Tag Archives: kelbourne woolens

Kelbourne Woolens Scout Collection Trunk Show!

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An exciting new trunk show has come to decorate our walls for a couple of weeks. Hurry in before August 26 to see the Kelbourne Woolens Scout Collection!

The Scout Collection is composed of six garments knit with Kelbourne Woolens Scout, a springy DK weight wool that is well suited to texture, color, lace, and cable patterns.

Most of these patterns were designed by Kate Gagnon Osborn, with one contribution each from Courtney Kelley and Meghan Kelly; the three of them make up the Kelbourne Woolens team. They’ve made their patterns available through Ravelry rather than in print, an effort to diminish the company’s paper usage.

We also have another mini trunk show of sorts – local designer Emily Walton has just published a brand new pattern for Scout, and we’re showing her samples! Below is “Olivia Twisted,” a clever hat with twisted stitches and a bit of texture, perfect for showing off Scout’s heathered shades.

Give Scout and all the other Kelbourne Woolens yarns a try at this Sunday’s Yarn Tasting – we still have some spaces available! It’s an opportunity to sample yarn before you buy it, to brainstorm pattern ideas and color combinations with other knitters, and to spend a pleasant morning at the shop sipping mimosas – sign up to join us!

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

Vogue Knitting.

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Another magazine showed up this week with a mustard yellow sweater on the cover – must mean fall is coming! Let’s take a look inside the latest issue of Vogue Knitting.

The intricate textured yoke turtleneck on the cover was designed by Norah Gaughan for Kelbourne Woolens Andorra, a sport weight wool and mohair blend.

Paging through this issue, I spotted another sweater in a familiar yarn – Malabrigo Dos Tierras, a DK weight blend of merino wool and alpaca.

Along with the cozy fall sweaters, you’ll find good reading material, including an article on the history of knit stockings and the development of steel knitting needles for making them.

Look for Vogue Knitting on the teacart here at the shop, where the latest books and magazines are gathered!

Hello, Kelbourne Woolens Mojave.

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The women of Kelbourne Woolens are on a roll – meet Mojave, their third line of yarn this year!

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.

The color palette is Kelbourne Woolens’ biggest yet, 15 shades from subtle neutrals to blazing brights.

Meghan Kelly has designed six summer tops for Mojave using a variety of textures and techniques. Kelbourne Woolens has made their patterns available through Ravelry rather than in print, an effort to diminish the company’s paper usage.

We happen to have the Mojave Collection on display here at the shop as a Trunk Show until July 15 – hurry in to see it for yourself!

Look for Mojave in our sport weight section here at the shop, and keep it in mind for summer stitching. See you there!

Kelbourne Woolens Mojave Collection Trunk Show!

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Another trunk show has come to decorate our walls for a couple of weeks. Hurry in before July 15th to see the Kelbourne Woolens Mojave Collection!

The Mojave Collection is composed of six garments knit with Kelbourne Woolens’ newest yarn, Mojave. This cotton/linen blend landed in our sport weight section here at the shop less than a week ago, and so hasn’t had a proper introduction here on the blog – I’ll remedy that in the next couple of days.

Every piece was designed by Meghan Kelly of Kelbourne Woolens, whose love of plant fibers and bright colors are obvious in this collection.

Read more about the development of Mojave and the Mojave Collection in this interview with Meghan on the KW blog!

Look for the patterns on Ravelry, the yarn in our sport weight section, and the trunk show on our walls here at the shop until July 15th. Remember, July is our Annual Inventory Sale month, so everything in stock is 15% off – see you there!

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

New summer scents from Harmony Farm Candles.

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Each season brings a new selection of tempting scents from Harmony Farm Candles, and three just arrived at the shop to ease us into summer.

Harmony Farm Candles is run by our friend Erin in nearby Mebane, North Carolina. She hand-pours her candles in small batches using 100% US-sourced soy wax, with no added dyes. Their scents are fresh and bright, but not overwhelming – “delightfully fragranced,” as she puts it.

Tomato Garden is a unique scent, smelling exactly of tomato plants warm from the sun. It’s fresh and green and perfectly conjures the season. Shown here with a couple of tomato-red skeins of Brooklyn Tweed Peerie.

Honeysuckle is another one that smells just like its namesake, a sweet floral scent. Pictured here with a trio of colors in Kelbourne Woolens Andorra.

Passionfruit Guava is a new one for us, sweet-tart and fruity. It brought to mind this juicy shade of Fibre Company Arranmore Light.

Harmony Farm Candles are a perfect companion to an evening of knitting, and these 8 oz travel tins make them handy for summer trips. As gifts, they are always warmly-received; keep them in mind for holiday and host gifts, birthdays, and the odd just-thinking-of-you occasion. Look for Harmony Farm Candles in our gifts section!

Local Yarn Store Day.

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We’re looking forward to the first ever Local Yarn Store Day, this Saturday, April 21st!

LYS Day is about celebrating brick-and-mortar yarn shops and appreciating all that they offer. Here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, we are proud of our selection of high quality yarns, books and tools, our talented teachers, and our customer service. Our mission is and has always been to provide knitters and other fiber artists with quality materials and help connect them with the knowledge they need to make things they’re proud of.

Two of our favorite yarn companies have created special patterns for LYS Day that are only available through local shops. “Ewe So Summer” is knit with Ewe Ewe’s sport weight washable merino, Ewe So Sporty, and features a colorful slip stitch pattern.

Kelbourne Woolens has partnered with designer Laura Nelkin for “Adventura,” a choose-your-own-adventure shawl knit with Andorra, a sport weight blend of merino wool and mohair.

Come by the Hillsborough Yarn Shop this Saturday to pick up one or both of these patterns and a few skeins of yarn to make them – we love nothing more than helping you plan your next project!

Thanks for supporting local yarn shops like ours, we are so grateful for the community that sustains us!

Hello, Kelbourne Woolens Scout.

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It’s been only a couple of months since Kelbourne Woolens debuted their very first yarn, Andorra, and already we’re welcoming their second! Meet Scout.

Scout is a DK weight 2ply wool in heathered colorways, with a generous 274 yards on each 100 gram skein.

It knits up at a gauge of 20-22 stitches over 4″ using US 5-7 needles, so it may be suitable for patterns calling for light worsted weight yarn as well as DK.

The Kelbourne Woolens design team has concocted a batch of patterns for Scout that show it off in a variety of contexts: cables, knit/purl texture patterns, lace, and colorwork, looking modern and traditional all at once – a Kelbourne Woolens trademark.

As ever, my interest is particularly piqued by the colorwork designs, Kate Gagnon Osborn’s “Ballard” hat and “Ranier” pullover. Those patterns had me looking for two-color pairs in Scout; three of my favorite combinations are pictured above.

Look for Scout in the DK weight section here at the shop!

Hello, Semilla.

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Earlier in the month, we welcomed BC Garn to the fold here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. We now stock two yarns from this Danish company; Loch Lomond got a proper introduction on the blog, and now it’s time to meet Semilla.

Semilla is a 100% organic wool. This means it’s been certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), so we can be confident that it’s produced safely and responsibly, from the fiber to the dye.

Each 50 gram ball has 175 yards, and the suggested gauge is 5.5 stitches per inch on a US 6, which is why it’s found a home in our DK weight section here at the shop. It’s very round and smooth for a 2ply yarn, in part because of its tight twist. These qualities give Semilla nice stitch definition for texture patterns, cables, and lace.

One ball of Semilla would make a nice pair of mitts, like Churchmouse’s evergreen “Welted Fingerless Gloves.” While we’re thinking Churchmouse, consider also their “Easy Folded Poncho” and “Welted Cowl & Infinity Loop,” either of which is a good fit for Semilla.

Though it’s hand-wash only, this soft organic wool is a nice choice for baby things, too – think tincanknits’ “Dog Star,” “Peanut,” and “Clayoquot Toque.”

Look to our “DK weight” Pinterest board for more pattern ideas, and come by the shop to see Semilla for yourself!

Hello, Loch Lomond.

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Loch Lomond is one of the newest yarns here at the shop, a colorful tweed from BC Garn in Denmark.

Loch Lomond is a 2-ply wool, a loosely-plied yarn with tweedy flecks whose label suggests needles between US 6 and 8 for a gauge of 4.5 stitches per inch. With 170 yards per 50 gram skein, Loch Lomond is light for a worsted weight, its gauge category as assigned by Ravelry.

As I unpacked our first BC Garn order, Anne and I surveyed the fine-looking yarn in front of us and the big-looking gauge on the label and raised an eyebrow each. Maybe it would grow or bloom with washing and blocking, we said to one another. There was nothing to do but swatch.

I got that happy assignment, and began knitting on US 6 needles, then switched to 7, then to 8, wanting to show the manufacturer’s suggested gauges. That swatch gave me a range of fabrics, with gauges of 5 stitches per inch, 4.75 stitches per inch, and 4.5 stitches per inch, respectively. All three are a little loose for my taste, so I knit a separate swatch on a US 5, which is my favorite of the group.

Anne had been eyeing Loch Lomond for Kate Davie’s popular “Carbeth,” a pullover knit with 2 strands of DK weight yarn held together throughout for a bulky gauge. I knit a third swatch with this pattern in mind, holding Loch Lomond double on a US 10.5 needle, which didn’t quite give me gauge for the pattern, though probably a 10 would do it.

The fibers did bloom with washing and blocking, filling in the empty spaces between stitches a bit, and the lightweight fabric that results is soft to the touch and pretty cohesive even on the larger needle sizes. As ever, the right needle size and pattern for this yarn depends upon what kind of fabric you want to get out of it; for a sturdy sweater, I’d aim for a DK gauge of 5.5 stitches per inch or so, but for an airy shawl, the worsted to aran gauges of 5 – 4.5 stitches per inch and more open fabric would be lovely. Consider Churchmouse’s “Easy Folded Poncho,” Jared Flood’s “Guernsey Wrap” at the DK gauge, Heidi Kirrmaier’s “Climb Every Mountain,” Hannah Fettig’s “Schoodic Cardigan,” and Carrie Bostick Hoge’s “Lucinda.”

Come by the shop to see and feel these swatches, or pick up a skein of Loch Lomond and make some swatches of your own!

Hello, BC Garn.

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Kate and Courtney of Kelbourne Woolens have been busy this winter. Along with celebrating 10 years of their company and launching a new yarn of their own, they’ve taken on an entirely new brand of yarn as US distributors. We trust their taste and their commitment to quality natural fibers, and were impressed with these new-to-us yarns. To that end, we’re excited to announce that we are now stockists of BC Garn!

BC Garn is a family-owned, ecologically-minded yarn company out of Denmark. Many of their yarns are certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), so we feel confident that they are produced safely and responsibly, from the fiber to the dye.

We’ve begun with Semilla and Loch Lomond, DK weight and worsted weight wools, respectively, along with a few shades of the 100% silk Tussah Tweed that Anne is smitten with. I’ll share more about these yarns here on the blog soon. In the meantime, come by the shop to see them for yourself, and welcome BC Garn to our collection!