Knitting

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Knitter’s Magazine to Cease Publication

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Knitters magazine ceases publication.A note from Benjamin Levisay, CEO of XRX, Inc., says that the 32-year-old Knitter’s magazine has ceased publication with its Winter 2016 issue.

The magazine published 125 issues, but Levisay says they have stopped producing it because of financial strain based on “the major shift in the marketplace from paid-print to free-digital content [that] required different approaches” to publishing. He says “key members of our publishing team” recently retired, allowing the company to shift focus to its fiber-related events (the company puts on the STITCHES shows), the “occasional” book and a new online experience.

Our newest “pub” will be on-line, free, and cross-craft, extending beyond knit, crochet, and other fiber and fabric crafts—creating a space big enough for all we love to do, all we love to make. We’re cycling back to our beginnings with energy, passion, and, we hope, you.

It’s unfortunate to see traditional publishers close down publications and have to shift focus, but it seems inevitable in the current environment where so much is available for free or individual patterns are so easy to purchase online.

What do you think? Did you subscribe to Knitter’s? I’d love to know your thoughts.

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Comments

  1. I am not surprised. It was a vibrant and interesting magazine that published lots of innovative, fun, and wearable patterns. However it transformed over time into a one-voice trumpet. I am sad to see the demise of an outlet for designers’ work, but I do note that there hasn’t been something in Knitters I personally wanted to knit in over 8 years.

  2. I canceled my subscription about two years into Rick Mondragon’s mandate. I started buying the odd edition but have never liked it enough to subscribe again. Since then so many good resources have come available that I didn’t miss it. They needed to retool to stay relevant.

  3. I cancelled my subscription about 2 years ago. I started collecting in the 90s, but eventually found their focus changed to more “scrappy” projects. I wouldn’t make enough out of the magazines to justify buying it, and wasn’t getting inspired by the rest of the content.

    I also really enjoyed going to the Stitches events, but since they moved the venues far from me, I haven’t pursued them either.

    It is a shame that such a legacy will be gone, though. They published some great patterns in their day and solid tutorials, which are still relevant today.

  4. The magazine got really uninteresting after Mondragon’s seat at the head of the editorial table. Cancelled my subscription several years ago. Vogue Knitting got better and better and Knitters got worse and worse. Nothing in it that I remotely wanted to knit.

Have you read?

Add a Little Lace to Your Knitting Patterns

If you’re new to lace knitting or just aren’t sure how to incorporate the technique into garments, check out these tops and sweaters that use lace as a decorative element.

The easiest lace out there is eyelets, and you can practice them plenty with this eyelet covered sweater from Knitcro Addict. It uses light/DK weight yarn and is worked in four pieces knit flat. It’s intended to be a little cropped and a little oversized, and includes sizes XS to XXL in the pattern.

If you’re in parts of the world where it’s getting colder as you read this, the Nora sweater from Bummbul might be a good choice. This is actually a great one for learning lace because it’s worked in super bulky yarn, which makes it easier to see what you’re doing and makes the lace super graphic. This one just comes in one size, with a 42 inch (106) cm bust, but that could fit a variety of people depending on how much ease you like.

Minimi Knit Design has a cute allover lace cardigan worked in one piece from the bottom up. It’s worked in lace weight mohair held double, which maybe isn’t the best for those new to lace (because it can be hard to rip out) but it sure is pretty. Sizes range to fit from 30 to 66 inches/76 to 168 cm bust measurements.

If you’d rather not have lace all over your sweater, you can knit the Lumi sweater from Originally Lovely, which has a chevron lace pattern on the yoke and is otherwise worked in reverse stockinette stitch. (It’s worked inside out so you don’t have to purl every stitch.) The pattern has 9 sizes from XS to 5XL and uses worsted weight yarn.

Or try the super romantic sookie blouse from Trust the mojo (available on Ravelry). This sweet top is started working flat from the bottom up and has a V-neck and I-cord edgings. The sleeves are worked separately in the round, and the pieces are all joined together to work in one piece to finish off the top. It comes in eight sizes and is available in English and French.

You can also pair lacy sleeves with an otherwise plain top, like on the Starflower Wrap from Annelise Driscoll Gingrow. This intermediate pattern makes a wrap sweater with generous lacy sleeves and a double wrap belt. The pattern has nine sizes, from XS to 5XL, and is available for free from Hobbi.