Araucania Toconao: now on sale!

Posted by Julia on November 4, 2015

UPDATE: As of 4/22/2016, we are totally sold out of Araucania Toconao!

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Another discontinued yarn has moved to the Sale Trunk here at the shop: Araucania Toconao. It’s a lovely springy yarn, but since it’s no longer manufactured, we’re now offering it at a deep discount of about 30% off the original price!

Toconao is an aran weight merino wool, soft and smooth, with sharp stitch definition. It’s hand-dyed in mostly semi-solid colorways, so alternating skeins is a good idea if your project requires more than one skein.

One 139 yard skein makes a hat or a pair of “Fetching” mitts, two makes a small “Oats” or “Honey Cowl;” pick up a third skein for a generous cowl or scarf. Look for more pattern ideas on our “Aran weight” board over on Pinterest!

Though we’re sad to see good yarns go, we love sharing them with you at a discounted price. Come by to pick up some Toconao at a great price before it disappears!

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!

Swans Island Trunk Show.

Posted by Julia on October 14, 2015

Our next trunk show of the season has arrived, featuring garments from Swans Island! We’re offering a 10% discount on all in-stock Swans Island yarn during the show, so come by soon to see it for yourself.

We’ve got six garments here on display until November 1st, five sweaters and a hat and mitt set. All of them are knit in Swans Island’s newest yarn, All American Sport, a delightfully springy 100% Rambouillet wool that’s hand-dyed in a wide range of colors.

These are just a few of the patterns from Swans Island’s All American Sport Collection, which features many different applications of two-color knitting. I’ve got Isabell Kraemer’s “Kaarina Pullover” on my needles now, and can hardly wait to wear it. Be sure to peruse our complete selection of patterns for All American Sport while you’re here admiring the trunk show!

Come in to see and touch garments made in this yarn for a good sense of how it works up, and enjoy a 10% discount on all in-stock Swans Island yarn during the show!

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!

Hello, Malabrigo Mora.

Posted by Julia on August 22, 2015

Not long after our recent Malabrigo restock, we received another little box from Malabrigo. Say hello to their newest yarn, Mora.

Mora is a 2 ply fingering weight yarn composed of 100% silk, which explains its soft, smooth hand, and deeply saturated hand-dyed colors.

Each 50 gram skein has about 225 yards, enough for a small cowl, like Michele Wang’s “Pei” or Jo Strong’s “Irish Mesh Cowl.” Two skeins will make a shawlette, like Heidi Kirrmaier’s “Saltwater” or Kate Ray’s “Multnomah.”

Come by the shop to see these shimmering skeins for yourself, and plan a special project with Mora. See you there!

Back in stock: Malabrigo Rios.

Posted by Julia on August 17, 2015

The July sale put a big dent in our inventory of Malabrigo Rios. It’s no surprise so many knitters took the opportunity to stock up at a discount; Rios is beautifully hand-dyed in rich, memorable colors, soft and springy in the hand, and machine-washable, no less. We’re delighted to have bunches more of the stuff on our shelves after a big reorder.

A superwash worsted weight wool is a versatile kind of yarn, good for garments and accessories alike. We’ve noticed that Rios is particularly beloved for baby blankets, and it was Purl Soho’s generous collection of free baby blanket patterns that came to mind as I unpacked this shipment.

The Purl Soho “Super Easy Crib Blanket” calls for seven colors, and I had fun putting a few colorways together in Rios. There’s a “Crochet Super Easy Baby Blanket,” too!

The classic colors in their “Hudson Bay Inspired Crib Blanket” pattern are easy to approximate in Rios.

I also like the “Shadow Stripe Baby Blanket,” which looks like a good, easy project for learning intarsia. It’s shown in three colors, a white background with two-tone stripes.

Also consider the Purl Soho “Flying Geese Knit Baby Blanket,” “Mosaic Blanket,” and “Forever Baby Blanket,” all of which would look great in Malabrigo Rios.

We also replenished our supply of Malabrigo Sock, for those that prefer a smaller gauge yarn. Come by the shop to plan your next project, and remember Rios next time a baby blanket appears on your to-do list!

Back in stock: Swans Island Natural Colors Merino Fingering.

Posted by Julia on August 15, 2015

Swans Island Natural Colors Merino Fingering has been a favorite yarn from the moment it first arrived at the shop, back in 2011. It’s been so well-loved, in fact, that our basket of the stuff began to empty once again last month, leaving us with a paltry palette of just eight-or-so colors. Our recent Swans Island shipment remedied that, and how.

We added eleven colors on this order, filling the basket quite nicely, indeed.

The Natural Colors collection is so-named because its yarns are hand-dyed with plant-, mineral-, and insect-based natural dyes. One of those is indigo, used to create vivid blues, purples, and grays.

Indigo has a tendency to rub off with the abrasion of knitting or crocheting, and will turn your fingers blue as you work with it. It washes off with soap and water, and shouldn’t continue to rub off once the finished piece is washed and rinsed til the water runs clear. I wrote a blog post awhile back about what to expect from indigo-dyed yarns, and Swans Island marks their indigo-based colors with a little tag, explaining the same.

Over the years, we’ve seen glorious shawls and stunning sweaters made from this special yarn. It’s happy in stitch patterns from simple garter stitch to elegant lace, and one 525 yard skein goes a long way. For pattern inspiration, check out our Pinterest page online, or come to the shop to flip through the Swans Island pattern binder.

Look for Swans Island Natural Colors Merino Fingering in the fingering weight section of the shop. See you there!

Back in stock: Swans Island Organic Washable DK.

Posted by Julia on August 13, 2015

Our recent Swans Island shipment that brought the new All American Sport brought a few other goodies, too. We’ve restocked two of our favorite Swans Island yarns with new colors! Let’s begin with Organic Washable DK.

Organic Washable DK is no ordinary superwash wool. Swans Island have made this dk weight yarn machine-washable using a process called Ecowash®, which coats the yarn with an organic compound rather than stripping the scales from the fiber. This helps to prevent felting and gives the Swans Island Organic Washable a softer hand than many other superwash wools.

I recently knit a cowl with this soft, springy yarn, using a pattern of my own design, the “Welting Fantastic Cowl.”

It’s a pleasing texture pattern, both in the process and the finished product, and this yarn is a perfect choice to show it off. I alternated skeins to minimize any pooling, working two rows from one skein, then two from the other, back and forth as if knitting stripes. I was glad I did, too; though I carefully selected three skeins from the same dyelot that looked harmonious, one turned out noticeably darker than the rest once I began knitting. Alternating skeins helped to create a consistent-looking fabric.

Come by the shop to see our newly expanded palette of Swans Island Organic Washable DK, and try on my “Welting Fantastic Cowl” for size. If it strikes your fancy, note that I also wrote a pattern for matching fingerless mitts! Keep your eyes on the blog for more from Swans Island soon.

Hello, Swans Island All American Sport.

Posted by Julia on August 8, 2015

The newest yarn from Swans Island has arrived at the shop! Meet All American Sport.

All American Sport is a 2-ply woolen-spun yarn composed of 100% Rambouillet wool, a little cousin of sorts to Swans Island All American Worsted. There are 185 yards on each 40 gram skein, every bit of which was grown, processed, spun, and dyed in the USA. This yarn is a unique combination of next-to-skin soft and holds-its-shape sturdy, and was created with stranded colorwork in mind. That’s why it comes in this huge selection of colors.

For a newly released yarn from a small, thoughtful company, this is one outrageous color palette! There’s something for everyone and every project here, whether you favor brights, neutrals, pastels, or jewel tones.

“Woolen-spun” means that the yarn is spun from fiber that has been carded, but not combed. The carding process organizes the fibers to some degree, but they are not as smoothly aligned as combed fibers, giving woolen-spun yarns a rustic look.

Woolen-spun yarns like All American Sport are also quite lofty, making them versatile in terms of gauge. Swans Island suggests a gauge of 6 stitches per inch, but All American Sport is happy at a range of gauges. After washing, the fibers bloom to fill whatever space your needles have given them. The swatch above illustrates this, as I knit it using needles from US #3 – 6.

Does it come as any surprise that I am utterly enamored of this yarn? I took so many pictures of it that there just isn’t room in one blog post, so you can look forward to a second installment soon, covering the glorious pattern collection that accompanies this special yarn. In the meantime, come by the shop to ooh and ahh over Swans Island All American Sport!

Back in stock: Jitterbug.

Posted by Julia on August 4, 2015

Colinette Jitterbug is a longtime favorite here at the shop, a bouncy superwash merino wool in a fingering weight.

We were so delighted yesterday to fill the somewhat empty Jitterbug cubby with an armful of new colors, some semi-solid, some wildly variegated.

Jitterbug is great for socks, but over the years, we’ve seen it put to many other uses, like blankets and baby things, sweaters and shawls. Check out the “Fingering weight” board on the HYS Pinterest page for pattern ideas.

Look for Jitterbug in the fingering weight section at the shop! See you there.

New colors in Prism Tencel Tape.

Posted by Julia on July 11, 2015

A recent special order brought seven new colors in Prism Tencel Tape.

Tencel Tape is a knitted tape made of 100% Tencel, a plant fiber derived from tree bark. Like all plant fibers, Tencel lacks elasticity, though the knitted construction gives some elasticity to this slinky variegated yarn.

Because it knits up at about 5 stitches per inch, Tencel Tape can be found in the worsted weight section here at the shop, with a little swatch showing the resulting fabric. Lustrous and cool to the touch, it’s perfect for spring and summer garments and accessories with plenty of drape.

Come by the shop to check out our new selection of Tencel Tape, and come during July to shop our Annual Inventory Sale. See you there!

Araucania Ranco and Queensland Bebe Cotsoy: now on sale!

Posted by Julia on June 26, 2015

UPDATE: As of 4/22/2016, we are totally sold out of Araucania Ranco and Queensland Bebe Cotsoy!

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Two more discontinued yarns have moved to the Sale Trunk here at the shop: Araucania Ranco and Queensland Bebe Cotsoy. Lovely yarns, both, but since they’re no longer manufactured, we’re offering them now at a deep discount of about 30% off their original price!

Araucania Ranco is a fingering weight yarn from Chile, hand-dyed in variegated and semi-solid colorways.

It’s composed of 75% wool and 25% nylon, and though that nylon makes it nice and sturdy for socks, it’s still a hand-wash-only yarn, as the wool is not superwash. Also consider Ranco for shawls and scarves, mitts and lightweight hats. In some colors, we may even have sweater quantities.

Queensland Bebe Cotsoy is a worsted weight blend of cotton and soy.

Soft, smooth, and machine-washable, Bebe Cotsoy is ideal for baby sweaters and blankets.

Though we’re sad to see good yarns go, we love sharing them with you at a discounted price. Come by to pick up some Ranco and Bebe Cotsoy at a great price before they disappear!

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!