Vogue Knitting Just Lost Another Sale

I took my laptop to Barnes and Noble today to get some editing done (somehow I’m more productive when the siren call of the Internet is blocked by lack of access). Naturally, as I met my self-determined goals (slogging through a certain number of pages at a time), I rewarded myself by wandering the store and looking at books and magazines. The new issue of Vogue Knitting (Winter 2007/08) is out, and I settled into a comfy chair to peruse it.

VK is often pretty out there, as far as knitting fashions go -- I know I’m not the chicest person in the world, but sometimes I think that the only people who could possibly pull off some of their designs are runway models in Milan (and I have a hard time imagining any of them sitting down to knit something up). But this issue had some attractive, intriguing, reasonable, and possibly wearable items. Like the Cape Collar Jacket (love the shawl collar) and a cardigan that reminded me a little of the Sunrise jacket (#16 and #17 in the issue -- sorry, can’t find pics online).

And even this (though I think I would try to make the sleeves longer somehow):

Hmm, I thought, maybe I’ll fork over the seven bucks and buy this issue, with an eye toward working on one or two of these in the future. So I flipped to the back of the magazine and looked at the patterns. Want to take a guess at the available sizing on these? If you’re familiar with VK, I bet you already know. The two jackets -- jackets -- top out at a finished bust size of 43 inches. The ribbed top, which claims it’s sized up to size 2X, goes to 44 inches, unstretched (size 1X is 40.5 inches).

I wear a size 16-18, or XL in misses clothing. While I certainly don’t fit the definition of petite, I’m not enormous, either. Rubenesque, you might say, if you’re being flattering. But I’ll tell you that my measured bust size -- which a jacket would need to fit over -- is 48 inches, on a good day. (What is a bad day with regard to bust measurement? Don’t ask.)

I’m not the only one. Ravelry has multiple forums devoted to “fluffy” knitters. Jillian Moreno and Amy Singer wrote Big Girl Knits in an attempt to address this neglected audience, and it’s been extremely successful; in fact, there’s a second version in the works. Yet VK has persisted in purposefully omitting sizes that would fit a not-insignificant portion of the knitting population. Why on earth would a knitting magazine be so consumer-unfriendly? Say what you will about Creative Knitting (I know some aren’t as fond of it as they are of other mags, though I enjoy my subscription), they always include a number of plus-size pattern adjustments in their knitting patterns. How much effort would it take to go up another size -- or even two -- when compared with the overall effort to develop and publish a pattern?

All I know is, Vogue Knitting lost my business today. I suppose I could consider buying the magazine, adjusting the pattern myself, calculating how much extra yarn it would take, and hoping I was right, and then live with the consequences, but when there are so many other flattering alternatives out there that I’m just dying to knit, why would I expend that extra time and energy? I’ll just move on to the next item in my Ravelry queue.

Are you listening, Vogue Knitting?