There’s a New Knitting Magazine in Town
I’m a fan of print. I love niche magazines that take deep dives into specialty topics. I like high quality paper, long articles that reveal great expertise, and well-crafted how-tos.
In the 1990s and 2000s, I devoured every knitting magazine I could get my hands on. Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, Knitters, Knit Simple—I loved them all. When I became the Technical Content Editor at Interweave Knits in 2022, it was my dream job. Over the past decade, all these magazines have been shuttered.
When I heard that a new knitting publication was in the works, I was quick to pre-order. Last week, Issue 1 of Knit Nation landed in my mailbox.
Knit Nation is marketed as a monthly newspaper. It is 24 pages printed not on glossy paper, but on newsprint. It is published by The Kindness Company, whose primary business is the sale of picture books and greeting cards which include patterns to crochet toys based characters featured in the stories. They also publish Crochet Nation, a similar newspaper concept.
What’s Inside?
Issue 1 of Knit Nation contains a total of eight patterns: a pullover, a cowl, two blankets, a pillow, a hat, a pair of mittens, and a pair of fingerless mitts. These patterns feature a variety of basic techniques, including stripes, cables, beads, intarsia, slip stitch, and duplicate stitch.
There are several lengthy articles. They include a discussion of the work of Mary Thomas (a pioneering documentarian of knitting techniques), an exploration of sweaters with cultural significance over the past 100 years, a history of knitting guilds of the 16th century, and a profile of my friend Krista Ann from explorewithknitsy.com.
There are games, puzzles, quizzes, and a knitting horoscope column. There is the first installment of a serialized knitting mystery story. There is even Dear Grandma Ange, an advice column.
What Did I Think?
I’m not the target audience for Knit Nation. The emphasis is on fun and simple. The projects are basic. The pullover pattern is not size-inclusive; it offers five sizes ranging from 40" to 52". The puzzles and games feel like filler to me.
I think for a younger knitter, or a new knitter, Knit Nation could hit the spot. So far, it’s not for me.
Who Wrote That?
In looking through the inaugural issue of Knit Nation, I was surprised to find no masthead. No bylines. No designers credited. The only contributor mentioned is Brittany Smiley, the Editor-in-Chief and the owner of The Kindness Company. What’s up with that?
As a freelance designer, tech editor, and writer, I find this mystifying. I always look for the name of an author or designer. Having been in this business for a long time, I’m always happy to see the work of people I know. A byline also helps me decide how trustworthy an article might be. If a piece is written by an author I’ve come to recognize and respect, I’m far more likely to take it seriously.
Where did these patterns come from? Who wrote these articles and stories? Who drew the illustrations? Was it all generated by AI? A publication that does not credit the creators of its content is problematic, to say the least.
The Bottom Line
The current price of a subscription to Knit Nation is $7.00 per month, with the first issue free. I’ll let my subscription run for a month or two in hopes that the content becomes meatier and the problem with lack of contributor credit is resolved. Smiley and her company deserve applause for launching a new print publication at a time when traditional publishers are struggling to stay afloat.
What would you do if you were given six months to live? Bad Nature, Ariel Courage’s debut novel, has some surprising answers to this question.
Hester is not a kind or generous person. A corporate lawyer in New York, she is wildly successful by most external measures. She makes a lot of money. She owns a condo and drives an E-type Jaguar. But Hester has no friends. She sleeps with a random assortment of men whom she views with contempt.
On her 40th birthday, Hester is diagnosed with an aggressive and terminal case of breast cancer. Her oncologist tells her she has a couple of years to live with treatment, a few months without. Hester chooses to forgo treatment, quit her job, and drive the Jag to the Southwestern desert to murder her long-estranged father.
This novel is the story of Hester’s road trip. Through the mishaps, diversions, and encounters with people met along the way, her tumor (she named it Beryl—sorry
) grows, becomes visible, begins to ooze.Bad Nature follows none of the tropes of white-woman-in-crisis-on-the-road narratives. Hester does not change her ways, find love, or reconcile with her father. The book is a critique of the values of capitalism and individualism. It is a reckoning with the cost of our history of environmental abuse. But this book is not a downer. It is often funny and surprisingly moving. Kudos to Courage for her boldly original tale of a woman who, at mid-life, discovers she was wrong about everything she thought mattered.
The audiobook narration, by Cia Court, is generally terrific. She portrays Hester with a f*ck you tone that feels spot on. Her voices for male characters sometimes slip into caricature.
Some things that caught my eye…
I stumbled across The Colour of Ink on Prime video. This documentary features Jason Logan, an ink maker in Toronto. Logan’s ink is made with ingredients he forages in the wild. We watch him burn, simmer, grind, and mix. We see him play with the liquid color he produces. We follow the ink into the hands of artists around the world. The camera revels in the sensual pleasure of color flowing, blending, and dispersing. I was mesmerized.
As always, thank you for sharing your time and attention with me. Continue the conversation: Have you read Knit Nation? If so, what do you think? If you like it and plan to continue subscribing, I’d love to hear why.
We subscribed to the very same knitting magazines! I first met you, when Benjamin sat me next to you at the head table at the last Stitches South banquet, but have admired your patterns for many years. I still check the periodical section for knitting magazines each time I go shopping, but quilting has taken over. Are there ANY good knitting periodicals remaining in print?
I’m just at the point in knitting where I’m beginning to be able to see garment construction from reading a pattern. When I saw this knitting newspaper, my first question was whether it’s edited by humans. Thanks for mentioning an alternative in the comments! That’s the one I’ll check out instead.