Tag Archives: blankets

Show and tell at a distance.

Posted by on

Since we closed our doors to walk-in visits back in March, we’ve seen a lot less of our community, and though it’s the right thing to do in terms of safety, we sure miss seeing all of you! We also miss the inspiring works-in-progress and finished projects you’d bring in for show and tell. Fortunately, we can still see your creations from a safe distance – we’ve had some folks send photos, and others bring their knits with them when they pick up their orders outside the shop! Let’s have a look.

Amy made this “Juneberry” shawl with Brooklyn Tweed Arbor, a DK weight Targhee wool yarn whose sharp stitch definition does this pattern justice.

Katherine used Malabrigo Rios to knit this “Scalloped Shawl,” which looks just lovely in this pastoral setting. Rios has been more popular than ever, and we’re doing our best to keep it in stock in spite of production delays and backorders!

 

Sue has a fondness for Rios, too – she’s been keeping herself busy knitting hat after hat with this soft and squishy yarn! Here are some of the patterns she’s used, all free downloads from Ravelry:

Yet another project in Malabrigo Rios is above, at right – Margaretta’s second (or third, or fourth? I’ve lost count!) “Umaro” blanket. She made the one on the left with Berroco Ultra Wool DK.

Here’s another of Margaretta’s projects, a “Furrow Cowl” knit with Austermann Merino Silk.

Nancy was the first of many to order yarn from us for “Katie’s Kep,” the Shetland Wool Week hat for 2020. We helped her pick colors of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, and it’s delightful to see how beautifully they came together in the finished hat.

 

Thanks to Amy, Katherine, Sue, Margaretta, and Nancy, for sharing your work with us! We can’t wait to see what comes off your needles next, and encourage anyone working with yarn from our shop to send photos or bring along your projects when you’re picking up an order. Stay in touch, and keep stitching!

Show and tell: blankets.

Posted by on

Time for another round of show and tell! I love to take photos of finished projects when folks bring them into the shop to share with us, and to share them here on our blog. I always seem to have a backlog of photos, thanks to the many productive knitters and crocheters who frequent our shop. Here’s a batch of show and tell featuring those most ambitious of projects – blankets!

Above is Nancy’s “Karoo Vintage” blanket, a magnum opus of colorful crochet. She used a variety of yarns, all plant fibers – Cascade Ultra Pima, Universal Bamboo Pop, Shibui Rain, Tahki Cotton Classic, and others. Bravo, Nancy!

The next two blankets come from a different Nancy, one who prefers to knit. Above is her “Tweed Baby Blanket,” knit with Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in a pleasing gradient of red and pink.

Nancy also made this “Umaro” baby blanket with Brooklyn Tweed Arbor. The simplicity of white brings clarity to this incredible stitch pattern. Nancy was generous enough to create this blanket for the shop as a sample – don’t miss admiring it next time you’re in!

Amy also completed an “Umaro” blanket recently, using Brooklyn Tweed Quarry held double. This intricate stitch pattern looks entirely new at such a large gauge.

Amy has an “Umaro” class underway at the shop now, and we’re so looking forward to seeing all the cozy blankets that come out of it!

Thanks to Nancy, Nancy, and Amy for sharing their work, and to everyone who starts their projects with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! We can’t wait to see what you make next.

Brooklyn Tweed and Shibui Samples of the Month!

Posted by on

December is here, and with it, new featured samples from Brooklyn Tweed and Shibui!

Our Brooklyn Tweed Sample of the Month is Jared Flood’s “Umaro,” an impressive lace and cable blanket knit with two strands of BT Quarry held together.

Quarry is Brooklyn Tweed’s heaviest yarn, a bulky weight, woolen-spun Targhee-Columbia wool. Each plump 100 gram skein boasts 200 yards, quite a bit for a yarn that knits up at 3-3.5 stitches per inch. It’s what our friend Emily used for her own “Umaro” blanket, below – she brought it in this week for show and tell, and reports that she snuggles underneath it on the couch with her kids all the time. A success!

Our Shibui Sample of the Month is “sequences,” by Lori Versaci, knit with Shibui Drift.

Drift is a treat to work with, a luxurious worsted weight blend of merino and cashmere.

We’re offer a 10% discount on Brooklyn Tweed Quarry and Shibui Drift until the end of the month – come by soon to take advantage and see these beautiful knit items!

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!

Show and tell: for the home.

Posted by on

Time for another round of show and tell! I love to take photos of finished projects when folks bring them into the shop to share with us, and to share them here on our blog. I always seem to have a backlog of photos, thanks to the many productive knitters, crocheters, and weavers who frequent our shop. Here’s a batch of show and tell featuring projects made for the home – mostly blankets!

Glen knit this “Ombre Waves Knit Blanket” as a gift for his daughter and son-in-law, using Malabrigo Rios, everyone’s favorite hand-dyed, superwash, worsted weight merino.

Petra wove the overshot table runner below using a cotton yarn in the warp and Brigg’s & Little Sport in the weft. The pattern is intricate and visually mesmerizing, even more so in the bold colors Petra chose – well done, Petra!

Peggy knit Jared Flood’s “Talon Throw” as a gift for her niece, a generous gift indeed.

Peggy used Berroco Ultra Alpaca, a soft and sturdy blend of wool and alpaca, and a staple of our worsted weight section here at the shop.

Berroco Ultra Wool is a staple of our worsted weight section, too, and another great yarn for blanket-making. Elsbeth used Ultra Wool for this striking Purl Soho “Mosaic Blanket.”

Amy knit this colorful blanket for her newest grandchild using Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted, a squishy superwash merino. The pattern is Svetlana Gordon’s “Hexagon Kaleidoscope Patchwork Knitting,” adapted to include butterfly patches among the flowers.

Thanks to Glen, Petra, Peggy, Elsbeth, and Amy for sharing their work, and to everyone who starts their projects with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! We can’t wait to see what you make next.

Show and tell: lace.

Posted by on

Our Thanksgiving break continues, and the shop will be closed until we reopen on Tuesday, Nov. 28th. Til then, I have more show-and-tell to share! The theme of this bunch is lace.

Betty knit this “Stone Point” poncho during Amy’s class here at the shop, her first-ever lace project! The yarn is Fibre Company Luma, a dk weight blend of wool, cotton, linen, and silk.

Sherri knit this beautiful blanket for her new daughter-in-law, Leah. The stitch pattern is good old feather and fan, a great introduction to lace knitting, and the yarn is a wide range of odds and ends from Sherri’s stash – this is a great way to use those bits and pieces and play with color along the way!

Here is a lace pattern on a somewhat smaller scale: Lois’s “Feather the Waves Socks,” knit with Malabrigo Sock. Lois has found a favorite in this vibrant hand-dyed yarn; this is the third pair she’s made with Malabrigo Sock!

Margaretta is an especially prolific lace-knitter, and lately her projects are made with Brooklyn Tweed yarns. After knitting a “Your Ice Cream Shawl” with Vale, she came back for another; this is her second project with Vale, Jared Flood’s now-classic “Girasole.”

After completing that, Margaretta took on Jared Flood’s “Lucca,” this time with Arbor. The heavier gauge of this yarn made a more substantial fabric and a larger piece, turning a circular shawl into a spectacular blanket.

Kellie has been knitting with Brooklyn Tweed, too – here she is modeling her “Hop Brook” shawl, knit with Loft. What a lovely match of yarn and pattern – a little rustic, a little delicate, and the light color lets the lace edging shine.

We love seeing what folks make with our yarns – thank you so much for sharing your projects with us. Hope you’re enjoying the holiday weekend, and we look forward to seeing you on or after the 28th!

New colors in Ewe Ewe Baa Baa Bulky.

Posted by on

Last week I unpacked a box from Ewe Ewe featuring four new colors in Baa Baa Bulky.

Ewe Ewe specializes in super-soft superwash merino yarns, and Baa Baa Bulky is the thickest of the bunch. Soft and easy to care for, Baa Baa Bulky is just the thing for frequently-worn accessories, children’s garments, and baby blankets.

We have a small car-seat or stroller-sized baby blanket at the shop made with Baa Baa Bulky, a free pattern when you purchase the yarn from us. It’s nothing but garter stitch and color blocks, simple and soothing to knit. The hardest part may be choosing a trio of colors, especially with new colors increasing the possible combinations. These sweet pastel shades created an opportunity for gradients like the one below, which I find especially pleasing.

 

Look for Baa Baa Bulky in the bulky weight section here at the shop, and come by to pick three shades to make a “Baa Baa Blanket” all your own!

Show and tell: stripes.

Posted by on

Time for another round of show and tell! Today’s projects all feature stripes, whether high-contrast or low, many-colored or few.

Here’s a low-contrast example, Nancy’s “Straw Into Gold” shawl. This elegant piece was made with three different Alchemy yarns, all of which were dyed the same color, so the stripes are subtle, showing the textural differences between each yarn.

Michele’s first-ever sweater, on the other hand, is a high-contrast combination of black and white. The pattern is “#11 Rugby Stripes Pullover,” from Vogue Knitting Magazine, and Michele knit hers with Elsebeth Lavold Calm Wool while attending Marsha’s Start Your First Sweater or Vest class here at the shop.

Michele is a relatively new knitter, but it’s clear she’s taken to it. By any standards, this is a successful sweater: the fit is good, her tension is even, and the stripes line up perfectly on each piece. For a first sweater, it’s doubly impressive. Well done, Michele!

Here’s Tom with his finished “Kauni Color Wave Shawl,” knit with Kauni Effektgarn. Not only is the shawl itself striped, the yarn is self-striping, too; Tom paired a rainbow skein with one in shades of black, white, and gray. The effect is striking, stripes on stripes.

Above is Jodi’s granny stripe blanket-in-progress, crocheted with Berroco Ultra Wool. When she brought it in to show us a few weeks ago, Anne and I were blown away, not only by its impressive size, but also by Jodi’s color sense. It’s not easy to put 20 colors in a perfectly balanced yet seemingly random arrangement. It takes thought and skill and a little bit of guts, all of which are on display in this outrageously beautiful piece.

Many thanks to the knitters and crocheters who shared their stripes with us today, and to everyone who starts their project with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. We are inspired by your stitches and can’t wait to see what you come up with next!

Hello, Baa Baa Bulky.

Posted by on

I’m delighted to announce that the latest yarn from Ewe Ewe is now on our shelves! Meet Baa Baa Bulky.

Like Wooly Worsted and Ewe So Sporty, Baa Baa Bulky is a superwash merino, soft and easy to care for.

We’ve been short on washable yarns in bulky weight these past few years, so we’re particularly excited to welcome Baa Baa Bulky to the fold. For frequently-worn accessories, baby and children’s garments, superwash wool is just the thing, and this one is a pleasure to work with.

I’ve developed an extremely simple baby blanket pattern to show off Baa Baa Bulky, a small piece designed for a car seat or stroller.

It’s nothing but good old garter stitch, squishy, stretchy, and warm. I picked a trio of gender neutral colors, though I find the combination of white, gray, and a pop of color quite appealing, regardless of the pop color.

The pattern is free when you purchase the yarn from us. Look for Baa Baa Bulky in the bulky weight section here at the shop, and come by to pick three shades to make a “Baa Baa Blanket” all your own!

See you at the shop.

Show and tell: critters.

Posted by on

Time for another round of show and tell! Here are some finished projects that started life as yarns on our shelves. These knitted things have something else in common, as well: they all feature animals!

DSCN5932

Amy designed and knit this “Baby Turtle Frenzy Blanket” for her granddaughter-to-be using Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted. It shows sea turtle hatchlings on their journey from the sandy beach through the breakers to the deep blue sea. She wrote a separate pattern for the tiny turtles themselves; get them together at a discounted price on Ravelry or here at the shop.

DSCN5933

Amy’s also offering a Tiny Turtle class here at the shop, for those interested in knitted toys–head to our Classes page to sign up!

DSCN5901

Ali came by the shop not long ago with two knitted critters. Above are her “Moose and the World’s Tree” mittens, from Annemor Sundbø’s Norwegian Mittens and Gloves, knit in Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift. Below is her “Hedgehog,” whose belly and face is also made of Shetland Spindrift, with garter stitch spines in Plymouth Galway held double.

DSCN6025

I, too, knit a hedgehog from this pattern a couple of years ago, and loved the process as much as the end product. Seeing this one made me want to knit another!

DSCN5829

We can’t talk about knitted critters without mentioning the “Baa-ble Hat,” a free pattern with well over 5,000 projects on Ravelry in the year and a half since it was first published. The “Baa-ble Hat” above is my second, and may not be my last. I used bright shades of Plymouth Tweed and Queensland Kathmandu Aran for this one, and love the way the colorwork looks in these speckled yarns.

DSCN6033

Amy just finished teaching an introductory class on stranded colorwork featuring the “Baa-ble Hat,” and the hat above was knit by one of her students, Clarine. She used Jamieson’s Shetland Heather Aran for three out of the four shades, knitting the soft green grass with Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed.

DSCN6032

Sarah was one of Amy’s students, too; she knit her hat in Malabrigo Rios, and left the shop after class with yarn for another “Baa-ble Hat.” It’s a pleasing little pattern, and a great way to try stranded colorwork for the first time. Amy’s offering another class on the subject in October–sign up now if you’d like to join!

Thanks to all those who share their work with us here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. We are inspired by your great ideas, and love to see them take shape!

Show and tell: stripes and colorwork.

Posted by on

We’re back with another round of show and tell! Here are some of the finished projects we’ve had the good fortune to admire lately, all of whom began as yarn on our shelves. Today, let’s look at projects featuring stripes and colorwork.

DSCN5740

Paula knit this “Chevron Baby Blanket” with Berroco Modern Cotton, modifying the pattern a bit to knit at a slightly smaller gauge. She swatched to figure out how wide each pattern repeat would be with her yarn, then added stitches to her cast-on so that her blanket would come out the desired size.

DSCN5756

Paula also finished this “wwwww #1” recently, a lined headband by Kate Davies. Paula used Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift for the colorwork exterior, and soft-as-can-be Shibui Maai for the lining. Nicely done, Paula!

DSCN5690

Margaretta recently knit Elizabeth Zimmermann’s classic “Baby Surprise Jacket” with Fibre Company Canopy Worsted, and used her leftovers to make a “Boston Whaler” hat. I love her unexpected combination of sage green, steely gray, and bright fuschia, especially with those perfect pink buttons!

DSCN5691

Margaretta has also been working on General Hogbuffer’s “Slippery Slope Socks,” using the solid CoopKnits Socks Yeah! and the self-striping Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball. Since I snapped this picture of the first finished sock, she’s completed the pair, and plans to make another with different colors.

DSCN5729

Judie’s “Wildheart” shawl was also knit with self-striping yarn, Cutthroat Yarn Gradient BFL. She added a picot bind-off to an otherwise unadorned edge; a little something that I think makes the whole shawl shine.

DSCN5730

Thanks to the talented knitters who shared their work with us today, and to all the fiber artists who begin their projects here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. We love seeing what you’re working on!