Tag Archives: coopknits

Show and tell: sweaters!

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

Anne recently knit this sweet little “Dog Star” sweater as a shop sample, showing off CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK. This Tin Can Knits pattern is one we often make and recommend for baby and kid knits, though it comes in adult sizes, as well – have you made one yet?

Here’s Karin in her first ever sweater, Andrea Mowry’s “Vellichor.” She chose three shades of Brooklyn Tweed Loft for this project, a lightweight woolen-spun yarn with nice structure for garment-making.

Molly knit this “Thistle” sweater for her mom, who models it here. The pattern comes from Anna Johanna’s Strands of Joy, a beautiful collection of modern colorwork sweaters. Molly used Tukuwool Fingering for this garment, another woolen-spun fingering weight yarn.

Above is Gail’s “Divide” pullover, knit with Brooklyn Tweed Arbor, a smooth and springy yarn perfectly suited to this intricate texture. Pattern by Emily Greene.

April came in last week wearing her brand new “Trove” pullover, knit with Kelbourne Woolens Andorra. We love that joyful new-sweater feeling!

Pattern by Emma Ducher for Pom Pom Quarterly 30 – we still have copies of this issue in stock, if you’re tempted to follow April’s lead and make a “Trove” of your own!

Thanks to Anne, Karin, Molly, Gail, and April for sharing their work with us! We love to see what you make with our yarns, and can’t wait to see what comes off your needles next.

Koigu Collector’s Club: Koigu Barn at Dawn.

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The Koigu Collector’s Club continues! Each month, we’ll receive 21 skeins of KPPPM in a limited edition color dyed especially for a select group of local yarn stores that carry Koigu. KPPPM is a fingering weight superwash merino, hand-dyed in vibrant colors by mother/daughter team Maie and Taiu Landra on their farm outside of Toronto, Canada.

Koigu KPPPM:

  • fingering weight
  • hand dyed, variegated
  • 100% superwash merino wool
  • 175 yards/50 g
  • $15.50 each

This month’s limited edition shade is Koigu Barn at Dawn, a variegated mix of peach, ivory, burgundy, and shades of gray.

This new colorway made me think of Andrea Mowry’s “Curio Socks,” a striped, slip-stitch pattern I’ve seen several knitters working on lately. The heathered CoopKnits Socks Yeah! makes a great Main Color, letting the variegated KPPPM take center stage as Contrast Color.

Look closely at Mowry’s sizing as you select your yarn and colors; some sizes will require two skeins of Socks Yeah! as shown here, while others will only need one.

CoopKnits Socks Yeah!: fingering weight, 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon, 231 yards/50 grams; $11.60 each

Look for Koigu KPPPM in the fingering weight section here at the shop, along with CoopKnits Socks Yeah! and more – see you there! We’re also taking online orders for local pickup or shipping.

Pom Pom Quarterly: Summer 2021.

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The Summer 2021 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly has arrived here at the shop!

Birds are the theme of this issue, inspiring the aesthetic choices of the contributing designers and providing metaphors and motifs that appear in the written material, as well.

Flipping through this issue, I spotted a few familiar yarns put to beautiful use – CoopKnits Socks Yeah! in colorwork socks, Kelbourne Woolens Mojave in a lacy summer top, and BC Garn Bio Balance in a color blocked tee.

Along with intriguing patterns and essays, Pom Pom also features a recipe in each issue – this time it’s a marbled coconut milk loaf, fittingly named Feather Bread.

Pom Pom Quarterly is $18.50 – order online and we can ship it to you, or you can come by to pick it up here at the shop! Along with this issue, we also have the Summer 2019, Autumn 2019, Spring 2020, Summer 2020, Autumn 2020, and Spring 2021 issues in stock – preview them on our blog and get in touch if you’d like to add them to your Pom Pom collection!

Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide No. 11: Wanderlust.

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The eleventh installment of the Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide series is here! Let’s take a peek inside.

Ann Shayne and Kaye Gardiner’s series of Field Guides are pocket-sized booklets focused on a particular theme or knitting technique. The theme of this eleventh Field Guide is Wanderlust, interpreted by designer Wendy Bernard as a choose-your-own-adventure approach to sock knitting.

This little book is all about hitting the road with the ultimate travel project: a pair of socks. Bernard includes instructions for socks from the cuff down or from the toe up, along with a variety of stitch patterns to play with.

We have a lot of tempting sock yarns here at the shop, the likes of CoopKnits Socks Yeah!, Malabrigo Sock, Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply, Ewe Ewe Fluffy Fingering, and of course those tempting limited edition colorways from Dream in Color and Koigu.

Maybe your stash is already bursting with sock yarns you’ve picked up as souvenirs over the years – this book is just the thing to get those yarns on your needles.

Come by the shop to pick up a copy and a skein of sock yarn for your next road trip!

New colors in CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK.

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This week brought five new colors in CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK.

Socks Yeah! DK is a thicker version of CoopKnits Socks Yeah!, from designer Rachel Coopey. Both yarns are smooth, tightly plied blends of superwash merino and nylon, which make them perfect for sock-making, as the name suggests.

But soft, easy-care DK weight yarns have plenty of applications beyond socks. Consider Socks Yeah! DK for everyday accessories, like Churchmouse’s classic “Welted Fingerless Gloves” and “Welted Cowl & Infinity Loop,” or Sarah Young’s “Rikke Hat.” Baby and children’s things come to mind, as well, little sweaters like Dani Sunshine’s “Pixie Dust,” tincanknits’ “Peanut” and “Dog Star,” which I had on my mind as I put these combinations together.

Look for CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK in our DK weight section here at the shop!

CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK: Volume 1.

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Rachel Coopey’s latest book is here – let’s look inside CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK: Volume 1.

This is a collection of sock patterns knit with CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK, a soft and sturdy blend of superwash merino wool and nylon designed with heavier weight socks in mind.

Coopey’s sock designs are colorful and cozy, making use of a variety of techniques. Many are striped or color-blocked, some feature a bit of lace or texture, and on the whole they look like fun to knit.

Look for CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK: Volume 1 on our teacart with the newest books and magazines, and look for the yarn in our DK weight section!

Back in stock: Crazy Zauberball.

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Last week brought a colorful box of yarn our way – hello again, Crazy Zauberball!

Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball is a fingering weight yarn that slowly changes from one color to the next several yards at a time, so that whatever you’re knitting or crocheting with it comes out striped. The 2-ply construction of this yarn gives the finished fabric a marled look.

Over the years, we’ve seen Crazy Zauberball put to good use in all kinds of projects, from socks to shawls to cowls. Christy Kamm’s “ZickZack Scarf” (Winnie’s version is pictured above) has been an especially popular pattern around here, a simple chevron stripe made beautiful by the yarn and color selection. Our Fingering weight section here at the shop is full of possibilities for this pattern; here are a few ideas to start with.

We’ve had several knitters pair the self-striping Crazy Zauberball with a solid color for a dramatic effect. Consider the clear solid shades of Brooklyn Tweed Peerie or the gentle heathers of CoopKnits Socks Yeah! 

A semi-solid hand-dyed yarn works well here, too; here’s one possible combination in Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply.

I haven’t seen a speckled “ZickZack” yet, but I’d love to see how it looks! Try Malabrigo Mechita if you’re similarly intrigued.

Come by the shop to pick up some Crazy Zauberball for your next project!

Show and tell: CoopKnits.

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Happy to be back with more show and tell, this time featuring projects made with yarn from CoopKnits!

Hazel knit her second “Smilla’s Dress” with CoopKnits Socks Yeah!, a superwash fingering weight blend of merino wool and nylon. This yarn was designed to wear well and wash easily, attributes that make it as applicable to baby things as to socks, and its tight twist provides excellent stitch definition.

Glen knit these striking “Tetrahedron Socks” with two shades of CoopKnits Socks Yeah! The pattern is from Rib Magazine No. 3, which we still have a couple of copies of.

Below is Emily’s “Lush,” designed by Tin Can Knits, knit with CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK, a heavier weight version of the same great yarn shown in the projects above. I love her perfectly matching buttons!

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!

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: for little ones.

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Our last round of show and tell focused primarily on adult sweaters, which are satisfying to see completed in part because they’re such big projects, and also because there’s a great need for them to fit just so. When they come out to our expectations, we’re especially happy. Garments for little ones take less time to make, but they hold a different set of hopes, just as dear to us. Here are some baby and children’s knits we’ve seen completed of late.

Emily knit this “In Threes” cardigan with Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted, a super-soft superwash merino yarn that is ideal for baby projects.

Paula has been knitting with Wooly Worsted, too, preparing for the birth of her grandson-to-be. She recently completed this “Baby Turtle Frenzy Blanket,” designed by our own Amy Wentley, and backed it with fabric to make a spectacular nursery wall-hanging.

She didn’t stop there, of course – Paula also knit this little sweater and hat. The pattern is “Lullaby Layette,” and the yarn is CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK, a squishy superwash yarn just right for this kind of project.

Not all baby things must be machine-washable, of course; it’s a matter of preference when it comes to washing woolens by hand. This little sweater was made with Fibre Company Arranmore, a handwash-only blend of merino, silk, and cashmere. I’ve shared Katherine’s “Fisherman’s Pullover” sweater on the blog before, but when we were visited by Elizabeth herself wearing the sweater in question, a photo had to be taken. There is simply something special about a tiny person in a handmade sweater!

Susan knit this lovely “Baby Surprise Jacket” with Fibre Company Acadia, a special gift for a premature baby. This single color version is exquisite in its simplicity, letting the rich color with its tweedy flecks be the star of the show, along with Elizabeth Zimmermann’s genius engineering.

Thanks to everyone who starts their projects with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! We love hearing your ideas and helping you find just the right yarns and tools to realize them. See you at the shop!