Catch up with Vogue Knitting in Chicago or Charlotte

Vogue Knitting has been putting on knitting conferences complete with classes, a marketplace, fashion shows and other crafty events for a couple of years now, and they look like an awful lot of fun. Registration recently opened for the fall event in Chicago, which will be taking place October 26-28 at the glorious Palmer House Hilton in Chicago (man, would I love to go to that one!).

There will be classes by a ton of your favorite knitters, from Nancy Bush to Melissa Leapman, Ysolda Teague to Deborah Newton, Debbie Bliss to Erika Knight. Classes by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Lily Chin and John Brinegar, who I am ashamed to admit I’d never heard of til just now. The gala dinner features a speech by Debbie Macomber.

You can attend just the markeplace for one day for $15 or pile on the classes, lectures, parties and swag with a package topping out at almost $800. (There’s a $100 discount running now, so if you know you want to go, get in there.)

VK also recently annouced what is being billed as a “pop up show” that will be part of the Southern Women’s Show in Charlotte, N.C., which runs September 20-23. Teachers there will include Nicky Epstein, Mary Beth Temple, VK editor Trisha Malcolm and Knit Simple editor Carla Scott. Registration for this one will open soon; register for the newsletter at the VK Live site to get all the updates.

Have you ever been to a Vogue Knitting Live event? Spill it!

[Photo by Vogue Knitting Live.]

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Beautiful people and beautiful sweaters combine in Lasse L. Matberg’s Viking Knits. The book includes more than 40 Scandinavian inspired knits for men, women and children featuring textured stitches and colorwork.

Matberg is known as The Viking and has worked as a chef, naval officer, fitness instructor and model, as well as being on a couple of reality TV shows. He comes from a long line of makers and his book was first published in Norwegian in 2021 and has since come out in an English version.

The book is divided into sections including everyday sweaters, knits for the great outdoors, stylish knitwear, Norse sweaters and accessories. Some of the patterns use the same designs in different versions for men, women and children. I counted seven projects rated for beginners, 19 for intermediate knitters and 17 for experienced knitters. The more difficult patterns tend to have allover colorwork or stitch patterning.

The pattern stitches and colorwork are shown in charts, with a little bit of text to tell you how to make the garment. Most of the book is sweaters, but there are also hats (sometimes coordinating with sweaters), scarves and a couple of sitting mats.

You can check out all the patterns on Ravelry. Some of my favorites are the more basic ones, such as the Power Sweater, a close-fitting (sized for men) ribbed sweater; the Heart Sweater, a raglan with allover lice stitch; and the Midsummer Sweater, with textured stripes and a henley neckline. I also like the Breeze designs (there are versions for men, women and children) that have colorwork diamonds on them.

Sizing on the garments varies, but there are six sizes for the men’s patterns (noted as small through XXL and then Lasse sized), six for women (XS to XL) and three for children (age 2-4, 6-8 and 10-12).

The yarns used in the book aren’t available in the United States but you can find suppliers here if you want to use the same yarns. Otherwise the book gives a lot of details about yarn content and gauge so you should be able to find good substitutes wherever you live.

If you have Norwegian or Scandinavian heritage or just like the look of cozy textured or colorful sweaters, this book is a lot of fun, and the eye candy is pretty great, too.

About the book: 192 pages, hardcover, 43 patterns. Published in English in 2023 by Search Press. Suggested retail price $29.95.

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