I mean. Really.

(Since Jessica didn't do it, I'll go ahead and say what needs to be said!)

An open letter to Rick et al. at Knitter's Magazine,

I am a subscriber to your magazine.  For some reason I have this sense of loyalty to you.  Maybe it's because I live in Minnesota, and your are published out of South Dakota.  You know...Midwestern love and all.  But lately (ok, for like, the past year and a half) I have noticed that your designs have been really.....mmmm...not good.  Kudos to your designers for being creative, I do appreciate that, but you have to take into account that people want to wear the patterns that your are printing...and come on, would any self respecting person wear that tangle of novelty yarn pictured above?  You need to do some investigating and find out who your target demographic is...because I can tell you it's not me, nor most of the knitters I know.  I suggest you take a tour around the knitting "Blogosphere" (CNN's term, not mine) and take a good look at the things we are knitting.  Generally speaking, we knit bloggers (who, I'd like to think are setting the trends for the knitting industry) are knitting CLASSIC, ELEGANT, and FLATTERING garments.   We save novelty yarn for scarves, and have acknowledged that, as the Monolo has said, the fashion mania for the poncho, it is now over.  You can be funky, creative, and wild (see Teva Durham for an example) without being too much.   Maybe you need to enlist the skills of some new and fresh designers or something.  Think about it...

Oh, and while I have your attention, how fair is it that your book reviewer, Lynda Cyr, reviews your own XRX books?  She gave SnB Nation an iffy review, but Ponchos and Wraps received a stellar review? I mean.  Really.

Best Regards,

Caryn, aka the Fuzzy Noodle                     

Comments

[beth]

SnB Nation got an iffy review?! I love better than the first one. More fun, funky patterns and great tips on adjusting patterns to fit you, WTH? Although, I've seen some of the stuff Linda Cyr has designed & it doesn't surprise me.

[Jen L]

Amen, sistah.

Seriously, Rick M. attends the same SnB that I do, and I'd be more than happy to pass along your message! :)

[Lauren]

yeah, don't know what the hell that is.

[Kelly O]

Well said. Who would wear that bath matt?

[Leanne]

I have never commented before but I just HAD to today. Why, because I have never laughed so hard at a blog entry in my life. That is by far, the worst piece of knitting I have ever seen. It actually surpasses what I thought was the worst piece of knitting - the bra with criss cross with ribbed bottom thing put out by Filatura Di Crosa (it's in their Spring 2005 booklet).

[Wendy]

Well said, it is about time somebody said something!

[heide]

You could collect signatures online and send this off with a gazillion other knitters backing you up! It'll be a revolution!

[Lolly]

Very well said, Caryn. Definitely send it in. I like to think that our knitblog community is a force to be reckoned with--maybe after the letter is sent he will realize our power! :)

Yeah, that is an awful awful knit.

[Wanda]

I agree with you. I haven't liked much of what Knitter's has put out. Most of anything that I've felt I had to make usually comes out of Vogue Knitting or Interweave. That jacket is just ridiculous, can't even imagine who would want to make that thing!

[Rebekah]

Bravo, Bravo. (insert opera clap here)

[Anna]

Thanks for saying what needed to be said. That garment is a monstrosity!

[laurie]

Oh man, I saw that cover in the yarn shop today and about busted a gut. WHY OH WHY OH WHY???? Do they have no sense? No taste? Are they high? Questions we must ponder.

[kathy b]

I have to agree with you on the patterns. We want to put time into projects that will make us want to wear them. Who are they designing for?

[Joan]

I have every issue of Knitter's from the beginning and in the last year I had to ponder hard whether I wanted to continue buying them. I didn't and your comments are spot on. I stopped subscribing about 2 years ago so I could look at them in the shop first. It's been at least a year since I found even one thing I would wear.

[Kathleen]

this really was like the worst of bad issues!

[Betsy]

Standing and clapping wildly!!!!!
{{clapclapclapclapclap}}
I would not dress my neighbor in that thing!!!!!!

[Vicki]

Hey, I'll sign that petition/letter! I especially love what you said about Teva Durham's designs -- I am still completely enamored with Loop-d-Loop for exactly those reasons. It's funky, creative, fresh, wearable (that's the key word). Her designs just knocks my socks off whereas this... bathmat, did someone say bathmat?? Yeah... A person can find all the free patterns they want for crap like that.

[Carrie]

In the words of Hugh Grant, "She was wearing a Yeti costume."

[heather]

FEH!

heinous.

that editor should be made to wear that in public. everywhere.

please, I truly hope you sent that letter in...they need to be stopped. Lets stage a riot at stitches.

[cheryl]

I quit subscribing to the magazine a year or so ago for the same reason...I check it out first to see if there is anything in it first....#1 - normal people don't want to wear stuff that looks like it's been run through a shredder first.

[LeAnne]

It gives knitting a bad name...like that only frumpy stupid ugly people who would wear frumpy stupid ugly garments would knit.

[Lisa]

I about died when I saw that. It's so horrible. Even sadder is the fact that I actually bought the issue. Ugh.