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“Nasrin” in Camper, Loft, and Tones Light.

“Nasrin” is a colorwork sweater by Isabell Kraemer, and the subject of Anne’s upcoming class, which starts Saturday, May 18.

“Nasrin,” by Isabell Kraemer, photo copyright Isabell Kraemer

She’s knitting hers with Kelbourne Woolens Camper, a soft fingering weight wool in heathered colors, and an excellent choice for colorwork.

You can choose between the “solid” or “outlined” colorwork motif at the yoke; both charts are included in the pattern. A high contrast color combination shows the pattern best, in my opinion – here are some ideas in Camper!

I also like the idea of flipping the color arrangement so that the main color is dark, and the contrast color at the yoke is light.

Brooklyn Tweed Loft is another yarn that seems designed with colorwork in mind, a woolen-spun fingering weight wool with a bit more structure than Camper.

Loft plays well with Brooklyn Tweed’s other fingering weight yarn, Tones Light – which has a much more vibrant color palette!

Look for all of these and many others in the fingering weight section here at our shop, and read more about Anne’s class if you’re inspired to make a “Nasrin” of your own!

Japanese Inspired Knits.

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]


Preparing for classes.

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]


Pagewood Farm.

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]


Cascade Ultra Pima.

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]


A surprise from Berroco.

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]


Julia shows off.

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]


Schaefer.

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]


Shenandoe Farm.

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]


Knitscene.

The spring magazines keep rolling in. Hello, knitscene! As usual: find it on the teacart.


Mission Falls: on sale!

UPDATE: As of 11/19/2014, we are totally sold out of Mission Falls yarns! ************************************************************* We’re sad to report that Mission Falls is discontinuing its classic 1824 Wool and 1824 Cotton yarns. We’re happy, though, to report that those two yarns are now on sale! The 1824 Wool is a worsted weight superwash merino, notable for … [more]