Author Archives: Julia

Wiggle Wrap.

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If you’ve been in the shop in the past week, you may have noticed a new sample hanging on the wall. There are many sweaters, shawls, hats, scarves, and bags competing for your attention, of course, so it’s possible you missed this latest knit shawl. It’s quite striking, though, and wont be in the shop forever, so I thought I’d document it here.

The pattern is “Wiggle Wrap,” by Sally Brandl, and it’s knit with two balls of Kauni Effektgarn. One ball is a bright, fiery colorway and the other is dark, with deep blues and purples. The two, themselves self-striping, are striped against one another, creating multiple levels of stripes and gradations of color. The premise is simple but the effect is impressive. I’d like to see one in a pair of neutral colorways, or a black-and-white skein with a wild rainbow skein. Get to work, knitters.

Come by the shop to see the Wiggle Wrap while it’s still here, and check the Kauni Patterns binder for more Kauni inspiration.

(Many thanks to Nancy for lending us her shawl!)

Knitting with Two Colors.

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Back in November, I wrote about two of my favorite new colorwork resources: Alice Starmore’s Charts for Color Knitting and Mary Jane Mucklestone’s 200 Fair Isle Motifs. I remember the feeling of contentment I had in placing those two on my bookshelf at home, thinking, “This completes my colorwork library.” That, however, was before Meg Swansen and Amy Detjen’s Knitting with Two Colors appeared. Now, having seen this new book from Schoolhouse Press, gaps appear in my colorwork library where none existed before. Where was the technical detail on preparing for and cutting steeks? The guidance on altering existing colorwork patterns, and designing your own? Ways to incorporate shaping into a colorwork sweater without completely confusing the patterning? The hows, whys, and whether-or-nots of various hems, borders, and necklines? Why, here they are, calmly and clearly explained by these two most experienced colorwork knitters, Swansen and Detjen.

Knitting with Two Colors is neither a book of sweater patterns nor a book of colorwork charts, but truly a book of techniques, a slim paperback volume that is absolutely bursting with information. I can imagine no better companion to Starmore’s Charts for Color Knitting or Mucklestone’s 200 Fair Isle Motifs than Swansen and Detjen’s Knitting with Two Colors. Colorwork enthusiasts, and anyone else who’s curious, should take a look at this book, and take home a copy if there’s an ambitious colorwork project in your future. Find it on the teacart.

Cleaning up our act. Some more.

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We’ve done some more furniture rearranging this week at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop.

The cotton tree switched places with the corner chair, making it easier for those who sit and knit at the shop to socialize while they do so.

In the interest of using what little space we have more wisely, we acquired a new pair of bookshelves. The Jo Sharp yarns have been gathered on one of them, and the Isager yarns on another.

This gave us more room for the Kauni and the Swans Island, which settled where the Isager yarns used to live.

The whole process was a bit like a game of musical chairs, except that every basket of yarn and every stack of books found a seat when the music stopped. We’re so pleased with the newly organized space. Come by and see the difference!

Cowls.

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We’re often asked if we know a good cowl pattern, or have a book of them. This request has been particularly common in the past month or so, so I thought I’d give a virtual version of my in-shop answer. A book of cowls: unfortunately, no. A good cowl pattern: here are four, and all the better because they are free.

To some, a cowl is a tube designed to fit closely around the neck, almost like a dickey. A turtleneck detached from its sweater. Here is one such cowl, in simple 2×2 ribbing, knit with the soft and slightly shiny Debbie Bliss Andes, a dk weight blend of alpaca and silk. The pattern is available at the shop–just ask for the Andes cowl.

To others, a cowl is a long loop of a scarf, designed to be wrapped around the neck twice. We have two cowls that meet this description, the first of which is available online, and the second, at the shop. Meet the Big Herringbone Cowl (above) and the Moebius Cowl (below). We used a worsted-weight merino/silk blend and a mohair/silk blend, respectively.

Somewhere between the two shapes is this newest cowl, knit from String Theory Merino DK. The Purl Ridge Cowl pattern is also available as a free pattern from the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, as of Thursday afternoon, when I bound off, wove in the ends, and immediately tried it on. Cozy.

My challenge to you: choose a color.

String Theory, as I have gushed several times in as many weeks, does incredible things with yarn and dye. My photographs don’t do it justice. Come and see the stuff with your own two eyes!

Hello, Alpaca 1.

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When Anne returned from her trip to Denmark in August, she came back with many stories and many knitting ideas. The first one that she realized was simple: a triangular garter stitch shawl in Isager Alpaca 1, a 2-ply lace-weight yarn that at the time, we had just recently ordered in a pretty little spectrum of colors. Anne had seen one like it in Marianne Isager’s shop, and was determined to recreate it as a shop sample here. It may be a simple shawl, a “nothing pattern,” as Anne often describes it, but it has been a huge hit.

The particular combination of this yarn at this gauge makes simple garter stitch look new and somehow complicated. I’ve seen seasoned knitters puzzle over the shawl, asking about the stitch pattern. The texture is truly unusual, stretchy and fuzzy and light. Sometimes I wrap it around my neck like a scarf while I’m rearranging the Alpaca 1 basket, and I must say, it tempts one.

Having nearly run out of Isager Alpaca 1 due to the beguiling nature of the garter stitch shawl, it was time for a reorder at the start of the new year. As I put out the new colors, I felt content seeing them all together again, and daydreamed a bit about which color I’d choose if I were making one myself. What would you choose?

The next time you’re in the market for a mindless knit with exquisite yarn, consider the Alpaca 1 shawl. Try it on next time you’re in the shop and see if you’re not tempted.

Lantern Moon bags.

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A small box filled with small silk bags came from Lantern Moon last week. Anne strung them up on the wall, which has become our default eye-pleasing and space-saving method for displaying bags.

These Lantern Moon bags are narrow and long, and I think would happily accommodate a small scarf project on straight needles, or a sock-in-progress. One customer suggested that a bottle of wine would fit nicely, and I can’t disagree. Whatever works.

Be sure to admire them the next time you’re in the shop. See you soon!

2012.

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I spent much of this new year’s eve weekend with a burgeoning pair of socks, made with Malabrigo’s newest yarn, Arroyo. I turned the heel on the first sock, then cast on for the second while watching a movie on new year’s eve. On new year’s day, the socks came with me to a friend’s house, where we talked and laughed and drank tea. This morning as I sipped my coffee, knitted my socks, and listened to a podcast, I had an impulse to photograph the scene, and thought to myself: oh, man. What a blogger thing to do.

It’s been almost a year since I started this Hillsborough Yarn Shop blog, and since then I’ve grown accustomed to that impulse to photograph anything yarn-related, and have often given into it. When people come in showing off amazing work, or Phyllis looks particularly wonderful in a shop sample, or we move some furniture around, I pull out my little camera. When we amass great piles of hats or great piles of yarn, the camera comes out. After a year of moments like these, it seems to make perfect sense to photograph my morning coffee, so long as a sock-in-progress is near. I’m having such fun with the blog, and the beginning of a new year is as good a time as any to thank you all for reading, and for commenting, and for coming into the shop and saying, “You must be Julia, from the blog!” I’m looking forward to another year of documenting the goings-on at the shop. Happy new year, everyone!

String Theory. Once more.

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The String Theory Caper Sock yarn all but disappeared from our shelves in a matter of weeks. Not yet ready to cast on, or even settle on a project befitting this luxurious cashmere and wool blend, I held off on the skein of Caper Sock that had caught my eye. When the last skein in that colorway was sold, I pouted for a minute, then remembered that we were expecting a shipment from String Theory this week. Not only were we awaiting one backordered color each in Selku and Merino DK, but Anne had also ordered another 24 skeins of Caper Sock.

By the time we’d refilled the half-empty cubby that Caper Sock calls home, I had to hold off yet again, for there were at least four colors vying for my attention.

When my Arroyo socks are done, I might be ready to choose a color. Until then, it’s all yours, String Theory lovers. Enjoy this new selection of colors in Caper Sock!

Vogue Knitting.

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The Winter issue of Vogue Knitting has arrived and taken center stage on the teacart.

In this issue, you’ll find the usual selection of unusual garments that we’ve come to expect from Vogue, including knitted capes, skirts, and turbans. There are sweaters as well, of course, and hats, mittens, and socks. Take a look next time you’re in the shop.

And.

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Along with Arroyo, we received a handful of much-needed new colors in Malabrigo Rios, Sock, and Lace. We also got a shiny new shelf to display all the Malabrigo yarns together. The Sock is still with all the other fingering weight yarns in the front room, but now the Worsted, Twist, Rios, Silky Merino, Arroyo, and Lace can be found all in one place. Let’s have a look at the new colors, shall we?

In Rios, as you can see in the photo above, we got Pearl Ten, Teal Feather, Paris Night, and several other colors whose fanciful names have already left me. Lovers of turquoises, blues, and greens will be happy with the current selection.

In Sock, we got only four colors: Terracotta, Ochre, Boticelli Red, and Persia. A manageable number of colors to choose from when you decide you simply must get a skein while they’re still in stock.

After almost a year of stocking Lace in only one color, we suddenly find ourselves with an embarrassment of riches: a basket full of choices, each skein a different color. (I confess: I gave up halfway through the Saroyan, seduced by the String Theory Merino DK, which was the next shop sample on the to-knit list. The half-scarf blocked beautifully, though, and gives one a good sense of how the Lace works up.)

Alright, Malabrigo lovers, that concludes the tour of The Latest. Come by the shop to see it all for yourself.