New colors from Alchemy.

Posted by Julia on April 18, 2015

We recently freshened up our supply of Alchemy yarns, starting with one new colorway, shown here in Sanctuary, Sparky, and Lust.

Sanctuary is a sport weight blend of wool and silk, which, like all Alchemy yarns, is lovingly hand-dyed by designer Gina Wilde.

Anne picked six new shades of this sumptuous stuff, filling out our color selection nicely.

Use Sanctuary on its own, or in combination with Silken Straw or Sparky for Alchemy’s signature shibori-felted designs, like the “Wisdom Wrap” or “Simple Shibori Cowl,” both of which are on display at the shop.

Not long ago, Rosi finished this “Sparky Serpentine Scarf” knit in Sparky, a sample that now hangs on the wall here at the shop. The mesh lace pattern is easily memorized, and sparkles in this silk yarn, which is wrapped in a metallic thread.

Look for Alchemy yarns in the sport weight section of our shop, and don’t miss Lust in the fingering weight section! See you there.

For crocheters.

Posted by Julia on March 17, 2015

The last couple of weeks have seen a trio of new publications for crocheters here at the shop.

The Spring 2015 issue of Interweave Crochet features a range of projects, from blankets and bags to sweaters and skirts.

Kristin Omdahl’s Crochet So Lovely is all about crocheted lace. She covers lace motifs and allover lace patterns, as well as how to achieve a lacy look by playing with gauge.

I spotted some familiar yarns in this book in the form of two tunics: one in Fibre Company Meadow, and another in Alchemy Silken Straw, pictured above.

Boho Crochet is a colorful collection of crocheted home goods and accessories. It looks like a great source of patterns and inspiration for crocheters of all levels, with guidance to help beginners make sense of unfamiliar stitches and techniques.

Come by the shop to browse the latest books and magazines, and pick one or two for your own crochet library! See you there.

Show and tell: anniversary edition, part 2.

Posted by Julia on October 17, 2014

As you may remember from years past, or may have seen in our most recent email newsletter, October 18th marks the eight-year anniversary of the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. We are so grateful to all of you for your support over the years, for shopping and learning and sharing with us. We’ll celebrate another year in business in our usual way: an anniversary sale! From Friday October 17th – Sunday October 19th, everything in the shop will be discounted by 15%, with the exception of classes and that which is already discounted.

Here on the blog, I’m celebrating all of you with another batch of show and tell.

Joanne came in the other day with a colorful project to share. Above, she models her “Technicolor Cowl” knit in the decadent Alchemy Sanctuary, a velvety blend of merino wool and silk.

Paula’s needles have been busy lately; she recently brought in two finished projects to share with us! Above is her “Thicket” beret, from Alana Dakos’ Botanical Knits 2, knit in Fibre Company Acadia.

Paula also knit this “Mix No. 26” with Shibui Pebble, a different yarn, but a nice match for her “Thicket” beret. I love it in these low-contrast colors, a soft beige against wintry white.

Emily came in wearing this “Côte-Nord Cap,” a pattern by Amy Christoffers from last winter’s Interweave Knits, Winter 2014. She used a skein of the new Swans Island All American Worsted in a rich blue hue.

Thanks to everyone who starts and shares their projects at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! We find your stitches so inspiring, and your support of the shop is so appreciated. Keep your eyes on the blog for another “show and tell” post soon, and visit us this weekend to take advantage of our Anniversary Sale!

(A reminder: all sales are final on sale items; there can be no exchanges, no returns, nor will we special order. Discount applies only to in-store purchases. Thanks!)

Shibori felting with Alchemy yarns.

Posted by Julia on August 9, 2014

Gina Wilde is the mind behind Alchemy’s rich colors, a dyer and designer who dreams up interesting uses for the yarns she paints. We always look forward to her color consultations at TNNA–here she is back in May, helping us select harmonious colors in all four Alchemy yarns we ordered.

Many of her designs use a shibori felting technique, where Alchemy Sanctuary and Silken Straw are knit together, then thrown in the washing machine to felt. Sanctuary, a blend of merino wool and silk, felts into a velvety fabric, while Silken Straw stretches out and softens. The combination of the two in one garment yields unique textures and shapes, and adds an exciting, transformative final step to the knitting process. Last year, I tried shibori felting for the first time, knitting a “Simple Shibori Cowl” in bright, warm shades of Sanctuary and Silken Straw.

We’ve seen lots of beautiful color combinations come together for this project; Mary knit these two “Simple Shibori Cowls,” which were featured on the blog for show and tell.

Our new shades of Sanctuary and Silken Straw make for even more fun combinations. Here are a few I put together; I can’t wait to see what other knitters will come up with!

Earlier this spring, Anne finished her “Widsom Wrap,” a much larger shibori project.

The “Wisdom Wrap” calls for one shade in Sanctuary and four in Silken Straw. We’ve restocked Anne’s colorway, a beautiful mix of purple, greens, and dark brown.

Of course, I couldn’t resist putting a few other “Wisdom Wrap” colorways together, this time with a bit of glitter from Sparky.

Come by to select colors for a “Wisdom Wrap” of your own, or search for other shibori felting patterns on the HYS Pinterest page. See you at the shop!

Hello, Alchemy Sparky and Lust.

Posted by Julia on August 7, 2014

For three years now, we’ve visited Alchemy’s booth at TNNA and replenished our Alchemy stash with Silken Straw and Sanctuary. While we certainly bulked up our supply of those two yarns this year, we were also sorely tempted by two of Alchemy’s newest yarns. It’s no surprise we gave into temptation; meet Sparky and Lust.

Silken Straw is a sport-weight silk ribbon like no other, and Sparky is like Silken Straw dressed up for the opera. Both yarns feel crisp on the skein but soften up after stitching and washing; Sparky has a metallic thread wrapped around it, giving it a distinct glittery sparkle.

Lust is a fingering weight blend of merino and silk, a thinner version of Sanctuary. It’s soft and slinky, many-plied for great stitch definition, and felts well in Alchemy’s signature shibori felting designs.

Like all Alchemy yarns, Sparky and Lust play well together. Anne used one skein of each in this “Alchemy Sparky Shawlette,” which you’ll find tucked into the basket that holds Silken Straw and Sparky at the shop.

Since we unpacked our most recent Alchemy order, our favorite pastime is coming up with color combinations between the four Alchemy yarns we now stock. For the “Alchemy Sparky Shawlette,” Anne used Lust in a variegated colorway and picked a solid shade of Sparky to go with it.

For a less overtly striped shawl, you might try a lower-contrast pairing.

Consider also the “Straw Into Gold Shawl,” which is shown knit with Silken Straw, Sparky, and Lust all in one shade, a glorious pale beige called “Sand Dollar.”

We were so taken with this sample when we saw it at market that we ordered all three yarns in exactly this color.

No reason to stop there, however–Alchemy yarns beg to be grouped together in all kinds of color combinations, from muted and monochromatic to bright and surprising.

Come by the shop to play the Alchemy color game yourself, and plan a project with these unique and inspiring yarns. You’ll find a handful of knit samples in Alchemy yarns here at the shop; look for more pattern ideas on our Pinterest page. We’ve got lots of great uses for Alchemy yarns on our “Inspiring Stitches” board. See you at the shop!

New yarns from Alchemy.

Posted by Julia on August 5, 2014

We’ve just received the first of the new yarns we ordered at TNNA, and I’m happy to report that they are just as exciting in the shop as they were at market! Anne and I unpacked these new colors and yarns from Alchemy on Saturday, admiring them one by one and in endless combinations.

We reordered some favorite colors in Silken Straw and Sanctuary, and of course selected some new shades in each.

We’ve also added two new yarns to our Alchemy collection here at the shop, Sparky and Lust. Sparky is like Silken Straw dressed up with a metallic strand wrapped around it, and Lust is a fingering weight blend of wool and silk, a lighter-weight Sanctuary. Both are gloriously, lovingly hand-dyed in Alchemy’s signature colorways by the talented Gina Wilde.

I’ll give Sparky and Lust their proper introduction in future blog posts, but for today I’ll just say–they’re here, ready to be put to use in garments and accessories, shibori felting projects, lace patterns, and so much more. Come by the shop to take a peek at all the new yarns and colors from Alchemy!

TNNA, day 2.

Posted by Julia on May 3, 2014

It’s been another busy day here at market, walking the showroom floor, seeing the latest yarns from some of our favorite vendors, and placing orders, of course.

The wild and colorful Alchemy booth was our first stop this morning. It was, as always, delightful to catch up with Gina and Austin Wilde, seeing their newest patterns and selecting new colors and yarns to bring into the shop this fall.

Next, we spent time at Shibui, marveling at their fall and winter pattern collections, new colors, and newest yarn.

We always like to visit Habu Textiles, too, to restock the Nerimaki Slub Cotton, Silk Stainless Steel, Nontwist Cotton Boucle, and check out what’s new.

Tomorrow promises more of the same. We are so anxious to share new yarns and projects with you at the shop this fall!

Show and tell: scarves and cowls.

Posted by Julia on October 23, 2013

It’s time for more show and tell! Here are some finished pieces that began their lives as HYS yarns. They all happen to be neckwarmers of one kind of another: scarves and cowls.

Allison has been churning out Spectra scarves for a while now, and is particularly fond of Kauni Effektgarn in color EQ for this project. EQ is perhaps the most colorful Kauni colorway, a bright and sunny rainbow spectrum, shifting from red to orange to yellow to green to blue to purple.

Allison used EQ as both the main and contrast colors in this project, and recommends staggering it so that the main color is one or two shades ahead of the contrast color in the sequence. This keeps the colors from overlapping, so you wont find yourself with, say, orange as both the main and contrast color at any point in the knitting. This particular scarf weighed 115 grams, so it’s entirely possible to knit this from one skein of Kauni Effektgarn, with some winding and rewinding.

Margie recently finished these two scarves, knit in Malabrigo Sock and Prism Saki, respectively. The pattern is “Favorite Scarf Ever,” a free download from Ravelry, and its simple chevron pattern shows off variegated yarns to the fullest.

Speaking of chevron patterns: Cecilia came in last week wearing this beautiful cowl knit in Gina, a soft self-striping wool from Plymouth. She’d picked the colorway to match her new coat, and has since come back for a different yarn to make a coat-matching hat; I’m looking forward to seeing the whole get-up!

Mary’s needles have been busy lately, and she had three projects to show off since last I shared show-and-tell photos on the blog. Above are her two Twist scarves knit in Malabrigo Mecha, one completed, and one halfway there. She’s sailing through these one-skein scarves, planning to give them away as holiday gifts–an excellent plan for a quick knit like the Twist scarf.

Here’s Mary’s second Simple Shibori Cowl, knit in Alchemy Silken Straw and Sanctuary. It’s so satisfying to see this cowl made up in different colorways, and to see the transformation that occurs when they’re felted. This one is made with Silken Straw in color “Belladonna” and Sanctuary in “Ace of Spades,” a subtle, elegant combination.

Thanks to everyone who starts, works on, and shares their projects at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! We love to see what’s coming off your needles and hooks.

Show and tell: mittens, sweaters, and shibori.

Posted by Julia on October 2, 2013

The two most exciting parts of a project are often the beginning and the end. At the beginning, the thrill of casting on with new yarn or trying a new technique is quite motivating. At the end, when the project is complete and whatever challenges were faced along the way have been met, the feeling of finishing is equally exhilarating. Better still: the feeling is contagious. Many of the knitters and crocheters we’ve come to know at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop bring their finished pieces to share, and it’s as much a pleasure to see as it is to show. Here are a few show-and-tell projects I’ve captured with my camera over the past few weeks.

Heather came in with a finished pair of mittens, her first, from a pattern by Susan B. Anderson: “Waiting for Winter Mittens.” She used String Theory Merino DK, a superwash merino whose hand-dyed colorways surprise and delight as you stitch; this colorway, Earthquake, revealed all kinds of colors in the knitted fabric that seemed hidden in the skein. I happen to be a big fan of String Theory Merino DK, having used it in two original designs and, more recently, a sweater.

The pattern is Amy Herzog’s “Aislinn,” albeit a heavily-modified version. Using Herzog’s tremendously handy Knit to Flatter as a guide, I shortened the body of the sweater, lowered the neckline, recalculated the waist-shaping, and added bust darts. I’m happy with the fit, and feel much more confident in making changes to existing patterns as a result of this project.

Another way to significantly change the look of the sweater is simply to change the yarn. That’s what Margie did, to stunning effect, with her “Honey” cardigan. The pattern is by Helga Isager, and it calls for a fingering weight wool in a solid color and a lace weight mohair in a variegated color.

Margie substituted Kauni Effektgarn, a self-striping sport weight wool, and a special skein of semi-solid lace weight yarn that she picked up at a fiber festival. She was careful to swatch for gauge before beginning, and altered the pattern to achieve a slimmer sleeve. Let Margie’s sweater be an inspiration to depart from the called-for yarns and make the changes necessary to create garments you love!

Wanda brought in her completed “Gemini Pullover,” knit in Wendy Supreme Luxury Cotton DK. It’s been really neat to see so many finished Geminis coming in, the result of a shop knit-along that started in March. I know there are others out there on the needles now, and I’m looking forward to seeing them all grown up one day.

On Saturday afternoon, Mary came by with a completed “Simple Shibori Cowl” in Alchemy Silken Straw and Sanctuary. Delighted with the result, she’s already cast on for another, and picked up another skein of Silken Straw for yet a third cowl. This color combination is gorgeous: Silken Straw in Coco Rosie, and Sanctuary in Dark Star. I can’t wait to see Mary’s next two cowls!

Many thanks to everyone who shows-and-tells at the shop–we’re so happy to be part of this community of creative stitchers!

Wisdom Wrap, in progress.

Posted by Julia on September 2, 2013

Right before we left for market in June, Anne started knitting a Wisdom Wrap, one of Gina Wilde’s shibori felting designs for Alchemy Yarns. We’d seen (and played dress-up with) a Wisdom Wrap at market the year before, and kept it in mind all year.

It’s an unusual piece, but simple to construct. The first step is to make long stretches of i-cord with Sanctuary, a luxuriously soft blend of merino and silk. Then stitches are picked up along the length of the i-cord and knit up into garter stitch rectangles using Silken Straw.

The end result is a kind of i-cord scaffolding, which frames the Silken Straw color-blocks. When the knitting is done, the Wisdom Wrap is ready to be felted, just like the Simple Shibori Cowl. The Sanctuary i-cord shrinks and felts, looking almost like a velvet rope, and the Silken Straw rectangles soften and stretch out. It’s a bit of a leap of faith, but having seen the finished wrap at market and tried it myself on a smaller scale with the cowl, we feel confident that a successful shibori transformation awaits. In the meantime, Anne is hard at work on the wrap, working lengths of i-cord in between blocks of garter stitch–soothing knitting.

Besides the meditative knitting process, one of the major joys of an Alchemy project is choosing from their outstanding, vibrant color palette. Though she was picking from a smaller selection, before our colors numbered in double digits as they do today, Anne put together a beautiful colorway for her Wisdom Wrap, which calls for one shade in Sanctuary and four in Silken Straw.

In selecting colors for a Wisdom Wrap, one strategy is to begin with the Sanctuary, which comes in variegated colorways. From there, you can use the same colorway in Silken Straw, and then pull out three solid colors in the Silken Straw that appear in the variegated color you’ve chosen. Anne is using Sanctuary in color “Dark Star,” and Silken Straw in “Dark Star,” “Jungle Juice,” “Citrine,” and “Coco Rosie.” As I was arranging the Silken Straw in its basket, I couldn’t help but play the Wisdom Wrap game, putting potential colorways together, sometimes following the strategy I just laid out, sometimes not.

I could play this game all day. Come in to plan a Wisdom Wrap of your own!