Tag Archives: isager

New books.

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Here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, we unpack boxes of books and magazines almost as often as boxes of yarn. New patterns and writing on knitting and crocheting are part of what keeps us inspired, and gives us new ideas. Here are a some of the books that have found a home on our shelves lately.

We’ve gotten a couple of new books on crochet from Interweave: Crochet Loom Blooms, which shows how to use a flower loom and even includes a starter loom, and Crochet Kaleidoscope, which focuses on colorful motifs for building blankets, table runners, pillows, and more.

Joanne Scrace and Kat Goldin’s latest is in, too – The Shawl Project: Book Three.

Alice Starmore’s newest book, Glamourie, is a decadent flight of knitterly fancy, a collection of costumes and knitwear inspired by Gaelic folklore.

We’re happy to have this one back in print and back in stock after a long absence – Susie Haumann’s All You Knit is Love is full of baby knits in Isager yarns, ranging from rustic to fanciful.

Come by the shop to browse our latest acquisitions along with older titles, we have a big collection of books on hand covering a variety of projects, techniques, styles, and levels of experience. See you at the shop!

New patterns for Isager yarns.

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Along with new yarn came new patterns from Isager.

This spring collection features Bomulin and Japansk Bomuld, a light fingering weight cotton/linen blend and a lace weight cotton tape, respectively.

Sometimes they are used individually, sometimes together.

All of these patterns come from Danish designers Marianne Isager, Annette Danielson, and Mette Winge.

Look for these patterns and others in our Isager pattern binder, which is bursting with interesting designs for these special yarns. See you at the shop!

Hello, Isager Japansk Bomuld.

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Meet Japansk Bomuld, our second new arrival from Isager!

Japansk Bomuld is a lustrous lace weight cotton tape, with 344 yards per 50 gram ball.

Marsha kindly knit a swatch for us in a range of needle sizes, showing how it behaves in stockinette stitch – look for it in the basket with the yarn. Swatches like these are just a starting place, a bit of fabric for one’s mind to extrapolate from.

The fabric relaxed considerably with washing, and the fine gauge, while lovely on its own, suggests the many possibilities for yarn mixing. Imagine Japansk Bomuld knit with Isager Alpaca 1, Spinni, or even Shibui Silk Cloud!

We have a few new patterns for Japansk Bomuld, from Danish designers Annette Danielson and Mette Winge – more on those soon. Also consider Churchmouse’s striped variation on their “Alexandra’s Airplane Scarf,” which makes good use of this special yarn.

Look for more pattern inspiration on our Lace weight Pinterest board, and come by the shop to see Japansk Bomuld itself!

Hello, Isager Bomulin.

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February has just begun, but new Spring yarns are already beginning to arrive here at the shop. Two have come from Isager, in Denmark – let’s begin with Bomulin.

Bomulin is a light fingering weight blend of 65% cotton and 35% linen, with 231 yards per 50 gram ball.

Plant fibers like these have little elasticity and a lot of drape, making them perfect for spring shawls and scarves, or loose-fitting warm-weather garments.

Anne is knitting a tank with two strands of Bomulin held together, Marianne Isager’s “Braided Top.” The construction on this piece is unexpected, and worth a closer look; come by to see Anne’s work in progress and she’ll tell you all about it.

Look for pattern ideas on our Fingering weight Pinterest board, and come by the shop to browse new Isager patterns for Bomulin. See you at the shop!

Favorite posts of 2017.

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As 2017 winds down and a new year begins tomorrow, I’m looking back on another year of blogging for the Hillsborough Yarn Shop – my eighth. Taking the photos and writing the text that fill these posts is one of the great pleasures of my work here at the shop, and I’m always so pleased to hear that people enjoy reading along. Let’s look back together, then, and I’ll share a few of my favorite posts and memories of the year.

Hello, Brooklyn Tweed: We were beyond excited to introduce Brooklyn Tweed yarns to our shop this year, and honestly the excitement hasn’t yet worn off! I knit a hat and a sweater in Shelter, another hat in Arbor, a scarf in Quarry, and still when I daydream about future projects, I’m daydreaming about Brooklyn Tweed yarns.

What’s winding: This little post about a bit of furniture rearranging in the front room of the shop turns out to be among my favorites this year. Our dedicated yarn-winding station has an old table at its foundation, one that belonged to Anne’s mother, so I often think of her as I wind yarn, and how everyday objects can be imbued with such meaning.

Ase Lund Jensen: Marianne Isager’s tribute to her mentor is a beautiful book of knitting history as well as knitting patterns, one I devoured in a single sitting and will surely return to for inspiration. The newest Isager yarn is named for the subject of this book, Danish designer Ase Lund Jensen, and it’s one of my favorite yarns to arrive at the shop this year.

Akerworks Swatch Gauge: This clever tool helps to measure gauge, and while it’s perfectly possible to do so without it, I’m happier with this little gadget in my toolkit. It encourages larger swatches and hands-off measuring, for honest swatching and garments that come out the right size.

Knitting Comfortably: Carson Demers’ book on the ergonomics of handknitting has already changed the way I knit, and I intend to continue my study of it well into the new year, practicing healthier ways of moving my hands and positioning my body to minimize the risk of injury as best I can. We quickly sold out of our first order, just as Demers sold out of his first edition, but fear not – our next batch of this popular book will likely arrive in January!

Thank you so much, dear readers, for spending time with us at the shop and on the blog. We appreciate your support and look forward to starting new projects in 2018 – happy new year to you!

Pom Pom Quarterly: Winter 2017.

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The Winter 2017 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly is here!

Patterns in this issue are inspired by geometric and geologic forms, which these designers have interpreted using a variety of techniques.

The beautiful cover sweater is made with Isager Highland, and the graphic hat below is made with Brooklyn Tweed Arbor.

Pom Pom columnist Anna Maltz shares her thoughts on the endless variety that makes up the world of knitting – so many ways to do each and every technique, so many differing approaches and attitudes towards every aspect of the craft, and none of them wrong.

“It’s easy to default into thinking other people know better,” she writes. “If you find yourself heading that way, stop and acknowledge that what you know has value. … The important thing is to feel satisfied.” This sentiment resonates with me, and it’s one I try to summon as I answer common yarn shop questions like, “Which needle is better?” or “Do I have to rip this out?” or “What’s the best way to cast on?”

Pom Pom is always as full of good reading as it is eye candy – another essay shares strategies for color selection, and their recipe this issue is a tantalizingly colorful winter salad.

Look for this issue of Pom Pom on the teacart here at the shop, which is brimming with new books and magazines. See you there!

New from Cocoknits.

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Cocoknits is the brainchild of Julie Weisenberger, a knitwear designer and purveyor of high quality tools for knitters. She’s carefully developed notions that are as nice to use as they are to look at.

Her foam Stitch Stoppers are the best point protectors we’ve seen, and since they first appeared last year, they quickly replaced any other kind we used to stock at the shop. No longer are the small and large sizes sold separately; now each pack comes with Stoppers for a range of needle sizes from US 0-15, and you can choose from Colorful or Neutral.

Even more exciting is a brand new product from Cocoknits, a Natural Mesh Bag to hold your yarn as you work.

The Natural Mesh Bag does the job of a yarn bowl, protecting your yarn from rolling about, keeping it safe and sound. Unlike a yarn bowl, however, this bag is lightweight, flexible, and easy to throw into a knitting tote to travel with you. It can sit open or you can snap up the top. Here it is in action, holding my Isager Jensen Yarn as I work on my “Summer Fog” vest, a sample for the shop.

Anne keeps her Shibui Birch in a Natural Mesh Bag as she’s knitting her “Icon” wrap. Just ask her and she’ll be happy to put it in your hands so you can see what it’s like out of its box. Look for them near the Cocoknits Sweater Care Kit in the front room, near the ballwinder – see you there!

Hello, Isager Jensen Yarn.

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A brand new yarn has arrived from Isager in Denmark! Meet Jensen Yarn.

Jensen Yarn is named for Danish knitwear designer Ase Lund Jensen, the subject of Marianne Isager’s latest book. It’s a DK weight wool sourced and spun entirely in Denmark, with about 275 yards on each 100 gram skein.

Jensen Yarn is smooth and round, which will give excellent stitch definition for texture and cable patterns. Wooly and toothsome, Jensen Yarn is not the softest fiber in our shop, but it’s sturdy and full of character, sure to wear well for years to come. I can’t wait to work with it!

Look for pattern ideas on our “DK weight” Pinterest board, and look for Jensen Yarn in the DK weight section here at the shop!

Ase Lund Jensen.

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Marianne Isager’s newest book is here, and it is a beauty! Let’s look inside ALJ: Ase Lund Jensen – a Danish knitwear designer.

As its title suggests, ALJ is a tribute to Danish knitwear designer Ase Lund Jensen, a pioneer in textile arts from the late 1950’s until her death in 1977. Jensen recognized a talent for design in young Marianne Isager, and it’s Jensen’s yarn company and workshop that Isager built into what we know today as Isager yarns.

Jensen designed impeccably tailored knits, studied traditional textiles of Greenland and Denmark, and had a fondness for muted shades that couldn’t be satisfied by the yarn manufacturers of the day. Working with a Danish mill, she developed a color palette informed and inspired by natural, plant-based dyes, a palette that Marianne Isager has grown but never strayed from.

The book also includes a great many patterns for sweaters, accessories, and a few home goods, designed by Jensen, Marianne and Helga Isager, and Annette Danielson, all knit with Isager yarns.

Along with a biography of Ase Lund Jensen, there are also articles on the history of knitting, and political knitting in particular.

A copy of ALJ came home with me as soon as it arrived at the shop, and I loved learning more about Danish textile history in general and Jensen and Isager in particular.

Look for ALJ on the teacart here at the shop, where the latest books and magazines mingle. We have more news from Isager coming in the next few blog posts, so keep an eye out, or come straight to the shop to see it all for yourself!

Show and tell: lace.

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We always love to see what you’re making with HYS yarns, and I love to take photos of your finished pieces to share here on the blog. Sifting through the many delightful show-and-tell photos I’ve accumulated, I noticed a group of projects with a technique in common: lace.

Margaretta has a fondness for lace-knitting, and has completed two lace shawls recently. The one above is “Arlington,” by Emily Ross, knit with Shibui Staccato.

The pattern is easy to modify for the stockinette-to-lace ratio of your choosing, and Margaretta opted for a lace-heavy version, with stunning results.

Above is Margaretta’s most recent finished piece, “Your Ice Cream Shawl,” knit with the new and exciting Brooklyn Tweed Vale.

Two of our teachers have been working with lace, too. Below is Amy’s “Stone Point” poncho, knit with the Fibre Company’s new yarn, Luma. She’s in the midst of teaching a class on the subject, so we expect to see more “Stone Point” ponchos in the coming months, knit by her students! In the meantime, look for this one on display here at the shop.

Robin has a lace class coming up this fall, featuring Lisa Hannes’ “Laurelie,” a two-color shawl with lace and mosaic motifs.

Her “Laurelie” is made with Plymouth Happy Feet and Isager Merilin, a marriage of two yarns alike in gauge, but different in fiber content. They play well together in the finished piece; look for it on the wall here at the shop, and head to our Classes page to sign up for the class!

Itching to start a lace project of your own? Brooklyn Tweed is hosting a Summer of Lace Knit-Along, and their blog is full of helpful hints and project ideas. I know some of you are participating, and look forward to seeing your finished pieces!

Thanks to the knitters who shared their work on the blog today. We love seeing what you’re working on, and can’t wait to see what you come up with next. See you at the shop!