There is something about the way Rowan organizes their sweater designs into “stories” that I find very pleasing. I’m not a collector, let me repeat, not a collector of Rowan magazines. In fact, I only have four, and I can count the number of patterns I’ve knit from them on one hand. Ah, but I do love looking at them. Sumptuous. That’s the only way to describe their styling.
Rowan 44 is packed with more than 60 new designs, features the work of their standard cadre of designers – Kaffe Fassett, Jean Moss, Kim Hargreaves, Martin Storey, et al – and it celebrates 30 years of Rowan designs from the last 43 magazines. It’s out two weeks early this year, so it’s still not on the website, but I’ve seen it t my local, and it’s lush.
I’ve been saying for the past year that intarsia is on the way back in, and I love it when I’m right. I’m actually kind of glad to see it again, as I was such a new knitter in the 80’s that I missed it. I’m happy to have the chance to learn it now.
Rowan’s always cutting-edge color palette means that even if their designs from past years do look a little dated, their sweaters somehow manage to come out the other side. Worn with aplomb, they simply look like you meant to knit them that way.