Tag Archives: colorwork

Swans Island colorwork kits.

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As the holidays approach, we meet more and more folks seeking presents for the knitters in their lives. With the gift-giving season in mind, we’ve put together some new kits featuring yarn and patterns from Swans Island.

Each kit features a colorwork pattern and all the yarn to complete it. They’d make great gifts for knitters who love colorwork, of course, but I’d also recommend them for those who haven’t yet mastered this particular technique, as small projects like hats and mitts are a good size for learning.

The yarn is All American Sport, a 2-ply woolen-spun yarn composed of 100% Rambouillet wool, which was grown, processed, spun, and dyed in the USA. It’s a unique combination of next-to-skin soft and holds-its-shape sturdy, and was created with stranded colorwork in mind. 

Come by the shop if you’re seeking gifts for a friend or materials to make them with – we hope you find inspiration here!

Show and tell: colorful shawls.

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Time for another round of show and tell! We always love seeing what you make with our yarns, and lately I’ve had the pleasure of seeing and photographing more finished projects than I can share in one blog post. For today, let’s look at some colorful shawls that started life as yarn on our shelves.

Above is Donita’s “Wisdom Wrap,” knit with Alchemy Silken Straw and Sanctuary. She brought it in to show us before felting, which will transform this partly-wool shawl from a colorblock rectangle to a softer, more organic shape – we can’t wait to see it after she takes the leap!

Gwen loves working with Ewe Ewe yarns. She’s worked with Baa Baa Bulky and Wooly Worsted before, and has come back to the latter to make the “Whenever Wrap” above. With so many exciting yarns to choose from, this return to the same yarn for multiple projects is quite the endorsement!

Nancy recently knit this “Butterfly / Papillon” shawl with Brooklyn Tweed’s newest yarn, Peerie, and is preparing to teach a class on the subject here at the shop.

Many of the “Butterfly / Papillon” projects on Ravelry have been made with self-striping or hand-dyed yarns, so it’s particularly striking to see Nancy’s solid color version. I’m looking forward to seeing the shawls that come out of her class!

Nancy’s next project is another colorful shawl, Felicity Ford’s “Efflorescent,” from her latest book, Knitsonik Stranded Colourwork Playbook. The swatches below were knit with Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, and show two of the three colorways for “Efflorescent,” more class prep. Read more about Nancy’s upcoming class on our Classes page – there are still a few spaces if you’d like to attend!

Many thanks to the talented knitters who shared the projects above, and to everyone who starts their projects with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. We love seeing what you make!

The Knitsonik Stranded Colourwork Playbook.

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Meet Felicity Ford’s Knitsonik Stranded Colourwork Playbook! 

A sequel of sorts to her Knitsonik Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook of a few years ago, this Playbook picks up where she left off, transforming the imagery of daily life into stranded colorwork projects.

Ford’s colorwork is surprising, whimsical, and often collaborative, like the knitted correspondence above, or the tarmac-inspired bunting below.

Above all, Ford’s designs and ideas are playful, and invite knitters to play along. Her book does include patterns, but encourages knitters to adapt them to their own tastes and ideas.

Our friend and teacher, Nancy, recently met Felicity Ford at Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp and came away inspired to make the “Efflorescent” shawl from Ford’s Playbook. She’s leading a class on the subject here at our shop, and we couldn’t be more excited to see the shawls that will emerge from it – sign up now if you’d like to attend!

Look for the Knitsonik Stranded Colourwork Playbook on the teacart here at the shop, where a variety of new books and magazines are waiting to inspire you. See you at the shop!

Lucerne.

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Our shop is abuzz with excitement over Brooklyn Tweed’s new yarn, Peerie. The folks at BT were kind enough to send a couple of sample skeins our way in advance of the release, giving Anne just enough time to knit “Lucerne.”

Jared Flood’s “Lucerne” is a colorwork hat in two, three, or four shades of Brooklyn Tweed Peerie. It’s a perfect starting place for those new to stranded colorwork, and Peerie’s 45 shades are an absolute playground for knitters of all experience levels.

Anne’s “Lucerne” is in two shades, the dark green Nori and pale gray/green Gale. In this sample, the darker shade is the main color, but their positions could easily be swapped for an equally attractive, but very different look. Here are a few more two-color combinations to consider.

I couldn’t stop here, of course – in fact, I spent the better part of Wednesday afternoon creating and photographing color combinations for this project! Next up are three-color combinations. I began with one that Flood suggests in his pattern.

The formula here is straightforward: three colors, all from the same family – one light, one medium, and one dark. I had fun creating a few more in this vein.

The possibilities for four-color combinations are even more varied, of course. There are no rules, but it’s wise to have a range of values, so the individual colors can be distinguished from one another in the context of the pattern. Here’s one from Jared Flood.

Here are a few I came up with, just the beginning of what’s possible.

Until June 30th, the pattern is free when you buy Peerie here at our shop. Look for the yarn in the fingering weight section. We can’t wait to see what color combinations you come up with for “Lucerne” hats of your own!

West Highland Way.

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Delighted to announce that Kate Davies’ newest book is here!

West Highland Way is a stunning collection of patterns and essays inspired by the Scottish long-distance walking route it’s named for.

Landmarks along this route are marked with musings from Davies and a garment inspired by said landmark. “Còinneach,” a favorite cardigan of mine, is named for a hill overlooking Loch Lomond, for example.

Kate Davies is a knitwear designer and writer who I very much admire, for her traditional-looking, smartly-crafted patterns as well as her academic approach to textiles.

West Highland Way is exactly the kind of book we’ve come to expect from Davies: rich in cultural and historical information, lovingly produced, and bursting with photography as beautiful as the knitwear.

Come by the shop to browse the latest books as well as our older favorites; we keep many of Davies’ books in stock. See you there!

Back in stock: Tukuwool Fingering.

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We recently restocked a relatively new-to-us yarn, Tukuwool Fingering, which has quickly become a favorite. Anne and I were so excited when this enormous box arrived from Canada, especially because it held three brand new colors!

Tukuwool Fingering is a woolen-spun, fingering weight blend of Finnsheep and Finnsheep-Texel wool, sourced and produced entirely in Finland. It’s a little toothy, but soft enough for next-to-skin wear, depending upon one’s preferences; a springy and resilient yarn.

I knit two “Bousta Beanies” with this yarn and fell in love with it along the way. Its texture and color palette make it particularly well-suited to colorwork, I think, a quality that shines in local designer Kerry Bullock-Ozkan’s “Rionnag Cowl.”

Perhaps you saw this cowl on display during our recent HYS Colorwork Trunk Show – it’s home with Kerry again, but still on my mind. We have print copies of the pattern here at the shop, but it’s also available on Ravelry.

Unpacking that big box of Tukuwool, I contemplated quartets of color with this cowl in mind; here are a few I came up with.

Since I first wrote about Tukuwool Fingering back in September, a number of new designs have been published for this special yarn:

Look for Tukuwool Fingering here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop – come by to see and touch it for yourself, and plan your next project!

Show and tell: colorwork sweaters.

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Two blog posts full of colorwork knitting just aren’t enough – here’s a third, with a focus on sweaters.

Here Margie models her “Townes” pullover, knit with a clever combination of speckled Malabrigo Mechita and a few solid and heathered shades of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift.

Emily’s first adult-sized colorwork sweater is a perfect fit and features a beautiful, distinctive color combination – the pattern is tincanknits’ “Dog Star,” and the yarn is the unbeatable Brooklyn Tweed Arbor.

Kate has just finished a “Dog Star,” too, on a smaller scale for her daughter. For this one, she’s used Fibre Co. Arranmore Light, but she has another in the works in Arbor – can’t wait to see that one, too!

From left to right, here are Claire, Tom, Jayne, Barbara, Barbara, and Amy, all in their “St. Brendan” pullovers knit during Amy’s class on the subject. It’s so fun to see all these different color combinations together, not to mention all these happy knitters sporting their own handiwork!

Thanks so much to the knitters pictured above, and to everyone who’s ever taught or taken a class here, or started a project with a trip to our shop – we’re so grateful for all of you! It’s our community that makes our shop special. See you there!

Show and tell: colorwork accessories.

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Time for another round of show and tell! Colorful knitting projects are popular around here – I had enough colorwork hats to fill a recent blog post, and now I’m back with other colorwork accessories.

Is a stuffed chicken an accessory? Whatever category it belongs in, Amy’s “Fancy Hen” is adorable, and beautifully knit. In preparation for a class on the subject earlier this year, she knit this charming chicken with Baa Ram Ewe Dovestone DK, a yarn well-suited to stranded colorwork.

Ellen knit these intricate colorwork mittens with Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift. The pattern is from Jorid Linvik’s Big Book of Knitted Mittens, a great resource if colorwork mittens are your cup of tea. A cute pair of mittens is a great starting place for learning and practicing stranded knitting, just like a hat or any small accessory.

Here’s Margie in her “Fresco Crescent” shawl, by Kieran Foley. This shawl is an impressive combination of knitting techniques from lace and stranded knitting to intarsia, stripes, and beading.

She used Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift in a big palette of neutrals, reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows, working these colors intuitively into the piece as she went, rather than planning it all out ahead of the knitting.

Gwen’s “Hudson” shawl, by Shannon Cook, is a simpler design of stripes and lace, but no less striking. Gwen’s color choice in Ewe Ewe Baa Baa Bulky is particularly eye-catching; she knit it to wear to a spring wedding and finished just in the nick of time.

Karin knit not one, but two pairs of Rachel Coopey’s “Alfrick” socks, using Coopey’s own CoopKnits Socks Yeah! yarn for both projects.

Thanks as always to the talented knitters who shared their work here today, and to everyone who starts their projects with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. I’ve got even more colorwork show-and-tell in store for the coming weeks – stay tuned!

Show and tell: colorwork hats.

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We love to see finished projects that started life as yarn on our shelves, and when I’m able, I love to photograph them and share them here on the blog. It’s been a busy spring so far, full of exciting new yarns, books, and magazines, all of which keep this blogger busy. Meanwhile, jaw-dropping projects keep coming through our doors, and it’s time to make time for show and tell. I have enough photos stockpiled for at least four blog posts – let’s begin with colorwork hats, on the heels of our HYS Colorwork Trunk Show.

Here’s Joanne’s “Seeds Hat,” designed by Jared Flood and knit with Brooklyn Tweed Loft. The soft sage green with the bright teal is a surprising combination that works well, especially with a jaunty pom-pom on top.

Sandy made a “Seeds Hat,” too, also using Brooklyn Tweed Loft; I snapped a photo just as she was weaving in the ends on this, her first colorwork project.

I made a family of “Banff” hats for my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew for the holidays. I love Malabrigo Rios for its easy care, fun colors, and soft, squishy hand, and I love tincanknits’ straightforward pattern for its charming motif and huge range of sizes.

Marilyn knit this “Bousta Beanie” to practice her fair isle knitting technique before embarking on a larger colorwork garment; her even tension and excellent color choice show how ready she is for that exciting project. The yarn is Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, a classic choice for colorwork and a personal favorite of mine.

Kate has been knitting with Shetland Spindrift, too; this “Snawheid” was designed by Kate Davies, for whom Kate and I share a great admiration. This playful combination of bright blue and natural white suits the snowflake motif and shows the pattern so well!

Margaretta’s “Tincture” hat is colorwork of a different kind – mosaic knitting, where some stitches are slipped and others are knit, for a color pattern with a bit of texture, too. She used Brooklyn Tweed Arbor in a high contrast combination for a striking effect.

Thanks to the knitters, crocheters, and weavers who bring in their work to show us what they’ve made! You inspire and amaze us, and we can’t wait to see what you get into next. Keep an eye on this blog for more show-and-tell soon!

Marie Wallin’s Shetland.

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Happy to report that Marie Wallin’s Shetland is back in stock!

This exquisite book is full of intricate fair isle designs in a kaleidoscopic array of colors, all knit with the quintessential Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift.

Wallin is a British designer known for her rich colorwork designs, inspired by traditional fair isle knitting, but applied to modern, wearable shapes and styles.

We’ve actually sold out of this book twice now – each batch we’ve ordered has disappeared before I have a chance to snap a photo or write about it here on the blog. Our third batch is half gone as I write this, but fear not – another is on the way!

Look for Shetland on the teacart here at the shop, amidst piles of new books and magazines, full of inspiration for new projects. See you there!