Still playing with Shibui.

Posted by Julia on May 15, 2014

I have many loves when it comes to yarn and knitting, but right now, Shibui is at the forefront. Each time new colors come in to the shop, I find myself pairing and grouping them again. With that in mind, indulge me in a few more color-combinations for Shibui projects–I can’t help myself.

Several of you have made or are making the “Gradient” cowl, a free pattern from Shibui which is worked with three strands of Silk Cloud held together. Periodically, one of those three strands is switched out for a different color, which makes a gentle transition from one color to the next–four colors in all. It’s easy to lose oneself on Ravelry looking at different “Gradient” cowls in their many colors…here are even more that I’d love to see made up.

With 21 shades of Silk Cloud so far, we have plenty to choose from. What four colors would you use for a “Gradient” cowl?

We also got new colors in Cima, a springy lace weight blend of alpaca and merino. I put these pairings together with two Shibui cowls in mind–“Kinetic” and “Mix No. 23.” The first has you blending the two colors for an ombre effect, and the second sets the two shades against one another in a bold double-knit motif.

We’re up to 20 shades in Cima now; come by the shop to play with them yourself, and consider Shibui’s yarns and patterns as you’re planning your next project!

Cliff hat colorways.

Posted by Julia on May 11, 2014

Our recent Shibui Mix Party resulted in a large Shibui order, which brought not only a new Shibui yarn, but plenty of new colors in Cima, Pebble, and Silk Cloud.

As I put out the new colors, I often arrange them in a spectrum, play with color combinations, and generally admire the stuff.

Thinking of the “Cliff Hat,” I began to group harmonious Pebble colorways in fives.

The “Cliff Hat” is a free pattern from Shibui knit using two strands of Pebble held together throughout, making a plush fabric that’s warm but lightweight.

The simple, graphic motif makes a great introduction to stranded colorwork, where two colors of yarn are in use on any given row.

If this is a project that interests you, consider signing up for Amy’s “Cliff Hat” class, beginning May 17th! We have a sample “Cliff Hat” on display at the shop, so you can try it on for size. Come on in to put together a “Cliff Hat” colorway of your own!

Hello, Berroco Modern Cotton.

Posted by Julia on February 25, 2014

Meet Modern Cotton, a brand new yarn from Berroco!

Modern Cotton is a worsted weight blend of 60% cotton and 40% rayon, perfect for warm-weather knit and crochet projects, or year-round for those allergic to wool. Modern Cotton is soft in the hand with excellent stitch definition, qualities that this little cabled sweater illustrates nicely. You’ll find it at the shop, hanging on the wall above the worsted weight yarns.

The pattern is “Diggory,” from Berroco booklet #345, which puts this brightly-colored, easy-care yarn to good use in all manner of baby and children’s garments.

Modern Cotton is also a very good value, with a relatively low price tag for the yardage. That along with its soft feel and machine-washability made me think blankets. The range of colors both neutral and bright brought to mind the Purl Bee’s delightfully simple garter stitch baby blanket pattern, “Super Easy Crib Blanket,” a riot of color in seven shades.

Berroco has also released some free patterns for Modern Cotton, like the lacy “Saurey” baby blanket, and two women’s sweaters: “Joyce” and “Sanpoku,” a tee and a cardigan, respectively. Norah Gaughan used Modern Cotton in her most recent Berroco booklet. Modern Cotton will do well in any pattern calling for worsted weight yarn where the drape of plant fibers is welcome. Check it out when you’re next at the shop, along with the “Diggory” sample, which can give you a good sense of how the yarn behaves in knitted fabric. See you there!

Back in stock: Malabrigo Rios and Mecha.

Posted by Julia on February 5, 2014

Malabrigo is a small yarn company out of Uruguay that is well known for its soft merino yarns, and their vivid, hand-dyed colorways. Many designers publish patterns with Malabrigo yarns, and a quick Ravelry search reveals that many thousands of knitters and crocheters have made projects with these yarns at one time or another. We know plenty who return to Malabrigo again and again, not only because of their good quality but also their good value. The combination of “small company” and “big exposure” means that we sometimes have to wait a while for our orders to be fulfilled, but it’s always worth the wait. Behold: a new Malabrigo shipment, bursting with tempting bags of Rios and Mecha!

Rios is Malabrigo’s worsted weight superwash merino, a yarn that’s hard to keep in stock because it does so well in so many kinds of projects.

Baby blankets, mittens and scarves, slipper socks, hats and headbands, garments for children, crocheted shawls and cabled sweaters–I’ve seen Rios put to good use in all those projects and more.

Mecha is Malabrigo’s newest yarn, a single-ply, bulky weight, superwash merino. Since we first received it in September, it’s become a popular choice for cozy and quick-knitting accessories, cowls in particular.

Maybe it’s the incredible softness of the yarn that makes people want to wear it right around their necks. Consider the following free patterns if you, too, are itching to make a cowl in Mecha: “GAP-tastic Cowl,” “Bandana Cowl,” and “Drop Stitch Cowl.” Suppose you’d rather knit a shawl, or a hat: try “Distinction,” “Thorpe,” or the “Ardelle Hat,” also free downloads from Ravelry. Visit and follow us on Pinterest for even more inspiring ways to make use of all the yarns you’ll find at HYS.

Come by the shop to see our selection of Malabrigo yarns, and come soon if you’re after some color or kind in particular–Rios and Mecha do tend to sell out quickly!

Berroco Touche: now on sale!

Posted by Julia on January 26, 2014

UPDATE: As of 11/19/2014, we are totally sold out of Berroco Touche!

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It’s always bittersweet news when yarns are discontinued. On the one hand, we’re sad to see good yarns go. On the other, we’re happy to announce that said yarn is now on sale. We’re now offering Berroco Touche at over 30% off!

Touche is a worsted weight blend of cotton and rayon, which come together to make a soft, machine-washable yarn that is far from stiff–a complaint we sometimes hear about mercerized cottons. Touche is perfect for the wool-averse among us, as well as for baby and children’s things. I’ve also seen it made up into a lightweight summer top. Check out Berroco’s large collection of free knit and crochet patterns for Touche ideas; their website allows you to sort patterns by gauge, making it easy to substitute Touche for other worsted weight yarns.

Last year, I made this baby hat using one skein of Berroco Touche, with guidance from the Super Simple Hat Calculator. It’s a simple thing, just a roll brim hat knit in stockinette and finished with a little i-cord knot at the top. A quick knit, and a sample that gives a good sense of how Touche behaves in knitted fabric. Come by the shop to snag some Touche at this great price while it’s still in stock!

A reminder: all sales are final on discounted yarn. There can be no returns or exchanges, nor special orders–the discount applies only to what we currently have in stock. Thanks!

Upcoming classes.

Posted by Julia on December 13, 2013

As you may have read in our most recent email newsletter, we’ve been busy scheduling new classes for the new year ahead. Some are technique-based, like Beginning Knitting and Fixing Mistakes, while others are project-based, where techniques are learned along the way. New classes often mean new samples at the shop, showing the hats, mitts, shawls, and scarves that our teachers will teach in the new year. Here are a few.

Katherine knit this Ardelle hat using 4 strands of Cascade 220 Fingering to achieve a gauge of 3.5 stitches per inch, but any single strand of bulky weight yarn would yield a similar result; consider Lamb’s Pride Bulky, Mountain Fusion Teton, Malabrigo Mecha, and Mirasol Sulka. Ardelle is a great pattern for first-time cable knitters, and will also teach how to pick up stitches, sew a seam, and work in the round on double pointed needles. The pattern is available as a free download on Ravelry, so you can take a look at the skills required and decide whether you’d prefer to tackle it on your own or with the guidance and camaraderie of Katherine’s class.

Interested in learning to knit lace patterns? Three of our upcoming classes focus on lace. Above is Marsha’s Lattice Lace Scarf, which is a great lace introduction using bulky yarn. Marsha is also teaching the Holden Shawlette, a popular free pattern that calls for one skein of Malabrigo Sock, or ~440 yards of another fingering weight yarn. Marsha has made several Holden Shawlettes in a range of gauges; this one is made with a dk weight silk.

In the Holden Shawlette class, Marsha will teach how to read a lace chart and how to construct this triangular shawl, and can help you to lengthen it if you like. Amy’s Sonetto Shawl class approaches the triangular lace shawl from another angle; read more about it on our class page.

Just yesterday, Marsha brought in this cute Lush Fingerless Mitt, a sample for her upcoming class on the subject. She’ll teach how to work in the round on double pointed needles, and how to read and knit the lace/cable motif that adorns these mitts. Meanwhile, the pattern is free, so you can take a closer look at it if you like. Marsha’s mitts are knit in Cascade Indulgence, a worsted weight blend of alpaca and angora, but any worsted weight yarn will do; consider Classic Elite Princess or Lush, which also contain angora, or try Yarn Hollow Photograph or Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted for non-fuzzy mitts.

You can read more about these and other classes on our class page, where you can also sign up and prepay online. Our classes do tend to fill up quickly, so act now if you’d like to join one! See you at the shop.

Hello, Mountain Fusion Teton.

Posted by Julia on December 11, 2013

Just in time for last-minute holiday gift-making, we received 6 new colors in Mountain Fusion Teton, a bulky weight merino wool.

Mountain Fusion Teton is the result of a collaboration between two small US yarn companies: Mountain Meadow Wool, of Buffalo, Wyoming, and Mountain Colors, of Corvallis, Montana. This springy, colorful yarn is 2 ply, where one ply is thick and the other is thin.

This gives a pretty consistent texture with plenty of color interest, not to mention enough yarn in one skein to create a hat or cowl in an afternoon. The pattern for this simple hat is printed on the Mountain Fusion Teton yarn label; also consider “Thorpe,” or the “Drop Stitch Cowl,” both of which are available as free downloads from Ravelry.

Come by the shop to pick up a skein or two of Mountain Fusion Teton, and you’ll have cozy winter accessories in no time, whether for yourself or for someone yarn-worthy. See you at the shop!

Gradient colorways.

Posted by Julia on December 8, 2013

We recently acquired a few new colors in Shibui Silk Cloud, one of our newest yarns. Silk Cloud is a shimmering, fuzzy blend of mohair and silk, one that has quickly made its way onto Anne’s needles as well as my own. Already low on a few popular colors, we placed an order with Shibui a few weeks ago and were unable to resist a couple of new hues in Silk Cloud.

When presented with piles of yarn, my first impulse is always to group colors into interesting pairings or trios, thinking, “How could I combine these in a garment?” Unpacking the new colors in Silk Cloud, I immediately thought of the “Gradient” cowl, a free pattern from Shibui.

In the spirit of the Shibui Mix concept, which encourages the combining of Shibui yarns two or three strands at a time, “Gradient” is worked with three strands of Silk Cloud held together. Periodically, one of those three strands is switched out for a different color, which makes a gentle transition from one color to the next.

“Gradient” calls for four shades of Silk Cloud, so immediately I started putting foursomes together, shuffling all our available colors this way and that until I found combinations that pleased me.

Inspired to make a “Gradient” cowl of your own? I can’t wait to see what other color combinations you creative knitters will come up with. Look for the “Gradient” pattern on Shibui’s website, where you can download it for free, and look for Shibui Silk Cloud at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop in the lace weight section. See you there!

Cliff Hat.

Posted by Julia on December 4, 2013

Speaking of Shibui, I recently finished a new shop sample with Shibui Pebble: the Cliff Hat.

The Cliff Hat is a slouchy colorwork beanie, a free pattern from Shibui. I used the colors called for in the pattern, colors I might never have thought to put together myself, but which make a beautiful gradient in this easy-to-memorize colorwork motif.

The hat is knit with two strands of Pebble held together throughout, which makes a nice cohesive fabric, soft enough to slouch a bit, but sturdy enough to feel substantial and warm on the head. The two-stranded Pebble swatch I’d knit for the shop is lofty and open by comparison, proof that yarns can be happy at many different gauges; it all depends on what kind of fabric you’re hoping to create.

Come by the shop to see this new Shibui sample, and select colors for a Cliff Hat of your own!

New from Habu.

Posted by Julia on September 30, 2013

We always stop by the Habu Textiles booth at TNNA, and this year was no exception. We’d made a note before going to market that we could use a few new colors in their one-of-a-kind Silk Stainless yarn, which translated into Anne gathering an armful of colorful cones as Habu founder Takako Ueki jotted down color numbers. The new colors of Habu Silk Stainless arrived a week or so ago, settling in with the few colors we’d already had in stock. Our new selection is vibrant and tempting, and I thought they deserved a bit of fanfare here on the blog.

It’s Silk Stainless that makes the Kusha Kusha Scarf such an intriguing project. It’s knit on a variety of different needle sizes, sometimes holding a fine lace weight merino along with the Silk Stainless, and when the knitting is done, the piece is lightly felted in hot, soapy water.

Habu used to sell kits for the Kusha Kusha Scarf, but has since offered the pattern for free via the Purl Bee. This frees you up to choose your own color combinations, which sometimes feels like half the joy of knitting in the first place. We don’t stock the Habu Super Fine Merino that the pattern calls for, but we have so many other lace weight yarns to choose from that would be equally interesting in this project. They’ll all behave a little differently, I suspect, which should be fun to experiment with. I had fun putting these hypothetical combinations together.

Don’t limit yourself to Kusha Kusha scarves, however; Silk Stainless can also be put to good use in sweaters and knitted or crocheted jewelry. We’ve even had a weaver experiment with a few cones of the stuff on her loom. Come by the shop to see our sample Kusha Kusha Scarf and our new selection of Habu Silk Stainless. See you there!