Crochet.1

Okay, I know this issue came out a million years ago, but Knit.1 always manages to have really fun and fresh designs lurking in their oh-so-cute magazine. Sure, I liked it better when it was smaller and even cuter and fit in my bag better, but that's neither here nor there. The fact is, despite their name, they manage to have lots of fearless crochet between the covers.

Take this dress, for example. I turn the page, see this, and immediately presume it's a knit. But wait, something is strangely familiar about the skirt. Like the face of that weird kid from grade school who no one liked at the time, that you see in a magazine because suddenly, he's HOT! Sure as shootin', this baby's crocheted!

I think part of the deal is that the editors look at crochet differently from the way other publications do. The rank and file still see toilet paper covers and doilies and cozies as far as the eye can see (to quote Marge Simspon). But the editors at Knit.1, like the truly talented designers out there, see possibilities in our humble stitches. It's not as fluid as knit, it's more sculptural. It's not orderly by nature--it's wacky and random and can bend to your will! So use those qualities, dammit, and make something beautiful because it's crocheted, not in spite of it!

Am I the only one whose jaw hit the floor when she saw this dress? Am I? Sweet mother of crap! My biggest complaint? It's made for someone with a 34 inch bust or something like that. One size does not fit all, my friend, and I found that faux pas a bit lazy of Knit.1. Still, the clever hooker can figure her way out of that problem, and it won't necessarily involve lipo.

Not for nothing, but where are the publishers with, not vision per se, but at least the balls to push things a bit farther than the usual gang? Pandering to the same old, same old. Drives me batty. Fearless Crochet! That's what the new mag should be called!

As mentioned in the ancient, dusty review section of this site (if you push the cobwebs aside, you can see it), I also really like Crochet Today. There are usually several piece I simply must make per issue. But I think their magazine design blows, big time. Looking at the cover and judging it, like we are wont to do, would lead one to think that they are just spewing out the same boring crap as some of the others. But they don't. At least, not usually. Could someone send them to Extreme Makeover, please? Or maybe hire away the designers from Knit.1? Or better yet, the ones that put out Anthropologie's catalogs? Jebus, talk about cool!

Anyway, keep your peepers on this Knit.1 if you want to get all itchy and inspired to hook your brains out. Or something.