Debbie Bliss Magazine

The weekend at the cottage was rainy and dark and awash with incandescent light. Without screens (TV/computer/cell phones/pagers) to distract, everyone tends to sit together reading the paper, plucking out tunes on the guitar, chatting about the events of the past week and plans for the one ahead. With the sound of the rain on the roof there can also be the odd nap as well! Its a great atmosphere in which to knit with enough distraction to keep me going when I might otherwise get up and do something else. (I find this a problem when I'm trying to get into a project or a pattern, as I was in this instance, with Honeycomb.)



I also had the Premier Issue of the new Debbie Bliss knitting magazine with me and I finally had a chance to look through it in some depth. I always think premier issues offer the purest expression of the editor's intended look and feel before its affected by sales trends and advertising so I was keen to see what Ms Bliss would include.

This is the first magazine dedicated to the work of a single designer and her yarns I've seen. Its like a book of designs at a vastly reduced price. I like this because I only buy books that I think I will make numerous things from and I rarely find this to be the case with books filled with 15 patterns for sweaters for adult females following the fashion trends of a given year.

The look of the mag is very evocative of early Martha Stewart; clean, pure and brilliantly photographed. For me,professional models facilitate considering the pattern (I know my body type is nothing like theirs and their shape and size neutralizes their impact on the garment. They don't distract. I find the models in Vogue Knitting to be so high fashion they overpower the sweaters - I often put sticky notes over their faces when trying to judge the merits of a pattern! Interweave doesn't seem to be consistently able to find models the same size as the knitted samples. As in other mags I long for shots of the back of the piece and as in other mags they are sorely absent here. I want to see how the thing fits/drapes across the back without having to flip back to the pattern schematics and guess.*

The patterns are all quite beautiful and seem to be designed to look good without the addition of belts (what is up with that in the current VK?). None of the designs are named but this link features a slide show of the design contents. I am personally in love with many of the patterns but the cabled peplum jacket in Rialto - nice shot of the back of that one - is the clear winner. A close second is the Fair Isle purse that uses an extra long zipper for the handle as well as to allow for making the sides of the bag wider or more narrow. Frankly though I'm most likely to actually make the Green Rialto DK wrap style vest. The baby knits in the book are stunning as always with DB.


My teen aged daughter cannot abide the contents of virtually any collection of knitted patterns I've ever showed her. (I think I may have pushed hand knits onto her a bit too hard in her pre school years.) But she actually expressed interest in the moss stitch jacket/cardigan in Donegal Chunky Tweed!

My bottom line on this magazine is I'm glad to have it in my collection and I'll be looking forward to the second edition next spring.

*Afterthought Note...
I just found this link - now this is what's I'm talking about when I say I want to see how the piece works and fits!