In the summer of 2023 Helga Isager, once again, invited a group of the most talented Danish knitwear designers for a weekend in Tversted to meet around our shared passion for knitting and to begin the process of making a new joined Isager collection – this time with inspiration from the designs by Åse Lund Jensen from the 1960’s and 1970’s.
In contrast to the "Hønsestrik" of the time (a particular style of knitting in Denmark in the 1970s that favoured spontaneous ideas and knitting without instructions), Åse's instructions were almost tailor-made. Her original training as a seamstress is reflected in her highly regarded drawings and knitting patterns.
Åse Lund Jensen (1920 - 1977) was a pioneer in her field and throughout her career she continuously campaigned for knitting to be recognised as a craft, including through her numerous exhibitions and her work as a teacher at Skals Håndarbejdsskole, now known as Skals - Højskolen for Design og Håndarbejde (Skals - School of Design and Crafts). It was here that Marianne Isager and Åse Lund Jensen met and began their friendship. After Åse Lund Jensen's death, this friendship later led to Marianne Isager taking over the rights to Åse Lund Jensen's eternally modern designs and continuing the company, which is now known as Isager.
The invited designers of the Isager Archives collection looked through old patterns from the Isager archives in order to create a new, contemporary design on this basis. Over the weekend, ideas were exchanged, sketches made and piles of samples knitted, and now the individual knitting projects have been finalised.
You could already see small knitwear teasers from the various designers on Instagram. A total of 12 designs will be released between 13 February and 16 March 2024.
The first is by Anne Ventzel. Anne took the Brikker cape from Ã…se in 1972 as a source of inspiration.
For practical reasons, the cape became a roomy cardigan with half sleeves called the KARLA Cape.
Anne Ventzel has knitted Eco Soft together with Tvinni. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough Eco Soft in colour E0 and we are therefore already sold out. And as we don't have Tvinni in our range, we now suggest the following:
You can use Snefnug from Camarose instead of Eco Soft. You can replace Tvinni with Alpaca 2 or Highland . In the light model, the colour E0 (natural shade) was knitted with colour 4s with the original Eco Soft wool. With Alpaca 2 and Highland it would also be E0 and for the contrast we have Eco Soft 4s and mix it with Alpaca 2 in E4s or replace it with Highland in Chocolate or Charcoal. If you would like the Eco Soft 4s to be even darker, you can use Camarose Snefnug Natur in colour 7106 Solsort - you can see the colour in the top right of the picture (round ball).
The camel-coloured version (colour 7s) can be seen in the photo below
And if you prefer a darker cardigan, you can also choose Eco Soft 4s as the main colour. We still have some in stock.
Here under you can also see the light and dark colours next to each other - so you can vary again wonderfully.
We are expecting a new delivery of the Eco Soft in mid-March if you would prefer to finish your current project first. The patterns are available from ravelry or on Anne Ventzel's website in various languages.
Happy Making!
