Tag Archives: kelbourne woolens

New colors in Kelbourne Woolens Mojave.

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Last week brought five new colors in Kelbourne Woolens Mojave!

Mojave is a sport weight blend of 60% cotton and 40% linen, with 185 yards on each 50 gram skein. It’s composed of five tiny 2ply yarns twisted together, for a yarn that’s smooth and soft but also strong, with the beautiful drape we expect from plant fiber yarns.

Mojave is perfect for warm weather stitching – here are some ideas for knitters and crocheters!

Knit with Mojave:

Crochet with Mojave:

Order online for local pickup or USPS Priority Mail Shipping – do so during July for 15% off!

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

Pom Pom Quarterly: Summer 2020.

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The Summer 2020 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly has arrived here at the shop!

This vibrant issue came out with two different covers, hinting at the abundance of warm-weather garments those covers contain. Kindred Red’s whimsical “Ardent” is knit with Kelbourne Woolens Mojave, a sport weight blend of cotton and linen.

Pom Pom has always been an interdisciplinary magazine, featuring recipes and a variety of crafty tutorials alongside their knitting patterns, but this issue in particular features more crochet than usual.

We may not have the yarns that are called for in these patterns, but we’re always happy to help come up with substitutes!

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, and Spring 2020 issues in stock – preview them on our blog and get in touch if you’d like to add them to your Pom Pom collection!

Koigu Collector’s Club: New Day.

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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.

Our most recent shipment from Koigu is New Day, a rich variegated colorway. These special skeins are streaked with orange, rust, brown, and gray, with highlights of plum and hints of pale blue. Unpacking it, I was reminded once again of Kelbourne Woolens Perennial, a line of fingering weight solids that plays well with hand-dyed yarns like Koigu.

Tamy Gore’s “The Drifter” is a perfect way to showcase these yarns, a garter and slip-stitch shawl which calls for about 414 yards each in two colors. That means 3 skeins of Koigu KPPPM, at 175 yards each, and 1 skein of Kelbourne Woolens Perennial, at 497 yards each.

Ewe Ewe Fluffy Fingering was also designed as a playmate for multicolored yarns, and has its own unique color palette – here are a few that complement New Day!

KPPPM is $15.50 per skein, Perennial is $26, and Fluffy Fingering is $10. Get in touch if you’d like to place an order – we can ship these pretty skeins directly to you or hold your purchase here for pickup while our storefront is temporarily closed!

Sale of the Week: Kelbourne Woolens Germantown!

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Though we’re keeping our doors closed during May, we’re still virtually open for mail orders, and we want to offer something fun during this uncertain time. Throughout May, we’ll have a special sale each week – 15% off a featured yarn, our Sale of the Week!

Our next Sale of the Week is 15% off Kelbourne Woolens Germantown, from May 8 – 14!

Germantown is a yarn with a story to tell, a recreation of a classic wool that had been produced in Germantown, Pennsylvania, under a few different brand names since the mid-to-late 19th century. In this current form, Germantown is a worsted spun yarn with a smooth texture, soft hand, and nice elasticity, composed of 100% North American wool.

The Kelbourne Woolens team see this yarn as a classic basic wool for beginners as well as more advanced stitchers – easy to work with, with good stitch definition, but at a reasonable price for a domestically-produced yarn of this quality. At full price, it’s $14 per skein, and at 15% off, it’s $11.90 per skein.

Each skein is 220 yards, enough for a hat, and the folks at Kelbourne Woolens have designed one for every month of the year. Even better, every one of these patterns is free to download from Ravelry – look there for “January,” “February,” “March,” “April,” “May,” “June,” “July,” “August,” “September,” “October,” “November,” and “December.” This collection shows Germantown’s versatility in a variety of techniques, from ribbing and texture to cables and lace to stripes and colorwork.

“February Hat,” by Kate Gagnon Osborn. 

“April Hat,” by Courtney Kelley.

Get in touch with us by May 14 to get 15% off Kelbourne Woolens Germantown – thanks so much for continuing to support our small business!

“August Hat,” by Sarah Solomon.

“January Hat,” by Courtney Kelley.

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

Koigu Collector’s Club: Fantasie.

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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.

Our most recent shipment from Koigu is Fantasie, a lively variegated colorway, streaked with ivory, bright yellow, orange, green, and pink. Unpacking it, I was reminded of the highlighter-bright shades of Kelbourne Woolens Perennial, and thought how well these two fingering weight yarns would play together.

As the folks at Kelbourne Woolens have written on their blog, Perennial was meant to team up with hand-dyed yarns, to complement speckles and variegates. One of the projects featured on that post is Cape Cod Knits’ “Shawl of Serenity,” which calls for 800 yards of fingering weight yarn – 400 yards of colorful hand-dyed yarn, and 400 yards of a complementary solid. That means 3 skeins of Koigu KPPPM, at 175 yards each, and 1 skein of Kelbourne Woolens Perennial, at 497 yards each.

KPPPM is $15.50 per skein, and Perennial is $26, for a project total of $72.50. We’re happy to ship these pretty skeins directly to you while our storefront is temporarily closed – get in touch if you’d like to place an order!

Sale of the Week, Virtual Trunk Show: Kelbourne Woolens Andorra!

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Though we have to keep our doors closed during April, we’re still virtually open for mail orders, and we want to offer something fun during this uncertain time. Throughout April, we’ll have a special sale each week – 15% off a featured yarn, our Sale of the Week!

Our first Sale of the Week is 15% off Kelbourne Woolens Andorra, from April 1 – 7!

Andorra is a bouncy sport weight blend of merino and highland wool with a dash of mohair. It’s a wooly, lustrous 2-ply with a medium twist, not too tight or loose, and especially after knitting, it looks pleasantly fuzzy.

Designer Karen Vølund Fechter puts Andorra to good use in her “OneOne Winter Hat,” a stranded colorwork beanie with fetching vertical stripes, which are worked beautifully into the shaping at the crown.

“OneOne Winter Hat” takes two skeins of Andorra, one in each color; the hats in this Virtual Trunk Show are all made with Snow White and a high-contrast pop, which shows the pattern nicely.

Get in touch with us by April 7 to get 15% off Kelbourne Woolens Andorra – thanks so much for continuing to support our small business!

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

The Weekender KAL: show and tell.

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Back in April 2019, Anne and I embarked on an informal knit-along, knitting Andrea Mowry’s “The Weekender” sweater and inviting anyone and everyone to join us. We were delighted that so many folks were inspired to make the sweater, each bringing their own style and taste to this simple design, each knitting at their own pace. Some finished right away and then had to wait patiently for sweater weather to arrive, others signed up for Amy’s Weekender class to have her guidance as they knit along through the fall and winter. Many are still knitting, and we’re looking forward to seeing their sweaters in use this winter or next. As far as I’m concerned, our KAL has no end-date, so consider this round of Weekender KAL show and tell the first of many!

Michele was the first to finish. She knit her “Weekender” with Debbie Bliss Luxury Tweed she picked up on sale a few years ago, putting that sweater quantity to good use.

Here’s Debbie in her “Weekender,” knit with Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in Snowbound, BT’s softest gray. Something about the reverse stockinette seems to let the heathered colorway shine – flecks of dark gray and black pop out from the overall light color, giving a simple stitch pattern more interest.

Anne and I had our own “Weekenders” on display at the shop all through the fall, and in fact, hers is still hanging – I was excited to wear mine and brought it home last month! Anne’s is on the left, knit with Shelter in Soot, and mine is on the right, knit with Kelbourne Woolens Scout in Sunflower Heather.

Amy is well into teaching a handful of classes on “The Weekender,” and so finished hers in a productive flurry of preparation for teaching. She used Shelter in the marled Caraway color, a good match for this design, with its plain texture and simple shape. She also modified the neckline for a turtleneck, and opted to knit the entire body in the round and steek the armhole openings – very clever!

Many thanks to Michele, Debbie, and Amy for sharing their sweaters and knitting along with us! We know there are many other Weekenders in various stages of completion out there in our HYS knitting community – let us know how it’s going, we can’t wait to see you all in your sweaters!

Hello, Kelbourne Woolens Lucky Tweed.

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Fall is such an exciting time of year here at the shop, with one new yarn after another. The latest comes from Kelbourne Woolens – meet Lucky Tweed!

Lucky Tweed is an aran weight merino wool yarn, manufactured in Donegal, Ireland, for an authentic tweed look and soft hand.

Like any classic tweed, Lucky Tweed is dotted with flecks of fiber in contrasting colors, and the team at Kelbourne Woolens have thoughtfully selected 13 shades for a balanced color palette.

Lucky Tweed knits up at 4 – 4.5 stitches per inch on US 7 – 8 needles. Though it’s warm and relatively thick, it’s not heavy; with 210 yards on each 100 gram skein, Lucky Tweed is quite lofty for an aran weight yarn.

What to knit with Lucky Tweed? Kate Gagnon Osborn, Courtney Kelley, and Meghan Babin of Kelbourne Woolens have designed the nine-piece Lucky Tweed Collection to answer that very question. From the looks of it, Lucky Tweed is as happy in a cable pattern as in colorwork, lace, or a simple knit/purl texture pattern.

Find the patterns on Ravelry and the yarn here at our shop!

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. At the moment, I have enough photos stockpiled for at least four blog posts – let’s begin with colorwork hats!

Kerry designed and knit the “Rionnag Hat” above with Tukuwool Fingering, a match for her “Rionnag Cowl” pattern.

Above is Peggy’s “Selbu Modern,” knit with Fibre Co. Cumbria Fingering. This high contrast combination of navy and cream is so striking, and really pairs well with the repeating motif.

Kate knit this “Slalom Ski Hat” with Kelbourne Woolens Andorra, another high contrast combination well suited to the graphic motif at hand.

Nancy knit this “Frances Hat” with Swans Island All American Sport, a good example of the lovely effect that semisolid hand dyed yarn has on a colorwork project.

Our Nancy does love colorwork – here’s another hat she knit, the “Roadside Beanie” in Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift. She taught a class on this one, which means I expect to see more “Roadside Beanies” as they come off her students’ needles – always fun to see variations on a theme.

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!

Show and tell: lace.

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Time for another round of show and tell! I love to take photos of finished projects when folks bring them into the shop to share with us, and to share them here on our blog. I always seem to have a backlog of photos, thanks to the many productive makers who frequent our shop. Here’s a batch of show and tell with one technique in common: lace.

Ruth came in the other day with this lace shawl to share, “Heartland Lace Shawl,” by Evelyn A. Clark. She knit it with Navia Uno, and reports that the yarn is as sturdy as it is soft, becoming especially so after blocking.

Stella is fond of purplish grays, and selected some Kelbourne Woolens’ Mojave in this color family to knit a shawl. She chose “Tales From the Isle of Purbeck,” by Annie Rowden, which looks especially lovely in a gradient.

Astrid is an avid lace knitter and designer, and often visits us with a recently-completed shawl in hand. This one is “Wild Swan,” by Anne-Lise Maigaard & Nim Teasdale, and Astrid knit it with Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere.

Joanne knit this “Lexington” scarf with Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, a yarn she’s come back to again and again. Lightweight and lofty on account of its woolen-spun structure, Shelter shines in lace patterns like this.

Margaretta knit this “Calla” shawl, a pattern that caught her eye in a recent issue of Laine Magazine. It features a striking combination of texture, lace, and cables – a hint at the theme our next show-and-tell post.

Taking stitch definition, softness, and color into account, she chose Kelbourne Woolens Scout for the project, and the result is ideal on all fronts.

Thanks to Ruth, Stella, Astrid, Joanne, and Margaretta for sharing their work with us! We can’t wait to see what comes off your needles next.

Interested in learning more about lace knitting? Check out a few upcoming classes on the subject – Marsha’s Lace Basics is a one-time technique class for folks new to lace knitting. For a bigger project, consider Amy’s Hitofude Cardigan class and Marsha’s Marigold Cardigan class. We’re excited to see the beautiful sweaters that will be coming out of our classroom this fall!