Peavine + Tukuwool Fingering.

Gudrun Johnston’s “Peavine” is our featured hat pattern for September, the final month of the HYS Hat Club!

HYS Hat Club members received four skeins of Tukuwool Fingering for the project, enough to knit two or three “Peavine” hats with the colors in different arrangements. Here’s a trio in each of the HYS Hat Club color palettes – Warm, Cool, Neutral, and Surprise.

Warm 

Cool

Neutral

Surprise

For HYS Hat Club members, we also included a Knitter’s Graph Paper Journal, and we have some for sale at the shop, as well – knitter’s graph paper has squares that, like knitted stitches, are wider than they are tall. This makes them ideal for penciling in all manner of knitting charts, from cables and lace to intarsia, texture patterns, and – of course – colorwork.

  • Tukuwool Fingering: fingering weight, 100% Finnish wool, 220 yards/50 grams; $12.50 each or $50 for 4 skeins needed to make “Peavine”
  • Knitter’s Graph Paper Journal: $12 each

Order online if one of these colorways piques your interest – we’re also open for drop-in shopping, no appointment required, from 11am – 5:30pm, Tuesdays – Saturdays. See you at the shop!

Show and tell: more sweaters!

It’s been fun going back through show and tell photos from Instagram over the past year since our closure – there are so many incredible projects to share. Let’s take a look at some sweaters!

Like many of us, Linda spent much of the past year finishing lingering projects, and here she is modeling one of them – “Galloway,” a colorwork cardigan designed by Jared Flood for Brooklyn Tweed Shelter.

Above is Rosi’s “Cloudy Blouse,” an intricate embroidered pullover designed by Helga Isager for Isager Spinni.

Here’s Pat in her “Donner,” knit with Malabrigo Caprino and trimmed with Shibui Haven.

Linda knit this “Orime” top with Brooklyn Tweed Peerie, a smooth and springy yarn that’s perfect for showing off the subtle stitch pattern in Veronik Avery’s design.

Here’s Laura, showing off her beautiful “Zahavi,” designed by Emily Greene for Brooklyn Tweed Arbor – another yarn with superb stitch definition.

Above is Patricia’s “Peace Lily Blouse,” knit for her daughter using Kelbourne Woolens Mojave. She modified this cropped top by lengthening the ribbing, a clever and easy fix that changes the whole look of the garment.

Here’s Denise’s first ever steeked sweater, Caitlin Hunter’s “Ramblin Woman” cardigan, knit with Isager Jensen.

Thanks to Linda, Rosi, Pat, Linda, Laura, Patricia, and Denise for sharing their work with us! We can’t wait to see what you make next.

Yarn ideas for “Illuminate,” by Andrea Mowry.

Andrea Mowry’s latest design has us playing the color game… here are some yarn ideas for “Illuminate,” a striking striped pullover with a colorwork yoke.

“Illuminate,” by Andrea Mowry. Photo © Andrea Mowry

Mowry uses a sport weight wool for the main color, and doubles up a lace weight mohair/silk blend for the contrast color. For the lace weight yarn, we love Shibui Silk Cloud – it’s soft and fuzzy and seems to glow with saturated color.

Shibui Silk Cloud:  lace weight, 60% mohair, 40% silk, 330 yards/25 g; $26.50 each ($28.50 for Julie Hoover colorways)

I looked through our sport weight yarns for main color options and found several that paired well with Shibui:

Brooklyn Tweed Ranch 03sport weight, 100% merino wool, 170 yards/50g; $16.50 each

Mountain Meadow Wool Codysport weight, hand-dyed, 100% merino wool, 200 yards/50 g; $9.80 each

Kelbourne Woolens Andorrasport weight, 60% merino wool, 20% highland wool, 20% mohair, 185 yards/50 g; $12 each

Swans Island All American Sport: sport weight, hand-dyed, 100% Rambouillet wool, 185 yards/40 g; $12.50 each

Reach out if any of these combinations catches your eye – we’re happy to help calculate yardage or answer any questions that come up as you plan an “Illuminate” sweater of your own!

Show and tell: little sweaters.

Back with more show and tell! Here’s another batch of completed projects made with yarns from our shop. If you follow us on Instagram, some of these may look familiar – let’s take a closer look at these sweet sweaters for babies and children.

Pam knit this “Ezra” cardigan with Brooklyn Tweed Dapple, a DK weight blend of merino and organic cotton. The skeins vary from light to dark, giving a special tonal look to each garment knit with Dapple.

Here’s Janese’s “Baby Surprise Jacket,” knit with Malabrigo Rios. Elizabeth Zimmermann’s classic pattern is knit all in one piece, then folded up and seamed at the shoulders. Instead of alternating skeins to blend the hand-dyed colors, Janese knit all the way through her first skein before switching to the second, letting the uniqueness of each one shine through – we love the result!

Emily knit the “Baby Colorwork Cardigan” above with Brooklyn Tweed Peerie, a favorite yarn she’s returned to for project after project. With so many kinds of yarn to choose from, this is high praise for Peerie!

Above is Rosi’s “Dog Star,” a beloved Tin Can Knits pattern that Anne and I have each made several times. Rosi used Berroco Ultra Wool DK for the main color and Malabrigo Arroyo for the contrast color and cuffs.

Here are two of Anne’s finished knits, from the last batch of sweaters she made for her grandchildren. Above is “Atlas (For Kids)” knit with Brooklyn Tweed Loft, and below is “Leaf Sweater for Kids,” knit with Malabrigo Sock.

She’s already three sweaters into the next round of knits for her grandchildren – looking forward to sharing them with you here as they emerge from her knitting bag!

Thanks to Pam, Janese, Emily, Rosi and Anne for letting me share these inspiring knits. We love to see what all of you are making, and sincerely thank anyone who starts a project with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop!

Spindrift + Brilliant Corners.

July’s selection for the HYS Hat Club is “Brilliant Corners,” by Kate Davies, and 3 shades of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift.

HYS Hat Club, July 2021: “Brilliant Corners,” by Kate Davies, Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, and highlighter tape.

This textured colorwork design was inspired by jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, whose song “Brilliant Corners” is marked by regularity as well as unpredictability – traits Davies incorporated into this three-color hat.

“Brilliant Corners,” by Kate Davies. Photo © Kate Davies Designs

Spindrift is one of my very favorite yarns in the shop, a classic Shetland wool that comes in over two hundred colors, so I had great fun selecting HYS Hat Club colorways. Here’s a trio in each of the color palettes – Warm, Cool, Neutral, and Surprise.

  • Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift: fingering weight, 100% shetland wool, 115 yards/25 g; $6.90 each, or $20.70 for 3 needed to make “Brilliant Corners”

Here’s our Spindrift display from above, a special spot here at our shop. Happy to help you put together a custom colorway, just order online and tell us what you like. In-store shopping appointments are also available – click here to schedule an appointment!

Shelter + Twin Lakes Cowl.

Already mastered your “First Colorwork Cowl”? Knit Tressa Weidenaar’s “Twin Lakes Cowl” with Brooklyn Tweed Shelter! This colorwork pattern is similar, but has larger motifs, some of which require trapping long floats – here’s a tutorial from Modern Daily Knitting that shows a few methods.

“Twin Lakes Cowl,” by Tressa Weidenaar. Photo © Tressa Weidenaar

Weidenaar’s bold use of high contrast color caught my eye; she’s used Fossil in the background and Homemade Jam and Almanac in the foreground, two shades that are about the same value and both contrast against the white.

As I put together these alternate “Twin Lakes Cowl” color combinations, I kept this strategy in mind – one light background color and two dark contrast colors.

Then I flipped it, selecting one dark background color and two light contrast colors.

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter: worsted weight, 100% Targhee-Columbia wool, 140 yards/50 g; $16.50 each, or $49.50 for three skeins needed to knit “Twin Lakes Cowl.”

We have a huge selection of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in stock – make an in-store shopping appointment to select your own color combination, or pick from the options above and order online for local pickup or shipping!

Shelter + First Colorwork Cowl.

BT by Brooklyn Tweed is a collection of short, accessible knitting patterns designed for learning new skills. The latest in this series is “First Colorwork Cowl,” by Jared Flood, knit with the worsted weight, woolen spun Shelter.

“First Colorwork Cowl” is shown here in 3 colors, but Flood has come up with 4- and 5-color options, too! We’ve put together bundles for this pattern in BT’s color combinations along with a few of our own.

 

 

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter: worsted weight, 100% Targhee-Columbia wool, 140 yards/50 g; $16.50 each

3-color options (4 skeins): $66

4-color options (5 skeins): $82.50

5-color options (6 skeins): $99

 

 

 

The “First Colorwork Cowl” pattern is free when you purchase at least 4 skeins of Shelter from us; it includes a link to a companion PDF with information on knitting the cowl with 4 or 5 colors.

 

If any of these color combinations grabs you, order online for local pickup or shipping! We’re also happy to help put together a custom colorway just for you – just let us know what shades you love. You can see them all on the Brooklyn Tweed website, and know that we have almost every one here on our shelves, even some of the retired shades.

Da Crofters Kep.

We’re so excited about “Da Crofters Kep,” Shetland Wool Week’s featured pattern for 2021!

“Da Crofters Kep,” by Wilma Malcolmson, shown in Colourway 1.

This six-color fair isle hat is currently available as a free pattern download from the Shetland Wool Week website. A new Shetland Wool Week hat pattern is something I look forward to every year, so I downloaded it as soon as it was available, and then went straight to our Jamieson’s of Shetland Spindrift to play the color game. I spent some time putting together five color combinations, inspired by the five colorways shown in the pattern.

“Da Crofters Kep,” by Wilma Malcolmson, shown in Colourway 2. © shetland wool week

“Da Crofters Kep,” by Wilma Malcolmson, shown in Colourway 3. © shetland wool week

“Da Crofters Kep,” by Wilma Malcolmson, shown in Colourway 4. © shetland wool week

“Da Crofters Kep,” by Wilma Malcolmson, shown in Colourway 5. © shetland wool week

Yarn bundles for “Da Crofters Kep” are $48.30 – 7 balls of Shetland Spindrift (2 in the main color, and 1 each in 5 contrast colors) at $6.90 per ball. We just got a fresh delivery of Shetland Spindrift with this project in mind, so all five colourways are currently in stock – get in touch if you’d like to order yarn for a “Da Crofters Kep” of your own!

Hello, Kelbourne Woolens Camper!

We’re excited to announce that Kelbourne Woolens has a brand new yarn, and we’ve got it right here at our shop – meet Camper!

Kelbourne Woolens Camper:

  • fingering weight
  • 100% wool
  • 200 yards/50 g
  • $9.50 each

Camper is a lighter weight version of KW’s popular Scout, and comes in all the same solid and heathered colors. The fine weight, soft but sturdy fiber content, and smaller 50g skeins make it perfect for stranded colorwork, which is illustrated beautifully in the new Camper Collection!

“Laurel Hill,” by Kate Gagnon Osborn – colorwork hat

The design team at Kelbourne Woolens has dreamed up seven colorwork patterns for Camper, including hats, mittens, a scarf, and stunning sweaters for adults and children.

“Presque Isle,” by Kate Gagnon Osborn – colorwork pullover

“Moreau Lake,” by Kate Gagnon Osborn – colorwork mittens

“Cumberland Falls,” by Courtney Kelley – colorwork cardigan

“Selbu Modern 2.0,” by Kate Gagnon Osborn – colorwork hat

“Baxter Peak,” by Kate Gagnon Osborn – colorwork pullover, ages 6 months – 10 years

“Ridley Creek,” by Courtney Kelley – colorwork hat and scarf

To sweeten the deal, the first purchases of Camper from our shop will come with a download code for a free Kelbourne Woolens pattern. Head to our online order form to place your requests!

 

Camper Collection pattern photos by Linette Kielinski / Team Kielinski.

Shelter + Otte.

Brooklyn Tweed’s latest pattern collection is Form + Expression, five garments and accessories united by the theme of self-expression through color and texture.

Of this group, “Otte” leapt out at me, as colorwork pullovers often do. Knit with worsted weight, woolen-spun Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, Jared Flood’s unisex design invites playful color combinations.

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter: worsted weight, 100% Targhee-Columbia wool, 140 yards/50 g; $16.50 each. Sweater uses 9-22 skeins, depending upon size.

Below is the color combination shown in the pattern photo, with Amaranth as the main color and Tartan, Fossil, and Iceberg as contrast colors 1-3.

With this colorway in mind, and with inspiration from “Otte” projects on Ravelry, I came up with some more combinations – let’s take a look!

If any of these color combinations grabs you, order online for local pickup or shipping! We’re also happy to help put together a custom colorway just for you – just let us know what shades you love! You can see them all on the Brooklyn Tweed website, and know that we have almost every one here on our shelves, even some of the retired shades.