New crochet books.

Posted by Julia on June 22, 2016

We’ve been acquiring a great many new and exciting crochet books of late, so many that they overwhelmed the teacart, where we usually show the latest publications. Wanting these new books to shine, I carved out a new display space just for the latest crochet books and magazines, so if crochet is your craft, come by and take a look!

Joanne Scrace and Kat Goldin are the designers behind The Crochet Project, whose aim is to create beautiful modern crochet patterns using the loveliest natural fiber yarns.

CoopKnits Socks Yeah! is one of those yarns, and Scrace and Goldin’s Crochet Yeah! book revolves around it.

We have three of their four books in stock at the moment; the fourth sold out before I could even blog about it!

We carry very few yarns from Classic Elite, but their new crochet booklet was too good to pass up. We’re happy to help you find substitutes for the yarns called for if they’re not among our collection.

Come by the shop for crochet inspiration!

New colors from Baa Ram Ewe.

Posted by Julia on February 6, 2016

The folks at UK yarn company Baa Ram Ewe dreamed up two new colors for their Titus and Dovestone DK yarns, and I’m happy to report that we now have them on our shelves here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop!

The two yarns take the dye differently, coming out bright and clear in Titus, but deeper and heathered in Dovestone DK. “Lotherton” is a bright turquoise, and “Rhubarb” is a hot pink.

These new shades are definitely the boldest we’ve seen from Baa Ram Ewe, yet they fit nicely into the color palette, offering new opportunities for high-contrast color combinations.

Dovestone DK is a dk weight blend of 50% bluefaced leicester, 25% masham, and 25% wensleydale wools, all sourced and spun in the UK. It’s a nice big 100 gram hank with 252 yards, plenty for a hat, pair of mitts, or small cowl. For pattern ideas, look to Carol Feller’s Dovestone Hills booklet, Kate Davies’ Buachaille, and our “DK weight” board on Pinterest.

Titus is a fingering weight blend of 50% wensleydale wool, 30% alpaca, and 20% bluefaced leicester wool. There’s plenty of pattern inspiration for Titus to be found on our “Fingering weight” Pinterest board, of course, and we’ve seen some beautiful Titus projects here on the blog over the years, but we wont turn our nose up at new patterns for Titus, either.

Titus Mini Knits is a collection of accessories knit and crocheted in Titus, from mitts and socks to hats and cowls. CoopKnits Toasty Vol. 2 is another round of accessories in Titus from designer Rachel Coopey, whose colorwork patterns look like such fun.

Come by the shop to see all the new goodies from Baa Ram Ewe, and consider Titus or Dovestone DK for your next project!

Hello, CoopKnits Socks Yeah!

Posted by Julia on December 2, 2015

We’re excited to announce the arrival of a brand new sock yarn: meet CoopKnits Socks Yeah!

Socks Yeah! is the inaugural yarn from designer Rachel Coopey, also known as CoopKnits. We first discovered Rachel Coopey through CoopKnits Toasty Volume 1, a collection of accessories she designed using Baa Ram Ewe Titus. A closer look at her body of design work reveals a sock-knitting devotee, just the sort of person who ought to be dreaming up sock yarns.

CoopKnits Socks Yeah! is a hard-wearing, machine-washable blend of superwash merino wool and nylon, and it’s put up in 50 gram, 231 yard hanks. It comes in 10 solid colors, many of which are light in value, and both of those features make it ideal for showing off texture patterns, cables, and lace.

Solid colors are also ideal for stripes and stranded colorwork, so I’ve been considering the possible color combinations, in pairs and in trios.

If you’re wondering just what to knit with a couple of hanks of Socks Yeah!, there are lots of good places to look for sock patterns. We have cubbies full of sock books and binders full of sock patterns, and Ravelry is bursting with many more. To begin with, check out Rachel Coopey, if you haven’t yet.

We have copies of her CoopKnits Socks Volume 2 here at the shop, which is certainly worth flipping through. “Phloem” and “Echevaria” are intriguing free patterns, and for a few dollars, I like the look of “Arkin,” “Emlyn,” and “Crenate,” among others.

Look for CoopKnits Socks Yeah! in the fingering weight section here at the shop, and look closely, for the heathered colorways that look solid from a distance are far more complicated up close.

See you at the shop!