Author Archives: Julia

Marion Foale. Again.

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I wrote before about the Marion Foale 3-ply wool. Since then, several things have happened to increase our love for this yarn, as well as our supply of it. For one, the striped top I was dreaming up is now on the needles. The yarn is a dream to knit with, and creates a fabric so light, stretchy, and wearable that it is impossible to stop planning the next thing I’ll make with it. And the next. And the next… Then we got the colorcard in the mail. Our little basket of Marion Foale 3-ply paled in comparison to the full spectrum of available colors. So what did we do about it?

Just as you likely suspected: we got a bag of every color. Come by to see the full spectrum!

Did I neglect to mention?

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Anne is now a grandmother!

Jared Gabriel and Caleb Liam were born on May 27th, 2011, weighing in at 5 lbs 1 oz and 5 lbs 9 oz respectively.

Anne is completely over the moon for these little guys. We’ve got their picture on the wall at the shop, which is likely to be frequently updated as each new baby photo is cuter than the last. Stop by to see the latest one and hear the latest baby stories. You can expect to find us grinning ear to ear!

Vogue.

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At first, when we saw the new Vogue Knitting magazine, Early Fall 2011, we thought: What? Early fall, already? Then we thought: Ooh! New Vogue to look at! Fresh new patterns are always welcome here, even if fall seems far away.

As always: check out the newest of the new on the teacart.

Ruffle Scarf. Etc.

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I’ve written before about our shop swatches. While some swatches are just little samplers with garter, stockinette, rib, and seed stitch, others take the form of actual garments.

Nordstrom Knock-Off Scarf.
They’re always pretty simple, patterns that let the yarn do most of the work, are easily memorized, and quickly explained. Lately, though, we’ve begun to write them up.

Haze Kerchief.

Too often, I’ve found myself scribbling instructions for these projects on a post-it, or the back of a receipt. And while these patterns don’t require much more information than a post-it could convey, a carefully written and clearly printed pattern is preferable, wouldn’t you agree? If you’re inspired enough by one of our swatch/samples to want to recreate it, you deserve a pattern. And now, for most, there is a pattern that we’ll be happy to hand over, free when you buy the yarn.

Ruffle Scarf.

For the Ruffle Scarf, there is not only a pattern, but an upcoming class. Suitable for a beginner knitter, ready to take a step up from their first garter stitch scarf, the Ruffle Scarf class is a one-time evening class, taking place on Wednesday, June 15th. Take a look at the description on the website and sign up if you’re interested!

Finished.

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You can now find my finished Chambered Nautilus Tam on the teacart, draped over the book that inspired and instructed me to make it. I’m so pleased with it! The spiral construction was fascinating, the yarn was soft and pleasant, and the result is quite fetching. Anne’s mother wears it well:

We’re thinking that the Chambered Nautilus Tam would make a good class. What do you think? If you’re interested in such a thing, get in touch with us and let us know.

Surprise! One-Weekend Sale: Jo Sharp.

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Our four-week series of Going-To-Market sales continues! Week Two: Jo Sharp. That means all our Jo Sharp yarns are 25% off, starting today and ending on Sunday, May 29th.

Our Jo Sharp yarns vary in weight, fiber, and texture:

  • Alpaca Kid Lustre: a DK weight blend of mohair, merino wool, and alpaca
  • Alpaca Silk Georgette: a sport weight blend of merino wool, alpaca, and silk
  • Classic Wool DK: a smooth DK weight wool
  • Silkroad Aran: a worsted weight blend of wool, silk, and cashmere
  • Silkroad Ultra: a bulky blend of wool, silk, and cashmere
  • Silkroad Aran Tweed: a soft worsted weight tweed, made of wool, silk, and cashmere
  • Silkroad DK Tweed: a soft DK weight tweed, made of wool, silk, and cashmere
  • Soho Summer Cotton DK: a silky 100% cotton in a DK weight
As wonderful as all of these yarns are, I’d like to make a personal recommendation: Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed, either in the aran weight or the DK weight. I spent all day playing with this stuff. Not knitting, but organizing it, making sure all the colors were represented in the front and all our bins and bags of it were in order in the back. The better to fetch it for you, my friends, when you decide what color you want to make your next Silkroad Tweed sweater.
Look how happy all those Aran colors are together, tucked into their basket.
It’s the DK weight, though, that I’m really taken with. As I counted, priced, and sorted them, I played with color combinations, as these colors beg to be combined. Stripes? Colorwork? I didn’t decide. I just played:

I recommend the tweeds not only because I myself like them, but because we have sweater quantities of most tweed colorways, making this one-weekend sale an excellent opportunity to get a good deal on a sweater’s worth of truly luxurious yarn. Come and take a look! And keep your eyes on the blog this time next week for another sale announcement.
(A reminder: there will be no returns or exchanges on sale yarns. Thanks!)

Nautilus tam.

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Last week, we got our biggest shipment of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knit One, Knit All, the shipment that is sure to keep the book safely in stock. We also got two giant boxes of Malabrigo. Anne noticed that we didn’t have a swatch of the Malabrigo Rios, and as I got to work winding a skein, she put the two together. Why not knit a hat from the new EZ book as our Rios sample?

It’s a hard job, but someone’s got to do it.

I cast on for the cover project, the Chambered Nautilus Tam, in a dark blue-green colorway of Rios called Azul Profundo. If you’ve seen me at the shop lately, this is what I’ve been working on, stopping every so often to lay it flat on my lap, petting the squishy garter-stitch-and-icord fabric, admiring the spiral construction, the way the shifting shades of teal are evenly distributed due to the short rows. This is such a fun knit. In the first seven stitches, I had already learned something new: a built-in icord edging. It is such a pleasure to cast on for a new Elizabeth Zimmermann project, and to daydream about what I will knit next from the book.

So tell me, dear readers, if you’re out there: what are you knitting lately? And if Knit One, Knit All has caught your eye, which patterns have you itching to cast on?

Hello, Jitterbug.

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While we’re speaking reverently of sock yarn, I’d like to introduce you to Colinette Jitterbug.

Jitterbug is a fingering-weight superwash merino yarn with a tight twist and a bright range of variegated colorways. It’s been a favorite at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop for socks and garments alike. Anne used Jitterbug to make a simple stockinette vest several years ago, and the yarn really shines. Another knitter we know is working on an elaborate intarsia cardigan using Jitterbug, another perfect use for the yarn. I’ve seen several Jitterbug hats, too. So many ways to use fingering-weight yarn besides socks!

Our only complaint about Jitterbug thusfar has been that its yardage is a little short for socks, weighing in at a mere 320 yards. However, that problem has been attended to. Our most recent shipment of Jitterbug came in new 400 yard skeins, with a price increase of only ten cents per skein. Something to celebrate, no?

Come by the shop to see these colors in person, as their depth and intensity are not quite captured by my camera. See you at the shop!

Hello, Koigu.

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Sock yarn can be addictive. “Remember,” Anne sometimes says, “sock yarn doesn’t count as stash.” This makes it particularly, and perhaps even dangerously addictive. While many sock yarns are wonderful, there are some that are spoken of with reverence, names that you come into a shop looking for, rather than happen upon accidentally. Koigu is one of those.

Our own stash of Koigu lives in a little basket on the floor with many of the other sock yarns, beaming up at you as you wander past. The yarn has been here for some time now, but something new came in the mail this week and got us thinking about other uses for Koigu beyond socks.

The first-ever issue of Koigu Magazine is here, and it’s full of garments. Sweaters, shawls, skirts, dresses, hats and mittens. This is a great source for patterns using fingering-weight yarn that look beyond socks.

Look for it on the teacart!

Surprise! One-Weekend Sale!

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Each June, Anne makes a trip to the TNNA Summer NeedleArts Market to meet with distributors, looking at new yarns for the fall. As we prepare for her trip, we must make room for all the new yarn we plan to buy for the shop! For the next four weeks, we’ll be having one-weekend sales on select yarns. We’ll announce which yarns are discounted the Thursday before the sale, both on the Hillsborough Yarn Shop group on Ravelry and here on the blog. Make sure to check back for next week’s sale, and the next week, and the next…

This week:

We’re having a sale on our entire line of Bergere de France yarns this weekend only!

Every Bergere de France yarn is marked 25% off:

  • Alpaga: a blend of 80% merino wool and 20% baby alpaca
  • Bergereine: a blend of 50% wool and 50% cotton
  • Berlaine: 100% superwash wool
  • Cachemire: a blend of 90% cashmere and 10% wool
  • Cotton: a lace-weight cotton
  • Natura: a thick-and-thin blend of alpaca and wool
  • Soie: 100% silk

Come to the shop to check them all out!

(A reminder: there will be no returns or exchanges on sale yarns. Thanks!)