Shibui Sample of the Month: Breton Cowl colorways.

Posted by Julia on November 18, 2016

Our November Shibui Sample of the Month is on display at the shop til November 30th, and we’re offering the Shibui yarns for this project at 10% off throughout the month!

This particular “Breton Cowl” is knit with a relatively high-contrast combination of colors, namely Drift in “Graphite” and Silk Cloud in “Suit.” There’s an argument to be made that high-contrast colorways are better suited to this pattern than subtle ones, and here are a few such colorways.

Above: Drift in “Tar” and Silk Cloud in “Apple.” Below: Drift in “Velvet” and Silk Cloud in “Raspberry.”

Ginny recently brought her finished “Breton Cowl” in for show-and-tell, and it’s this very combination that she used. I love the bright pop of “Raspberry” against the deeply saturated “Velvet.”

For those who favor subtlety, here are a couple of low-contrast color combinations that I find just as exciting.

Above: Drift in “Suit” and Silk Cloud in “Blueprint.” Below: Drift in “Pollen” and Silk Cloud in “Mineral.”

Come by the shop to create your own “Breton Cowl” color combination, and get the Shibui yarns for this project at 10% off during November!

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

Shibui Sample of the Month: Breton Cowl.

Posted by Julia on November 9, 2016

November is here, and with it, a new Shibui Sample of the Month! We offer a 10% discount on Shibui yarns purchased for our featured sample til the end of the month.

Our current Shibui Sample of the Month is the “Breton Cowl,” by Antonia Shankland, from Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide No. 1: Stripes.

This luxurious cowl is knit with thick garter stitch stripes of smooth Shibui Drift, punctuated by stockinette welts in fuzzy Silk Cloud.

We’re offering a 10% discount on Drift and Silk Cloud purchased for this project til the end of the month, so come by the shop to see it before November 30th!

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

Shibui Sample of the Month: Stole 2.0 colorways.

Posted by Julia on September 16, 2016

Our September Shibui Sample of the Month is on display at the shop til September 30th, and we’re offering the Shibui yarns for this project at 10% off throughout the month!

Theresa Gaffey’s “Stole 2.0” looks great in these cool neutrals with a pop of “Pollen,” but there are so many more options as far as colors are concerned; when this garment arrived, I went straight to our Shibui yarns to play matchmaker.

Above is a warmer take on the same color strategy, with a gradient of neutrals in Pebble (“Ivory,” “Sidewalk,” and “Caffeine”) and a bright pop of Silk Cloud in “Brownstone.” That pop could easily be a golden yellow, deep purple, or clear blue, or any bright shade you might favor. We have Silk Cloud in oodles of colors!

This next colorway is cool and watery, with Pebble in “Fjord,” “Canal,” and “Suit,” outlined by Silk Cloud in “Fog.”

This one is bold and bright, with a higher contrast edging: Pebble in “Clay,” “Poppy,” and “Bordeaux,” and Silk Cloud in “Tar.”

Here’s a more colorful selection: Pebble in “Pollen,” “Graphite,” and “Velvet,” trimmed in Silk Cloud “Caffeine.”

Come by the shop to play the color game yourself, and make our Shibui Sample of the Month your very next project!

Shibui Sample of the Month: Stole 2.0

Posted by Julia on September 4, 2016

September is here, and with it, a new Shibui Sample of the Month! We offer a 10% discount on Shibui yarns purchased for our featured sample til the end of the month.

Our current Shibui Sample of the Month is “Stole 2.0,” by Theresa Gaffey.

This striking wrap was knit in three shades of Shibui Pebble, outlined in a thin stripe of Silk Cloud.

Each color block is knit in a different direction, so the grain of the knitted fabric is sometimes vertical, sometimes horizontal.

We’re offering a 10% discount on Pebble and Silk Cloud purchased for this project til the end of the month, so come by the shop to see it before September 30th!

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

Isager Trunk Show!

Posted by Julia on August 2, 2016

We’re delighted to announce that a new trunk show has arrived to decorate our walls this month! Come by the shop before August 31st to see an array of garments and accessories knit in Isager yarns.

Isager is a Danish yarn company run by designers Marianne Isager and her daughter, Helga Isager.

Their yarns are mostly lace and fingering weight, and often combined two or three strands at a time to create bespoke fiber blends and unique colorways.

Isager has long been a favorite of ours here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop; Anne’s knit a handful of Isager patterns, guided knitters through plenty more, and even traveled to Denmark to study with Marianne and Helga a few years ago.

You’ll find our shop well-stocked with Isager yarns like Alpaca 1, Alpaca 2, Spinni, Tvinni, and Tweed.

We also keep lots of Isager patterns and booklets on hand, covering a wide range of projects, with an emphasis on contemporary knitted garments for adults and children.

Later this month, we’ll introduce a brand new Isager yarn at our Isager Yarn Tasting – sign up now to join us at this exciting event, and come by the shop soon to see the Isager Trunk Show for yourself!

Fibre Company Trunk Show!

Posted by Julia on June 4, 2016

We’re so excited to announce that we’ve just received a Trunk Show featuring Fibre Company Road to China Lace.

The Effortless Collection and Pathways Collection will be on display here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop until June 11th, 2016, and we have all the yarns and patterns to make these garments your own!

The Effortless Collection focuses on garter stitch, sometimes working two strands of Road to China Lace at the same time for a thicker fabric, or marled color combination.

The knitting is simple, but the results are quite elegant.

Designer Laura Nelkin created the Pathways Collection, a group of two shawls, a cowl, and a shrug. These are delicate, elegant garments, showing how well-suited this yarn is to lace patterning.

This trunk show is here for one week only, so plan a trip to the shop this week to admire, try on for size, and plan your next project with Fibre Company Road to China Lace!

Back in stock: Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace.

Posted by Julia on June 1, 2016

We recently placed a rather large order from Fyberspates, and the rather large box it arrived in was full of new books, new yarns, and new colors in old favorites. Our supply of Scrumptious Lace had grown particularly meager – are we really down to just three shades? – so Anne nearly quadrupled our selection with this order.

Scrumptious Lace is a shimmering blend of 55% merino and 45% silk, with 1094 yards on each 100 gram hank. Its vivid solid colors and smooth texture make for sharp stitch definition, ideal for lace knitting.

Consider Ysolda Teague’s “Ishbel,” “Pear Drop,” and “Barley Sugar,” Jared Flood’s “Rock Island,” and Laura Nelkin’s “Life Cycle.” We’ve also seen Emily Ross’s “Haruni” knit in Scrumptious Lace, with extra repeats of the first chart to make a larger shawl and take advantage of this yarn’s generous yardage. Fine yarns like this one are perfect for lace crochet projects, too; check out Elena Fedotova’s “Scarlet Berry” and “Ink Ripples.”

Look for Scrumptious Lace in the lace weight section here at the shop!

Back in stock: Isager Alpaca 1.

Posted by Julia on January 25, 2016

Isager is a Danish yarn company run by designer Marianne Isager and her daughter, Helga Isager. We’ve carried their yarns, books, and patterns for years now, and do our best to keep a wide selection of colors in stock.

With that in mind, we recently replenished our supply of Isager Alpaca 1, so that all 21 colors are now on our shelves.

Alpaca 1 is a lace weight yarn made of 100% alpaca which is spun in Peru. Often, Isager patterns pair this yarn with Isager Spinni, Tvinni, Highland, or Alpaca 2, to make thicker fabrics and unique color or fiber blends. Think “Camomille,” “The Fan,” or the “Tokyo” shawl kit.

Just as often, Alpaca 1 is knit, crocheted, or woven on its own, for lightweight garments that are fuzzy and warm. Consider Silke K.’s free “Arnhem Loop,” Steve Rousseau’s “Darren,” “Alaric,” and “Carlos” shawls, or our own simple-as-can-be “Garter Stitch Shawl.” Look at our “Lace weight” board on Pinterest for lots of other pattern ideas, and look for Isager Alpaca 1 in the lace weight section here at the shop. See you soon!

New colors from the Fibre Company.

Posted by Julia on January 11, 2016

Every so often, we get word that one yarn company or another has developed new colors, broadening their spectrum and filling in gaps. When the word came recently from the Fibre Company, we put in our order right away for new colors in Road to China Lace and Knightsbridge.

Road to China Lace is a relatively new Fibre Company yarn for us, a 2 ply lace weight blend of 65% baby alpaca, 15% silk, 10% camel, and 10% cashmere. Each 100 gram skein boasts 656 yards, enough for a good sized shawl. These four bright new shades bring a certain whimsy to the Road to China Lace color palette.

Knightsbridge is a soft and fuzzy blend of llama, merino, and silk, a light worsted weight yarn that knits up comfortably between 5 and 5.5 stitches per inch.

Knightsbridge also got four new colors, but they’re more muted and rustic, in keeping with the existing selection.

Look to our Pinterest page for Lace weight and Worsted weight pattern ideas, and come by the shop to plan your next project. Have any of you faithful readers worked with Road to China Lace or Knightsbridge before? Feel free to leave a comment and tell us what you made.

See you at the shop!

Friends of Shibui Trunk Show.

Posted by Julia on November 9, 2015

Another trunk show has arrived, another opportunity to see hand-knit garments in person, which is always better than in photographs. Come by the shop before November 24th, 2015, to see garments by independent designers Julie Hoover and Steve Rousseau knit in Shibui yarns!

We have five of Julie Hoover’s designs on the wall, four sweaters and one cowl, and they all share that elegant, simple-with-a-twist aesthetic that Shibui is known for.

Steve Rousseau’s designs are something very different: contemporary lace shawls with graphic, geometric motifs. We have seven of his rectangular shawls on display and one triangular shawl, and they all beg to be admired and studied closely.

All the garments in this show are made with Shibui Pebble, a lace weight blend of 48% recycled silk, 36% wool, and 16% cashmere.

Most of these pieces use this delicate yarn held singly, but a few sweaters are knit with two strands of Pebble held together throughout, for a thicker fabric.

All of the patterns are available as Ravelry In-Store Pattern Sales, where we print a copy for you and a digital copy is also saved in your email or Ravelry pattern library. We’re offering all in-stock Shibui yarns at a 10% discount during this Friends of Shibui Trunk Show, so visit us before November 24th to plan your next project in Shibui yarns!

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!