Anne and I recently decided that we needed more colors of Isager Tvinni (pronounced, incidentally, “tweenie.” In case you were curious), a fingering-weight merino from Denmark. We pored over the colorcard, comparing the awe-inspiring array of available colors to our small Tvinni collection, carefully selecting those colors that would play well together and reflect a … [more]
Five years ago today, Anne officially opened the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. For me, as well as for many others, the shop is more than a shop. It’s the reason I (re)learned to knit, a skill and passion that has become a very important part of my life. A Hillsborough native, I noticed the new business … [more]
Perhaps you recognize this basket of soft, shiny yarns. That’s our stash of ArtYarns, some of the most indulgent skeins in the shop. The sheen of silk, the halo of mohair, and the sparkle of beads and sequins all conspire to create a glamorous yarn, a treat for the hands as well as the eyes. … [more]
Recently I completed a project that had been stuffed in the bottom of a basket for about a year. I’m not a monogamous knitter, but lingering unfinished projects do bother me a bit. Every once in a while, I’d remember this particular project, a half-completed colorwork vest, and worry about it a little. Would I … [more]
If you’ve ever come into the shop looking for washable worsted weight wool, you’re not alone. This seems to be one of our most common requests. Wool is soft, warm, wonderfully stretchy, and has many applications, all of which are qualities that draw knitters and crocheters to wool yarns. Many of those knitters and crocheters … [more]
Let this be my last Cascade addendum, the last of the contents of those 40 pound boxes to be introduced: say hello to a sumptuous new fingering weight yarn from Cascade, called Heritage Silk. A few months ago, when we first ordered Heritage Silk, Anne got a single skein for us to knit up as … [more]
If you’ve noticed a leaning towards finer-gauge yarns around here, that’s astute. Marion Foale, Kauni, Malabrigo Sock, Isager… these and other thin yarns get a lot of attention on the blog as well as in the shop. Both Anne and I are often happiest working with fingering or lace weight yarns and tiny needles. Don’t … [more]
I could not possibly be more excited to introduce you all to this thrilling new yarn, an organic, hand-dyed merino from the Maine-based company Swans Island. If you’ve been in the shop in the past two days, then you know that our excitement for this yarn has been obvious, reflected not only in our squeals … [more]
A while back, I wrote about our cotton tree, a twirling stand which holds most of our cotton yarns. What I didn’t mention then was that the cotton tree has a cold-weather cousin, the alpaca tree, another twirling stand that is home to most of our alpaca yarns. This week, just as the temperature dropped outside, … [more]
With August comes the new Fall yarns, and here is one of our most exciting acquisitions of the season: Claudia Hand Painted Yarns, out of Harrisonburg, VA. Anne fell in love with a silk sweater she saw at TNNA in June, and the rest is history, which is to say, the makings of that silk … [more]