Observations

I remember an interview with the editor of Vogue Knitting last year where she explained that VK appealed to an older, sophisticated knitter with significant resources to devote to luxury yarns. The subtext of the question, I thought, was how is VK faring given the soaring success of Interweave Knits since blogger Eunny took the helm? (As a long time VK devotee and new supporter of IK I was keen to read her response.) The subtext of the answer was essentially, VK isn't trying to appeal to the knitters that IK is attracting (ie. the younger knit blogging and blog reading community.)

How interesting then yesterday to see VK feature on its Fall '08 cover, the design work of blogger extraordinaire Brooklyn Tweed and its cover story be that of knitting mittens. (Mittens typically don't spring to mind as the stuff of the uber sophisticate do they?)

If I'm not mistaken and I could well be but I think VK has also moved its newsstand date up into the first week of August, beating IK into the market by 10 days or so.

Then yesterday, a few days? after the release of the Fall VK previews on line I receive a e-notice from IK offering a free pattern on line for fingerless mitts (what a coincidence!) as well as featuring already published patterns for two other fingerless designs.

I see VK acting via its traditional print medium. IK is reacting on line.

If VK is squaring off against IK for readership, its nothing but good news for knitters, our favoured designers and their featured yarns.

If you're in the market to knit anything for your hands this fall and winter you already see what I mean!