Above: Fashion Editor Misty Gunn says good-bye to Adina at her final Vogue Knitting photo shoot.

You don’t have to monitor knitting trends as closely as I do to notice that there are fewer novelty yarns in local yarn shops. This season’s focus is on classic natural fibers in all the colors of the rainbow. As a painter (though a frustrated one—who has the time?), I am always drawn to the richest, most saturated hues in the yarn companies’ color-card books and on the shelves of every knitting shop I visit. And touch: I am as enamored of the softest merinos as I am of more traditional wools with their “toothy” feel. And don’t get me started on luxury fibers: cashmere, baby camel, silk, alpaca...Yum.

This issue is packed with projects that celebrate these fabulous fibers and what knitters do with them. The eight breathtaking shawls in ”Ocean View” are the perfect canvas for hand-painted yarns. “Oh...Cables!” updates traditional Arans. “Built for Tweed” showcases shaping techniques in not-so-neutral neutrals. I want to make every project in “Brights...Camera...Action!”: Although I wear black 99 percent of the time, I like how these projects look so crisp and fresh (especially next to black). Who doesn’t need a little perking up in the middle of winter?

As the weather gets colder and the knitting season heats up, I am often invited to speak to various groups and guilds up and down the eastern seaboard. Late last year Executive Editor Carla Scott, Yarn Coordinator Tanis Gray and I traveled to the Creativ Needlework Festival in Toronto. My usual spiel at these types of appearances is a PowerPoint presentation (actually, it’s now a new superfancy version called Keynote) of the current issues of our magazines. As I flip through the ../images, I pepper my monologue with anecdotes from the photo shoots (try photographing shawls on the beach with hurricane-force winds practically sending the models airborne). I can always count on at least one memorable scenario or crisis that makes for a good story long after the fact.

Above: A coquettish racer hat by Tanis Gray recalls the great big-screen gamines. It’s knit in three pieces with Knit One, Crochet Too’s “Temptation” and sewn up with a row of double crochet, which also edges the brim in matching color-blocks. Click here for the racer hat pattern.

I will remember this issue as the last one I worked on with beloved Fashion Editor Misty Gunn, who moved to Boston a few months ago to pursue a career in fashion merchandising. We worked together very closely over a hectic two-year period, choosing trends, picking projects, styling fashion shoots in 100 degree weather, and freezing our rears off as well. As the big EIC, I get all the glory and my picture on the editor’s page, but this time I wanted to share it with Misty, who had everything to do with the beautiful issue you have in your hands.