The latest yarn from Isager is here – meet Soft Fine!
Isager Soft Fine:
Isager Soft Fine is very soft indeed, with a fuzzy halo to rival any mohair. It’s composed of a silk core on which a strand of alpaca and yak is added as a loopy bouclé, then finally brushed to make a fluffy yarn.
Whether you use it on its own or carry it along with a heavier yarn, Soft Fine brings luxurious softness to the knitted fabric, which is why the folks at Isager have nicknamed it “Isager’s cashmere.”
Soft Fine reminds me of Fyberspates Cumulus, another brushed alpaca lace weight that substitutes for mohair oh-so-perfectly. I used Cumulus to make an “Oslo Hat – Mohair Edition,” PetiteKnit’s classic folded brim hat – here are some color combinations with that pattern in mind!
Soft Fine is shown here with Alpaca 2, Isager’s beloved fingering weight merino/alpaca blend.
This yarn combination is well-suited to any of the following patterns, as well:
Look for Isager Soft Fine in the lace weight section here at HYS, along with its fuzzy friends: Isager Silk Mohair, Isager Bouclé, Fyberspates Cumulus, Malabrigo Mohair, and Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair!
Another new cotton yarn has arrived at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, just in time for spring and summer knitting. Cotton Supreme Batik, from Universal Yarns, is a machine-washable, worsted-weight, self-striping, and extremely soft cotton. The striping is unusual: the colors don’t exactly fade into one another, it’s more of an abrupt change, but there are little … [more]
Perhaps you remember our Habu cotton, a soft, airy, laceweight boucle yarn that Anne has been using in a striped shawl. Perhaps you remember my promise to post pictures of said shawl soon. I was reminded of this promise when the latest shipment of Habu cotton came in this week, boasting more of all the … [more]
Marianne Isager’s Japanese Inspired Knits is quite possibly the best-selling book in the history of the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. In the two years since it was published, we’ve taught several classes based upon it, carried more and more Isager yarns, and reordered the book countless times. Recently, though, we managed to sell all our copies … [more]
Marion is a hard working knitter. She comes into the shop, settles down in her normal spot on the couch, and spreads out her notes and charts to work on the project in the photo below. This is her Vogue Sleeveless Tunic, knit in Cascade 220 Superwash Sport, a top that will be the focus … [more]
Hand-dyed sock yarn addicts, take note: our Pagewood Farm sock yarn collection is still growing. The other day a box arrived full of Glacier Bay, a 100% superwash merino wool. The yarn is soft but strong, and the colors are vibrant. We’re down to only a few skeins of Pagewood Alyeska, a superwash merino sock … [more]
As new yarns go, Cascade Ultra Pima is not the newest. We got our first few bags of it several months ago now. However, this is such a popular yarn that most of the colors we ordered back then have been backordered until recently. It’s only this week that we’ve begun to see the full … [more]
I was surprised to see a box from Berroco this past week. A box of yarn is no surprise at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, of course, but this particular box made me think to myself: Wait. What did we order from Berroco again? But look what we discovered upon opening said box! Not yarn at all, … [more]
As regulars at the shop are probably already aware, I’ve become preoccupied with knitting socks of late. Since I’m six and a half pairs into my sock knitting career, I thought it might be a good time to share my progress. Ready for some show and tell? Cascade 220 Superwash Sport. Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine. … [more]
We’ve been waiting quite a while for a box from Schaefer Yarns. We’d long ago sold out of their textured worsted weight wool, Nancy, whose colorways are named for memorable women throughout history, the likes of Julia Child, Clara Barton, Renata Tebaldi, and Clare Booth Luce, among many others. On Thursday, the box from Schaefer … [more]
Perhaps if you’ve been in the shop sometime in the past two weeks, you’ve noticed a new little nook I created for locally produced and dyed yarns. The local yarns live in the Noro corner, above the Noro. Here, you’ll find a lone skein of local llama yarn, a bit of handspun, and a sock- … [more]