here.

Also, remember, this magazine just sold to new owners - so it worries me when I hear all these people talking about how "awful" the designs are. What if the new owners are listening? Do you want them to decide to "hip up" the magazine, and feature nothing but furry scarves and teeny tiny camisoles that most of us can't squeeze into, even if we wanted to?

Interweave is my FAVORITE magazine of the knitting magazines. And I particularly liked this issue. It makes me wonder, the people who use terms like "drab" and "awful" - would you use those to describe the way I dress, since I like the "drab" and "awful" things in the magazine? Would you at least be kind enough to wait until I was out of earshot before you said it?"

Unsent, because I'm sure it won't add anything to the debate. And if people are really that hateful of the designs, well, that's too bad. Maybe they're just people who don't like the colors, and can't visualize the designs in other colors. Or maybe they're just people who long for the "old" Knitter's with its avant-garde styles.

It bugs me when people look at something that's "not their cup of tea" and immediately dismiss it as "awful." I mean, I can't see myself using that flowered carpetbag (especially since I am a Northerner living in the South - I do not want to carry ANYTHING that looks like a carpetbag. And yes, I know, Reconstruction was 130 years ago, but there are a few who still have not forgotten). I don't like the capelet in there much - the colors are too contrasty for me, and it doesn't seem like a garment that an adult would wear. But the Grecian-inspired pullover is quite chic in its simplicity, in my eyes, and the Market Square sweater has interesting design details (true, I'd make it in different colors - maybe blue and cream or fawn and cream). But I wonder - if a friend of theirs actually made up one of the sweaters in the issue and wore it, would they tell them it was an "awful" sweater?