Westminster Fibers has been bringing American knitters one of my favorite knitting publications, Rowan Magazine, for a while now. So when I heard that one of Rowan’s “sister” companies, Nashua Handknits, had begun publishing its own magazine, I was eager to get my hands on a copy. Although Nashua’s sensibility and overall look is a bit different from Rowan’s English country style, there’s a lot to like about this new magazine.
Nashua Handknits was created in 2005 by Westminster Fibers, the North American distributor for Rowan, RYC, and Regia yarns. (In case you wondering, Westminster also distributes yarn brands beginning with letters other than “R,” such as Gedifra.) Nashua was designed, as creative director Susan Mills puts it, “to provide yarns and designs to fit the lifestyle of the North American knitter.” If Rowan and RYC have a UK or British feel, if Gedifra and Regia reflect a Continental sensibility, then Nashua was meant to play that same role for Canadian and American knitters. Nashua yarns are mainly natural fiber yarns – cotton, wool, mohair, alpaca, with the occasional manmade fiber thrown in the mix – and Nashua gets some of the most prominent and experienced designers on this side of the pond to showcase their yarns – Kristin Nicholas, Deborah Newton, Susan Mills, Kathy Zimmerman, to name a few. With Rowan Magazine so popular in the US and Canada, as well as in the UK, it’s not that surprising that Nashua decided to offer its own annual magazine aimed at what it perceives as its specific marketing niche.
Comparisons to Rowan Magazine are inevitable, but I’ll try not to overdo it. Compared to Rowan Magazine, Nashua is a bit smaller (around 8.5 by 11 inches, as opposed to Rowan’s larger format), and around 82 pages total, with 26 designs. Like Rowan Magazine, Nashua’s magazine is paperback, full color (all the way through the pattern directions), printed on high-quality paper. I was pleased to see a symbol on the back indicating that Nashua Magazine is certified by the nonprofit Forestry Stewardship Council, which means that they have met certain standards for environmentally and ecologically sound practices. (You can go to the FSC website for more info about certification.)
Westminster has an interesting history of its own. The company now called Westminster Fibers began as Westminster Gallery, importing objets d’art – including knitted sweaters by an American living in England named Kaffe Fassett. In time, Westminster Gallery became the American distributor for the fledging Rowan yarn company, later expanding its offerings to include needlepoint kits and quilting fabrics, as well as other European yarn brands.
The magazine is divided into three “stories,” similar to the way Rowan Magazine groups its designs around certain themes. This issue begins with “Harvest,” with designs for men, women and kids, set against … yep! cornfields and hay bales and colorful autumn leaves. The second story, “Office,” features patterns aimed at the working woman: sweaters that can be worn instead of jackets, or that will go with today’s casual office dress code (or so I hear; working from home, as I do, means you never have to get out of those sweatpants. . .), and a cabled bag that could function as a sort of briefcase or work tote. The third story, called “Natural Focus,” was photographed on a sheep farm and all the sweaters were knit in Nashua’s “Natural Focus Ecologie,” a pure wool yarn dyed with plant extracts.
Of course, with garment design, it all comes down to your personal taste, and whether you happen to like a particular batch of sweaters and accessories. The five sweaters in “Harvest” were pretty traditional in style (not that this is a bad thing), with lots of cables and ribbing. Pumpkin appealed to me (below, left), with its more fitted silhouette and the pretty texture, and I thought McIntosh (below, center) was a versatile design that would especially suit slightly older children (a hard demographic to knit for).
Agenda (far left) and the awkwardly-named 8 AM Meeting (near left) were nice alternatives to a traditional jacket.
But the sweaters in “Natural Focus” were my favorites. I’m a sucker for those muted plant-dyed colors, and the sweaters seemed a little younger and less traditional, with some interesting details.
A few of my favorites are Deborah Newton’s hoodie, with its combination of texture and fair isle colorwork (below, right); a cropped vest, with bobbles and cables; and Susan Mills’ Rustic Raglan (below, , with its simple lines and crochet edging (below, left).
I refuse to say “your mileage may vary,” but I echo the sentiment: it’s all a matter of personal taste, so you need to take a look to decide if you like these patterns. You won’t find waifish young models perched on a rock while Scottish mist swirls about them dreamily; this is definitely a more pragmatic, less whimsical approach, perhaps a desire to swap cutting-edge fashion details for greater wearability.
The other major feature in the magazine is the interview with Kristin Nicholas. If you’re a fellow sheep-lover, you’ll enjoy reading about her Massachusetts sheep farm; if you’re a fellow Kristin Nicholas-lover, you’ll enjoy seeing photos of her home (her paintings are to-die-for); getting a sneak peek at a bulletin board full of her colorwork swatches; and reading a bit more about her life and design philosophy. The interview is supplemented by three lovely, packed-with-color patterns designed by Kristin: two scarves (left) and a pullover.
As far as the practical aspects of the magazine, not surprisingly, Nashua gets high marks in all categories. Lots of large, color photographs of the patterns, the same pattern knit for different members of the family (in the case of the first story), multiple photos of the same garment from different angles, schematics for all the sweaters, color charts for the stranded patterns (B&W charts for cable/texture), good size ranges (finished chest sizes usually in five sizes, ranging from around 32 to 35 inches through 48 to 52 inches for the women’s patterns).
Patterns break down as follows:
Child/unisex sizing: 1 sweater
Child/women’s sizing: 4 sweaters
Women’s sizing: 14 sweaters
One size for all (all accessories): 3
By style, you’ll find:
3 vests
2 scarves
1 bag
4 pullovers
13 cardigans (note that one pattern is given both for cardigan and pullover and is therefore counted twice)
The yarns used all knit in the 4 to 5 sts per inch range, with nine patterns using a worsted-weight (5 sts to the inch) yarn, four using yarn that normally knits at 4.5 sts per inch, and nine using yarn that knits at 4 sts per inch. (Because many of the patterns use texture, lace and/or cables, altering the gauge, it’s probably more accurate to look at the stockinette-stitch gauge of the yarn, for apples-to-apples comparisons.) Should you wish to substitute yarns, it wouldn’t be particularly hard to swap them out.
Other nice touches include photographs of all of the colors of the yarns used; a guide listing all the Nashua yarns, fiber content, yardage and approximate gauge (I love charts like this; if a yarn should get discontinued, it makes it easy to find a good substitute with all this info handy); and an overview of all the patterns with thumbnail photos and page numbers.
I’ve often thought that Nashua yarns and patterns get a little bit overlooked, maybe overshadowed by the buzz that usually accompanies the release of Rowan and RYC yarns and patterns. You’ve got solid, mostly-natural-fiber yarns, terrific pattern support and great production values to recommend Nashua Handknits. Now you’ve got a high-quality, color magazine full of patterns. What more could a North American knitter want?
About the Author: Carol J. Sulcoski
Carol J. Sulcoski is the author of Knit So Fine and Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarns (both published by Interweave Press), and she has designed for Knitty.com; Big Girl Knits; JCA/Reynolds; and KnitScene. She blogs at Go Knit In Your Hat, where her “No-Bull Book Reviews” are a popular feature. She is proprietress of Black Bunny Fibers, where she sells handdyed yarns and spinning fiber.
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