Tag Archives: books

Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide No. 4: Log Cabin.

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The fourth installment of the Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide series is here! Let’s take a peek inside.

Ann Shayne and Kaye Gardiner’s series of Field Guides are pocket-sized booklets focused on a particular theme or knitting technique. The theme here is Log Cabin, a motif you may recognize from quilting. In knitting, it’s a modular technique that builds one square or rectangle at a time from the center out, picking up stitches along one edge of the last piece that was knitted.

Ann and Kay offer what they call “instructions on how to improvise,” a variety of log cabin constructions, along with a few patterns making use of the technique.

Ann Weaver’s “Ninepatch Blanket” is knit with Berroco Ultra Alpaca, an old faithful of our worsted weight section here at the shop, though we have many solid blanket-making contenders.

Look for the Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide No. 4 here at the shop! See you there.

Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide No. 3: Wild Yarns.

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The third installment of the Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide series is here, and going fast! Let’s take a peek inside.

Ann Shayne and Kaye Gardiner’s series of Field Guides are pocket-sized booklets focused on a particular theme or knitting technique. The first two featured musings on stripes and fair-isle knitting, respectively, but this third is all about yarn.

Specifically, Wild Yarns is about those beautiful skeins of hand-dyed yarn that can be unpredictable on the needles. How will those tempting colors play out in the fabric, and how best to make use of these special skeins?

Like the Field Guides before it, this third volume has essays from Ann and Kay and three patterns from knitwear designers they’ve brought on to address the Guide’s theme; this one showcases Kirsten Kapur, Diana Walla, and Sue McCain.

Look for the Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide No. 3 here at the shop, where you may well find some wild yarns, as well! See you there.

Inspired by Islay.

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Kate Davies’ newest book is now on our shelves. Let’s take a peek inside Inspired by Islay.

Kate Davies is a knitwear designer and writer who I very much admire, for her traditional-looking, smartly-crafted patterns as well as her academic approach to textiles. Her books are always good reads as well as good knits, putting her work in a larger historical and cultural context, and bursting with glorious photography by her talented partner, Tom Barr. 

The book features a collection of designs inspired, as the title suggests, by the Scottish island of Islay, a place of personal importance to Davies. She also enlisted the help of a geologist, wildlife photographer, and Gaelic heritage consultant, among others, to paint a rich portrait of the island. Read more about the fascinating process behind the book on Davies’ blog.

Look for Inspired by Islay on the teacart here at the shop. We also keep Davies’ other titles in stock: The Book of Haps, Buachaille, Yokes, and Colors of Shetland.

See you at the shop!

Cocoknits Sweater Workshop.

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Designer Julie Weisenberger of Cocoknits is well known for her cleverly-designed notions as much as for her knitting patterns. Her first book was just published, and we are excited to have it here at the shop. Take a peek inside Cocoknits Sweater Workshop!

In this book, Weisenberger presents her system for custom, tailored sweaters knit seamlessly from the top down.

The Cocoknits Method is, at its core, a system for tracking your progress as you knit, for keeping tabs on the varied increases and decreases that make a top-down sweater fit well. It involves worksheets and color-coded stitch markers, codifying some of the guidance we often give to sweater knitters who want to know how to keep track of all the goings-on.

Cocoknits Sweater Workshop also offers patterns and modifications so you can jump in and knit perfectly-fitting top-down sweaters of your own, along with guidance on what styles and shapes can be flattering and why.

Weisenberger has wisely created a journal of Cocoknits Sweater Worksheets for those that fall in love with her method. The two books make a nice pair, especially for fans of seamless sweater-knitting.

Look for Cocoknits Sweater Workshop and the accompanying worksheet journal on the teacart here at the shop, where the latest publications live. See you there!

Norah Gaughan’s Knitted Cable Sourcebook.

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Here is a book you have probably seen already, one that you may even own already, for we’ve sold out and reordered it many times since its initial publication last October. It was selling quickly enough that I waited to buy my own copy until our supply steadied, so though I’ve admired it for months, I’ve only recently sat down and spent time with this beautiful book. Here’s Norah Gaughan’s Knitted Cable Sourcebook, a compendium of cable stitch patterns, garments, and wisdom.

In this book, designer Norah Gaughan introduces over 150 cable stitch patterns with both written and charted instructions, all of which are lovingly photographed by the talented Jared Flood. The book itself is a thing of beauty, but beautiful as it is, the contents of this tome are the star, no matter the packaging.

Gaughan has devised a Stockinette Stitch Equivalent for each of these motifs, a way of saying how many stockinette stitches it would take to make the same width as the cable in question. This allows you to substitute one cable for another with ease, and also to add cables to a plain garment without letting the naturally-smaller gauge of cable patterns mess with the overall size of the piece. Gaughan clearly describes this system and how to use it towards the beginning of the book, where she also lays out hints for chart-reading, yarn choice, symbols and terminology. Don’t miss the troubleshooting section either, from which Karen Templer of Fringe Association pulled a real gem.

There are patterns for cabled garments, too, if design isn’t your thing. From pullovers and cardigans to ponchos and skirts, Gaughan has put her cable patterns to good and interesting use. In short, if you are at all interested in cable knitting or design, you should take a look at Norah Gaughan’s Knitted Cable Sourcebook. Find it on the teacart here at the shop!

Two tried and true knitting resources.

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A heavy box came this week, filled with books. Not exciting new pattern collections, not hot off the presses – each of these titles was first published 15 years ago. These are the tried and true knitting resources we use and recommend again and again, some of our humblest bestsellers.

365 Knitting Stitches A Year is a perpetual calendar. It lists only dates, with no days of the week, so you can use it for years on end. Ours has been sitting on the desk at the shop since we opened our doors, and one of my opening-time rituals is flipping the page and seeing what the day’s featured stitch pattern is. Today, it was good old reverse stockinette stitch, a simple one, though it is often the cause of a certain lightbulb moment for new knitters – knits look like purls on the back, and vice versa!

We often turn to our perpetual calendar when we’re swatching new yarns or creating shop samples. It provided the stitch pattern for “Sherri’s Cowl,” and also for our sample scarf in Swans Island Natural Colors Merino Fingering.

The other book in this order is Nancie Wiseman’s Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques, a practical resource for seaming, blocking, picking up stitches, buttonholes, weaving in ends, and more.

Each time I prepare to sew a seam, and especially as I prepare to guide another knitter through their first seam, I pull out this book to refresh my memory. The diagrams are clear, the text is thorough, and I feel I’m in good hands with Wiseman’s instructions.

Look for these and plenty of other resources here at the shop, where we love our books almost as much as our yarn. See you there!

Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide No. 2: Fair Isle.

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The second installment of the Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide series is here, and going fast! Let’s take a peek inside.

Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner are the knitters, designers, and writers behind Mason-Dixon Knitting, a long-running blog that has evolved into an online community and growing list of publications. Their latest endeavor is the Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guides, pocket-sized booklets focused on a particular knitting technique, featuring the approachable patterns and humorous musings these two are known for.

Fair isle knitting is a favorite technique of mine, and Anne’s, too; if you’re intrigued, this little book is a fine and friendly introduction. It features three patterns, one of which is a cozy colorwork pullover in Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, pictured above. Below, another of our favorite yarns is put to good work in a colorwork cowl and hat: Swans Island All American Sport.

Come by the shop to pick up the Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide No. 2!

Capsule, by Michele Wang for Brooklyn Tweed.

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The latest book from Brooklyn Tweed has landed here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! Take a peek inside Capsule, by Michele Wang.

Michele Wang designed this collection of garments and accessories with loungewear in mind, the kind of cozy, wearable knits one might fantasize about curling up in all winter. Like so many of Wang’s patterns for Brooklyn Tweed yarns, these are intricate and deeply-textured, designed with great attention to detail.

Now that we carry Brooklyn Tweed yarns, I’m happy to report that you can find most of the yarns featured in these patterns here at the shop. Four of these designs call for Shelter, Brooklyn Tweed’s worsted weight, woolen-spun Targhee-Columbia wool, which we currently have in every available color.

The same can be said of Loft, Shelter’s fingering weight counterpart, used in two of these patterns. The remainder are knit in Quarry, a bulky weight that we don’t currently stock; we’re happy to help you find a proper substitute if you fall for one of the Quarry designs.

Look for Michele Wang’s Capsule on the teacart here at the shop, surrounded by other Brooklyn Tweed books and the latest publications. We’re also expecting a Capsule trunk show later in the year, something to look forward to! In the meantime, see you at the shop.

Back in stock: Schoolhouse Press.

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Every so often we find ourselves running low on books or patterns from Schoolhouse Press, and when it’s time to reorder, Anne and I love checking their website for a new book or pattern that we might bring in along with our old favorites.

We had run out of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s classic “Adult, Baby and Child’s Surprise Jacket” pattern, along with her grandson Cully Swansen’s The Complete Surprise. The first two volumes of Barbara Walker’s treasuries had sold out over the holidays, as had Mary Rowe’s book of fair isle tams. All of those had to come home to our shelves, but we wanted a little something new, too.

This new-to-us issue of Wool Gathering caught our eye, perhaps because of the fair isle that we love so well. These 8 hats are knit in a variety of gauges and styles, all cleverly designed by Meg Swansen and her late mother, Elizabeth Zimmermann. Look for them in our Schoolhouse Press pattern binder, by the front window.

We try to keep most, if not all, of Zimmermann’s books in stock here at the shop, along with a variety of other Schoolhouse Press publications. Come by the shop to browse them all!

CoopKnits Socks Yeah! Volume One.

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Rachel Coopey’s newest book has been out a few weeks now, and selling quickly here at the shop. We’ve got a stack of copies on the teacart again, so I figured it’s time to give it a proper introduction here on the blog. Let’s take a peek inside CoopKnits Socks Yeah! Volume One.

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Coopey is a prolific designer, seeming never to run out of fresh ideas for sock patterns in particular. This collection features patterns for Coopey’s own yarn, CoopKnits Socks Yeah!, and is sure to keep any sock-knitter interested, with techniques from lace and cables to colorwork and stripes.

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Coopey combines colors playfully, bringing unexpected colors together to great effect, no doubt enjoying the newly expanded palette of colors in Socks Yeah! – also freshly stocked here at the shop.

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Come by the shop to page through this fun new book, and pick up a few skeins of Socks Yeah! for your next pair. Also check out Marsha’s upcoming class on “Coraline,” one of the cutest patterns of the bunch! Head to our Classes page to sign up.

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See you at the shop!