The Joy of Color.

Posted by Julia on September 29, 2016

An exciting new book is now available at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop: The Joy of Color, by Janine Bajus.

Janine Bajus is a teacher and knitwear designer whose focus is color, especially in stranded colorwork. The Joy of Color is a workshop in a book, demystifying the process of designing a unique fair isle sweater from beginning to end.

Read through The Joy of Color and you’ll learn a bit of history, a bit of technique, terms for describing colors and strategies for combining them. There are amazing book recommendations at the end of each chapter, pointing out lots of great resources for those interested in color theory, fair isle knitting, and design. Bajus also teaches about finding, creating, and arranging colorwork motifs, as well as arranging colors within them.

It’s not a book of patterns, though you’ll see many glorious photos of the garments Bajus’s students have created under her tutelage. More importantly, they each share a bit about the process of creating those garments, from inspiration through swatching to finished sweater.

Look for The Joy of Color on the teacart in the front room, where the newest books and magazines gather to catch your eye and inspire your next project. See you at the shop!

New books for knitters.

Posted by Julia on April 7, 2016

Right as you walk into the shop, you’ll find a small wooden teacart, though you may not recognize it as such. We’ve disguised it by keeping it piled high with the newest books and magazines, along with the ever present swift and ballwinder. The past few weeks have brought a variety of new books to the teacart, from the silly to the serious.

Knit Superheroes is Rebecca Danger’s newest book of knitted toys, a collection of caped, masked creatures with lots of personality. Each critter can be made in either fingering weight or worsted weight yarns, depending upon how large a super-raccoon you intend to create.

On the more serious side is Elizabeth Doherty’s Top Down: Reimagining Set-In Sleeve Design, which is both a collection of attractive sweater patterns and a designer’s reference book on this rather specific subject.

I’ve always been fond of knitting books with an abundance of technical information, as I like how seriously they take their subject, and the promise of learning something new. This one is here to present practical methods for perfectly-fitting set-in sleeves, for those who prefer the seamless top-down approach to sweater knitting.

Another designer’s reference now in stock is Kate Atherley’s Beginner’s Guide to Writing Knitting Patterns, which is exactly what it sounds like. Pick this one up if you’d like to try your hand at pattern-writing, or for some insight into all the hard work that goes into designing, writing, editing, and publishing knitting patterns.

Look for these and other new books on the teacart here at the shop! See you there.

The Knitsonik Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook.

Posted by Julia on May 1, 2015

Meet Felicity Ford’s Knitsonik Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook. This special book is not a collection of patterns, but rather a manifesto on design.

Within it, Felicity Ford shares her particular system of translating inspiring images into colorwork knitting, from selecting colors and designing charts to swatching, evaluating your swatches, and applying your designs to knitted garments.

This is a beautiful book, and one about which you may already have heard rave reviews. When it first came out, Kate Davies did a lovely write-up on her blog, as did Clara Parkes and Ysolda Teague. All three are in agreement: Ford’s Sourcebook is an inspiring one because it is so particular to its author. It’s an interesting and galvanizing read, one that had me itching to pull out my colored pencils and Knitter’s Graph Paper Journal, and dive headfirst into a basket of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift.

The Knitsonik Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook began as a Kickstarter project, with designer Felicity Ford seeking crowd-funding to self-publish the book. Though the subject and her approach are somewhat esoteric, Ford found many supporters, making the book a resounding success. We’re proud to stock it here at the shop, and in fact, are on our third reorder.

Look for The Knitsonik Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook on the teacart, amongst the latest books and magazines, and look to our class listings for more opportunities to learn about stranded colorwork. See you at the shop!

Knitting Pattern Essentials.

Posted by Julia on July 8, 2013

Sally Melville’s latest book has arrived.

Knitting Pattern Essentials is a comprehensive guide to sweater construction that teaches how to draft and modify knitting patterns. Melville covers the basic elements of knitted garments, different hemlines, necklines, sleeves, sides, and shoulders, then talks about how to combine them or alter them to suit your preferences.

From there, Melville gets into the fine points of sweater design, the parts that for some, can be most intimidating: doing the math, and translating the numbers into directions for creating knitted fabric.

Any knitters out there who are interested in sweater design will find a lot to chew on in Knitting Pattern Essentials. Come by the shop to check it out, and get it at 15% off if you come in during our Annual Inventory Sale!