Baa Ram Ewe Trunk Show!

Posted by Julia on April 3, 2015

We’re delighted to be hosting a Baa Ram Ewe Trunk Show, featuring garments from Rachel Coopey’s Coop Knits Toasty Vol. 1!

All of these accessories are knit with Baa Ram Ewe Titus, a fingering weight blend of alpaca, Wensleydale, and Bluefaced Leicester wools, sourced and spun entirely in the UK.

This collection shows how well Titus behaves in a variety of stitch patterns, from smooth stranded colorwork to texture patterns, cables, and lace.

Come by the shop during April to admire the Baa Ram Ewe Trunk Show and pick out a few skeins of Titus for your next project!

New colors in Titus.

Posted by Julia on March 22, 2015

We’re delighted to announce the recent arrival of three new colors in Baa Ram Ewe Titus!

Titus is a fingering weight blend of alpaca, Wensleydale, and Bluefaced Leicester wools, sourced and spun entirely in the UK.

We’re proud to have been the first US stockist of the stuff, back in 2012 when it came in just one color.

Since then, Titus has been warmly embraced by knitters, crocheters, and weavers all over the world, and the palette has expanded considerably.

We have three sample garments knit in Titus at the shop, which hint at the many possibilities for this special yarn: “Baht ‘At,” a pair of intricately cabled fingerless mitts, “Color Affection,” a three-color garter stitch shawl, and “Northallerton,” a slouchy colorwork hat. Titus is happy at a range of gauges, depending upon how dense a fabric you’re after, and upon the kind of garment you’re making.

For more pattern ideas, check out Coop Knits Toasty Vol. One, Kate Davies’ “Paper Dolls” and “Catkin,” Kirsten Kapur’s “Minetta,” and Carol Feller’s “Titus Adrift.” Also follow us on Pinterest, where I recently sorted the patterns and projects by gauge, just like the yarns at our shop. Check out the “Fingering weight” board for plenty of ways to use Titus, then come by the shop to plan your next project!

New colors in Titus Shades.

Posted by Julia on September 16, 2014

We’re delighted to announce the recent arrival of three new colors in Titus Shades!

Titus Shades is a fingering weight blend of alpaca, Wensleydale, and Bluefaced Leicester wools, sourced and spun entirely in the UK.

We’re proud to have been the first US stockist of the stuff, back in 2012 when it came in just one color. Since then, Titus has been warmly embraced by knitters, crocheters, and weavers all over the world, and now comes in no less than 11 glorious shades.

With new colors comes a new pattern collection: Coop Knits Toasty Vol. 1, by Rachel Coopey, featuring accessories of all kinds knit in Titus Shades.

Coopey’s designs use a variety of techniques that show how versatile Titus is. It shines in cables, lace, texture patterns, and stranded colorwork, behaves nicely at a range of gauges.

Rosi has been knitting a sample “Northallerton” hat from this collection, using all three new shades together.

Come by the shop to flip through Toasty, see Rosi’s hat-in-progress and my “Color Affection”–also knit with three shades of Titus. Consider this special yarn for your next project!

Show and tell: shawls and wraps, Swans Island, capes, and caps.

Posted by Julia on November 19, 2013

We love it when knitters and crocheters come to the shop with finished garments to share. It happens even more frequently than I can pull out my camera to document these projects; still and all, I have a beautiful bunch of show-and-tell photos to share here today. I hope you find them as inspiring as we do!

Margie knit this incredible lace cape in about three weeks, a testament to her perseverance and to the pleasures of lace-knitting.

There are times in life that call for simple, soothing projects, and times when we’d rather work on challenging projects that keep us thinking as we stitch–this belongs to the second category. The pattern is “Lady’s Circular Cape in Shell Pattern,” from the fantastic Victorian Lace Today, and the yarn is Isager Tvinni.

Katherine is a teacher here at the shop, offering a variety of project-based classes for knitters and crocheters alike. Above is her Guernsey Wrap, knit in Berroco Ultra Alpaca. I love this pairing of yarn and pattern; the 50/50 blend of wool and alpaca is structured enough to show the texture patterns and soft enough to drape gently in this generous rectangular shawl.

Many of Katherine’s students are knitting their own Guernsey Wraps in Ultra Alpaca, too, though I know that one is working with Fibre Company Canopy Worsted–I can’t wait to see all these Guernsey-Wraps-to-be!

Katherine also brought in her Belle Epoque shawl, a crochet design by Kira Dulaney. Katherine’s shawl is crocheted in Baa Ram Ewe Titus Shades, a special yarn for a special project.

Last week, Chris came in wearing this cuddly cowl she knit in Swans Island Organic Merino Worsted. The pattern is “Anna Cowl,” a loop scarf long enough to wrap twice around one’s neck, and decorated with lace and garter stitch. From the provisional cast-on to a careful blocking, Chris did a great job, and finished her cowl just in time for cold weather. Look for the “Anna Cowl” and other patterns for Swans Island yarns in the Swans Island pattern binder.

Rosi has been working with the Swans Island Organic Merino Worsted, too. She used it to design and knit this stunning aran sweater with the guidance of Janet Szabo’s “Follow-the-Leader Aran Knit-along Workshop.” Swans Island is a great yarn for cable patterns; this sweater really shows the yarn’s sharp stitch definition, as well as the knitter’s precision and attention to detail.

Just as I anticipated, Anne’s third grandchild hat was on and off the needles in no time. A variation on “Wurm,” a free Ravelry download, this whimsical little hat is knit with String Theory Merino DK, with embellishments in Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK.

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: all kinds.

Posted by Julia on September 14, 2013

We’ve had so much new yarn coming in, so many new patterns and magazines, that I’ve let the show and tell pictures pile up. It’s time to share the projects our knitters and crocheters have brought in to show us, and today, there’s a gracious plenty.

First up is Rosi, who is modeling an incredible lace sweater she made using String Theory Selku, a sport weight blend of silk and wool. The shimmer and drape of Selku is perfectly suited to this “Sampler Tabard,” a Cheryl Oberle pattern from Meg Swansen’s A Gathering of Lace. As Rosi will tell you, this sweater isn’t nearly as complicated as it looks–each individual lace pattern is straightforward, and only repeated a few times before you switch to the next pattern, making it suitable for beginner lace knitters.

Molly has been knitting sweaters for her granddaughters. This one is made from a Knitting Pure & Simple pattern using Malabrigo Rios. Rios is a great choice for a child’s sweater: smooth, next-to-skin soft, machine-washable, and colorful.

Here’s Margie in her completed Chamomile shawl, a Helga Isager pattern from her Amimono Knit Collection 2010. The pattern calls for two Isager yarns, the fingering weight Tvinni and lace weight Alpaca 1. Margie substituted the fingering weight Malabrigo Finito for Isager Tvinni and came out with a stunning shawl.

Marion, who teaches our magic loop sock-knitting classes, is cranking out socks as always. Here is one of the many pairs that have graced her needles over the past couple of months, knit in Colinette Jitterbug. Magic loopers interested in learning to knit two socks at a time on one long needle should check out our class schedule, as Marion will teach this technique in October.

Ashley is a crocheter and an avid fan of Malabrigo yarns. She whipped up this pair of baby hats for some twins-to-be using Malabrigo Arroyo, a sport weight, machine-washable merino. The stars were crocheted with Jitterbug in just the right shade to complement this Arroyo colorway.

Monika is a knitter and HYS customer all the way from the Netherlands, where we shipped her the last two skeins of Baa Ram Ewe’s Titus Dark that she needed to complete this hoodie. At the time, Titus was so popular in Europe that it became hard to find, so it was a relief to connect Monika with those desperately needed skeins. She designed this sweater herself, and was kind enough to send photos upon completing it.

Thanks to all who share their work with us! It’s truly inspiring to see what your creative hands make with our yarns. Keep it coming!

Show and tell: shawls and stoles.

Posted by Julia on July 24, 2013

This past week has been an abundant one for show and tell at the shop; there is so much to share that I’ll divide it up into two posts. Today, I’ll focus on shawls and stoles, for a great deal of them have found their way into the shop lately.

Here’s Margaretta’s completed Color Affection in three shades of Titus, a shawl that has inspired many knitters to create Color Affections in their own three-color combinations of Titus. I made one myself, which recent visitors to the shop may have seen hanging on the wall.

Margaretta used the first three shades of Titus that were available, Dark, Original, and Light, which make a gentle gradient from dark gray to light brown to pale beige. As a lover of neutral colors, this Color Affection really appeals to me; I can’t wait to see all the others that I know are in progress or soon to be started!

Paula and Kristin came in last week, each with a Stole on the needles. Both are made in Isager Alpaca 2, a cuddly fingering weight blend of merino wool and alpaca. Over the past year, Anne and I have seen so many beautiful colorways come together as knitters select yarn for the Stole, which uses an incredible nine colors total. What still surprises me is how different each stole can look from the next, though they all draw from the same 20-color palette. Paula’s Stole, above, is subdued and calming to the eye, while Kristin’s, below, is vibrant and bold.

Here are two shawls that Barbara crocheted in a recent Triangular Crochet Shawl class at the shop, using the 8 Hour Shawl pattern, available as a free download from Ravelry.

Having just graduated from Beginning Crochet not long ago, Barbara is on a roll, planning another two crochet shawls in the same yarn she used here, the beloved Malabrigo Rios. Soft, springy, colorful, worsted-weight, and machine-washable, Rios is a great choice for all kinds of knit and crochet projects, from shawls and scarves to sweaters, hats, mitts, blankets, and baby things.

Thanks to these knitters and crocheters for sharing their work with us! If any or all of these projects inspire you, come by the shop to get some Titus, Isager Alpaca 2, or Malabrigo Rios for shawls and Stoles of your own. Our Annual Inventory Sale is on through July 31st, so come in soon to take advantage of the 15% discount on everything we have in stock. Additionally, we have a Beginning Crochet class coming up soon, if any knitters out there are inspired to try another craft; read more about it and all our classes on our website. See you at the shop!

Just 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!

Color Affection.

Posted by Julia on June 28, 2013

On the drive back from TNNA, I finished knitting Color Affection, a shawl made in three shades of Titus.

Many of you have probably run into this pattern before. Maybe you’ve made one yourself, or one of your friends has made one, or maybe you’ve perused the 9,300+ Color Affections on Ravelry. It’s an asymmetric, crescent-shaped shawl in lace or fingering weight yarn, knit all in garter stitch stripes. Increases and short rows create the curvy shape, and much of the pleasure of knitting it is in seeing how the colors play together.

Titus, a fingering weight blend of Wensleydale and Bluefaced Leicester wools and British Alpaca, is fuzzy and creates a gently draping fabric at this loose gauge, a perfect match for Color Affection. The pattern, written by designer Veera Valimaki, calls for 385 yards of each color; each skein of Titus has only 350 yards, but I decided to try it with one skein of each anyway, and cross my fingers that I had enough to complete the shawl as written. Luckily, I finished with yarn to spare.

At the shop, you’ll find this Color Affection hanging on the wall below Wingspan. Come by to try it on for size, admire Titus, and plan a Color Affection of your own. If there’s not a color combination in Titus that wins your affection, consider Isager Alpaca 2, Swans Island Organic Merino Fingering, or Sincere Sheep Equity Fingering. See you at the shop!

Titus Shades.

Posted by Julia on May 27, 2013

Titus, a fingering weight yarn from British company Baa Ram Ewe, has been a hit since it first arrived at the shop in December. At that time, it came in only one color, an oatmealy tan the natural shade of the alpaca, Wensleydale, and Bluefaced Leicester wool it’s made of. A few months later, Titus Light and Dark became available, two new natural shades. On Friday, we were delighted to receive Baa Ram Ewe’s latest creation, a shipment of eight brand new colors: Titus Shades.

Each color is inspired by and named for some aspect of the Yorkshire landscape or culture: a deep, warm orange is called Parkin, a ginger and black treacle cake; a cool, pale blue is named Aire for the river that flows through Yorkshire’s traditional woollen district; a glistening white is called White Rose, for the flower on the Yorkshire flag.

These new shades fill out the Titus palette quite nicely, expanding the range of neutral colors beyond even those initial three.

A lovely knitter we know, Margaretta, has been working on a Color Affection shawl in the three original shades of Titus; here’s a sliver of her shawl-in-progress, still on the needles.

I thought of Color Affection as I was photographing the new Titus Shades, and couldn’t keep myself from arranging them into groups of three that I thought would make nice Color Affection combinations.

When Anne gave me the enviable task of creating a shop sample with Titus Shades, we brainstormed for a long time. Would stripes or stranded colorwork be the best way to show off these new colors? What kind of garment should it be? We finally decided on a lacy, striped cowl, and I got as far as casting on for that cowl when Margaretta came in to see Titus Shades with her Color-Affection-to-be in hand. At that slightly open gauge, Titus posseses the “drape and softness of a sleeping cat,” to borrow a phrase from Clara Parkes. Anne and I agreed that I really ought to be knitting Color Affection, and I ripped out my cast-on to begin again. I’m now a handful of rows into it, enjoying every stitch.

Come by the shop to see Titus in all its glorious hues, and to pick a color combination of your own. There are so many wonderful two- and three-color shawls that call for fingering weight yarn, and Titus is a perfect candidate. See you at the shop!

Back in stock: Titus.

Posted by Julia on April 25, 2013

For the past few weeks, there’s been a nearly-empty basket in the fingering weight section at the shop. Two skeins of Titus Dark have been sitting there, looking lonely, save for the knit samples tucked in with them. We were waiting for a shipment from Baa Ram Ewe, where Titus has been backordered (and Titus Light still is). This week, we welcomed back Titus in two colors: its original natural brown and the heathered charcoal of Titus Dark. Finally!

We also got a Titus pattern back in stock: Ann Kingstone’s “Baht ‘At” mitts. I knit a sample mitt, which came together surprisingly quickly, even with the tiny needles and twisted traveling stitches. It’s a little thing, but the fabric is stretchy, which makes for a satisfying, snug fit.

Come by the shop to try it on for yourself, and know that it’s available not only as a single pattern, but also as part of the Born and Bred collection, or in a kit with enough Titus to knit a pair. Whatever fits your knitterly needs. See you at the shop!

Two new colors in Titus.

Posted by Julia on February 19, 2013

As soon as we learned that Yorkshire yarn company Baa Ram Ewe had begun producing new colors of their well-loved yarn, Titus, we ordered some for the shop. Say hello to Titus Light and Titus Dark.

All three shades of Titus share a common gauge and fiber content: fingering weight, and comprised of 50% Grey Wensleydale, 20% Bluefaced Leicester, and 30% alpaca, all sourced in the UK. Baa Ram Ewe created Titus with the mission to revive the once-thriving British textile industry, and it seems they’re off to a good start, given the warm welcome Titus has received in the knitting world. We first learned of Titus through Clara Parkes’ glowing review, and recently saw another rave from Edinburgh designer and blogger Kate Davies. Even in a single undyed color, this yarn has wooed many. With three natural shades, Titus is even more tempting.

How to make use of it? Some HYS knitters are using Titus as the main color in their Quill shawl. Anne wants to use all three in a Color Affection shawl. A set of tam and mitts calling for Titus can be found in Ann Kingstone’s Born and Bred, which are now available as single patterns as well as in kits with the yarn.

On top of that, a recent Wooly Wormhead pattern calls for Titus, and the people at Baa Ram Ewe recommended this cabled cardigan pattern from Susan Crawford as a good match for Titus, as well.

The longer Titus lives at the shop, the more pattern ideas come up, it seems. We are just loving this yarn. Come by the shop to see all three shades of Titus, and to plan your next project.