Tag Archives: marled

Back in stock: Malabrigo Caracol!

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After spending the past few years out of production, Malabrigo Caracol is back!

Malabrigo Caracol:

  • super bulky weight
  • thick and thin
  • marled
  • 100% superwash merino wool
  • 90 yards/150 grams
  • $25 each

Caracol is a super bulky yarn with a unique texture, composed of a thick-and-thin single ply criss-crossed by a thinner yarn. Some skeins are criss-crossed with a black binder thread, giving a stained glass effect, and others with white, for more subtle variation.

A yarn with this much personality doesn’t need a complicated pattern to show it off, and Anne’s “Perky Little Hat” is just the ticket.

What else to make with Caracol? Here are some ideas!

Caracol is squishy, soft as can be, and provides near-instant gratification. Look for it in the super bulky section here at the shop, and remember it when the need for a handmade gift sneaks up at the last minute!

“Lento” in Isager Bouclé & fingering weight yarns.

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We’ve got a brand new sweater on display at the shop – here’s my version of Jonna Hietala’s “Lento” pullover knit with Malabrigo Ultimate Sock and Isager Bouclé!

Bouclé is a fine alpaca yarn with one looped ply, which makes a fluffy, textured fabric when combined with the soft and smooth Ultimate Sock.

This yarn pairing is ideal for this simple stockinette pullover. While I was working on it, Anne would ask anyone passing through, “Have you touched Julia’s sweater? It’s so soft!”

I love watching two different yarns come together in a marled project – it always seems to make a fabric that’s more beautiful and intriguing than either yarn would be on its own.

Here are some color combinations in Ultimate Sock and Bouclé that I think would make gorgeous “Lento” pullovers!

  • Isager Bouclé: lace weight, looped bouclé texture, 100% alpaca, 190 yards/50 grams; $11 each
  • Malabrigo Ultimate Sock: fingering weight, hand dyed, variegated and semi-solid colorways, 75% superwash merino wool, 25% nylon, 420 yards/100g; $21 each

Bouclé is unique, but we have many fingering weight yarns to choose from – seeking even more softness? Hold Bouclé together with Isager Alpaca 2!

  • Isager Alpaca 2: light fingering weight, 50% alpaca, 50% wool, 275 yards/50 g; $12 each

Perhaps, like me, you prefer a bit of structure in your sweaters – look to Brooklyn Tweed Tones Light.

  • Brooklyn Tweed Tones Light: fingering weight, woolen-spun 2 ply, overdyed, 100% Columbia wool, 225 yards/50g; $16.75 each

Look for Isager Bouclé in the lace weight section here at our shop, and browse our entire fingering weight section for just the right match to make a “Lento” of your own!

Show and tell: held together.

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It’s been too long since I shared show-and-tell here on the blog, though it’s an ongoing part of our daily Instagram posts – let’s see what folks have been making with yarn from our shop!

We have long extolled the magic of holding multiple yarns together, making unique color and fiber blends that delight and sometimes surprise us. All the projects in today’s show and tell post feature this technique, sometimes called marling. The shawl above is a great example, Pat’s “Duality.” She knit the larger wrap size using Isager Alpaca 2, a lovely substitution for the now-discontinued Shibui yarn that Jane Vanselous’s pattern calls for.

Joy recently completed this “Copenhagen Cardigan,” designed by PetiteKnit and made with Isager Alpaca 2 in a teal color and Silk Mohair in blue held together throughout. The result is so delightfully soft and fuzzy, she came back for more Silk Mohair to make a PetiteKnit “Cumulus Blouse O-neck.”

Here’s a more subtle marl, where the two yarns are similar in color – Kay’s “Oslo Hat – Mohair Edition,” knit with Kelbourne Woolens Perennial and Fyberspates Cumulus held together throughout. Margaretta made one too, using the same two yarns in shades of teal.

Margaretta also knit a marled “Weekend Hat,” another PetiteKnit pattern, using Isager Alpaca 2 and Kelbourne Woolens Camper held together.

Thanks to Pat, Joy, Kay, and Margaretta for sharing their work with us! We love to see what you make with our yarns, and can’t wait to see what comes off your needles next.

Back in stock: Isager Bomulin.

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Warm weather calls for plant fiber and lightweight yarns, so we’ve stocked up on Isager Bomulin, a light fingering weight blend of cotton and linen.

Isager Bomulin:

  • light fingering weight
  • 65% cotton, 35% linen
  • 230 yards/50g
  • $11 each

Plant fibers like these have little elasticity and a lot of drape, making them perfect for spring shawls and scarves, or loose-fitting warm-weather garments.

I’m a little late to the party, but I’ve just knit a “Ranunculus” as a sample for the shop, Midori Hirose’s always-popular textured yoke pullover. I picked a salmon pink shade of Isager Bomulin, holding it together with slightly lighter pink Isager Highland Wool for a bit of added softness, structure, and variation in color.

I’m really pleased with how these close-but-not-matching shades blend together in this garment, looking solid from a distance but gently marled upon closer inspection. Here are some more color combinations in Bomulin and Highland Wool that should have a similar effect!

Isager Merilin, a merino/linen blend, would also play well with Bomulin; here are four more low contrast combinations to consider for a “Ranunculus” of your own, or perhaps a PetiteKnit “Breeze Bag,” which calls for a similar combination of yarns.

Here’s Margaretta’s recently completed “Breeze Bag,” knit with Bomulin and Merilin held together throughout – perfect for farmer’s market flowers!

What else to knit with Bomulin? Here are a few ideas!

Look for Isager Bomulin, Highland Wool, and Merilin in the fingering weight section here at HYS!

Marling with Sandnes Garn Sunday.

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A few months ago, a new PetiteKnit pattern caught my eye and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. “Melange Sweater” is simple enough, a marled stockinette drop shoulder pullover, but the high contrast combination of colors intrigued me, along with a few other design details.

 “Melange Sweater” by PetiteKnit, photo © PetiteKnit

I chose Sandnes Garn Sunday for a “Melange Sweater” of my own and have been happily stitching away ever since, enjoying the shoulder shaping at the yoke, the soft yarn, the bouncy fabric, and above all, watching the colors come together. There’s a pleasing randomness to it, a bit of blurring and pooling – it’s keeping me interested even though the stitching is simple!

I picked a high contrast color combination for my “Melange Sweater,” similar to the sweater in the pattern photo. There are so many possible combinations in our Sandnes Garn Sunday cubbies – here are some high contrast ideas!

Low contrast marls are subtle, but lovely – the resulting fabric looks more solid from a distance.

Here are some other PetiteKnit pattern ideas for Sandnes Garn Sunday held double:

“Weekend Hat” by PetiteKnit, knit with Sandnes Garn Sunday held double; photo © PetiteKnit

Look for Sandnes Garn Sunday in the fingering weight section here at HYS – we can’t wait to see what color combinations you come up with for your own marled knits!

Capital Luxury Sport + Zauberwolle.

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The newest arrivals to our sport weight section are Neighborhood Capital Luxury Sport and a restock of Schoppel-Wolle Zauberwolle, and they look like friends to me. Combining semisolid shades with self-striping yarn makes for exciting colorwork, whether stranded, striped, mosaic, or brioche.

What to make with these color pairs? Here are some ideas!

Sweaters:

Accessories:

Look for Capital Luxury Sport and Zauberwolle in the sport weight section here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop – we’re open from 11am – 5:30pm, Tuesdays – Saturdays! We’re still taking online orders for local pickup or shipping, as well.

Back in stock: Zauberwolle.

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We refilled our baskets of Zauberwolle this week – check out all the new colors!

Schoppel-Wolle Zauberwolle:

  • sport weight
  • marled, self-striping
  • 100% merino wool
  • 273 yards/100 g
  • $23 each

Like other Schoppel-Wolle yarns we’ve carried, Zauberwolle is a marled yarn that slowly changes from one color to the next several yards at a time, so that whatever you’re knitting or crocheting with it comes out striped. These colorful balls of yarn entertain you as you stitch – when will the new color start? Just one more row…

Any two of these would make a great “Inclinations Cowl,” by Andrea Mowry – here are some more ideas for Zauberwolle:

Speaking of Andrea Mowry, I knit her “Flicker & Flame” hat with Zauberwolle earlier this year, choosing Kelbourne Woolens Andorra in Snow White for the Main Color.

Look for Zauberwolle in the sport weight section here at our shop – we’re open 11am-5:30pm, Tuesdays-Saturdays, and we do require masks for entry. Thanks for your cooperation and support!

Zauberwolle + solid colors.

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Schoppel-Wolle Zauberwolle is the latest arrival here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, a marled self-striping merino wool. I wrote in its introductory post about mixing two contrasting colors, but Zauberwolle plays well with solid colors, too. Read on for some color and pattern ideas!

Here, I’ve paired Zauberwolle with Swans Island All American Sport – a hand-dyed yarn, so you can expect a little bit of variation in the skein, but an overall semisolid effect.

Swans Island All American Sport: sport weight, hand-dyed, 100% Rambouillet wool, 185 yards/40 g; $12.50 each

Kelbourne Woolens Andorra is a great playmate for Zauberwolle, too – a soft and slightly fuzzy blend of merino and highland wool with a dash of mohair.

Kelbourne Woolens Andorra: sport weight, 60% merino, 20% highland wool, 20% mohair, 185 yards/50 g; $12 each

What to make with these color pairs? Here are some ideas!

Sweaters:

Accessories:

Look for Zauberwolle, All American Sport, and Andorra in the sport weight section here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop – we’re open from 11am – 5:30pm, Tuesdays – Saturdays! We’re still taking online orders for local pickup or shipping, as well.

Hello, Zauberwolle!

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Meet the newest arrival here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop: Schoppel-Wolle Zauberwolle.

Schoppel-Wolle Zauberwolle:

  • sport weight
  • marled, self-striping
  • 100% merino wool
  • 273 yards/100 g
  • $23 each

Like other Schoppel-Wolle yarns we’ve carried, Zauberwolle is a marled yarn that slowly changes from one color to the next several yards at a time, so that whatever you’re knitting or crocheting with it comes out striped.

One fun way to use self striping yarn is to combine two contrasting colorways. When two self striping yarns are striped against one another, it creates multiple levels of stripes and gradations of color in the finished piece. The premise is simple but the effect is impressive, and works well with mosaic patterns and stranded colorwork, too!

To that end, here are some pattern ideas for Zauberwolle:

Zauberwolle plays well with others, too – more on that in an upcoming blog post!

Show and tell!

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Back with more show and tell! Here’s another batch of completed projects made with yarns from our shop. If you follow us on Instagram, some of these may look familiar – let’s take a closer look at these beautiful knits.

Here’s Peggy’s “Kith,” a striped shawl knit with Tukuwool Fingering. Her bold choice of contrast color really makes the short row sections pop out! Pattern by Justyna Lorkowska.

Wendy brought in her “Nightshift” shawl for us to admire, knit with Malabrigo Rios – a popular yarn choice for a very popular pattern by Andrea Mowry.

Margaretta knit this sweet baby “Festival Sweater” with Berroco Ultra Wool DK – love the playful contrast colors! Pattern by PetiteKnit.

We were delighted when Rosi sent us photos of her recently completed “River Otter” – she knit this cute critter with Berroco Ultra Wool, then made the fish with Fibre Co. Acadia. Pattern by Sara Elizabeth Kellner.

Anne has been busy knitting hats! In an attempt to clean up her leftover bits and bobs, she made the first three hats holding two to five strands of yarn together for a super bulky gauge and fun marled colors.

The gray hat above is “Wister,” by Courtney Kelley, knit with Ewe Ewe Baa Baa Bulky, and the striped hat is made with leftover Malabrigo Caracol. Earth Guild’s “Super Simple Circular Hat Calculator” is her go-to pattern, making it easy to knit any size at any gauge.

Thanks to Peggy, Wendy, Margaretta, Rosi and Anne for sharing their work with us! We love to see what you make with our yarns, and can’t wait to see what comes off your needles next.