Tag Archives: marled

Hello, Knitting for Olive Cotton Merino.

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Thank you all for the warm welcome you’ve given Knitting for Olive! We’re thrilled to bring yarn into the shop that you’re as excited to see in person as you are to work with. Last week I wrote about Pure Silk on the blog – now it’s time to put Cotton Merino in the spotlight!

Knitting for Olive Cotton Merino:

  • light fingering weight
  • 70% organic OCS certified cotton, 30% RWS certified Merino wool
  • 273 yards (250 meters) / 50 grams
  • hand wash in cool water, lay flat to dry
  • gauge: 28 stitches = 4″
  • neeedles: US 2.5 (3 mm)

Cotton Merino is a soft and smooth yarn named simply for its fiber content – organic cotton and fine merino wool. The cotton is cool and breathable, while the wool brings a little elasticity, making a balanced blend that’s light enough for summertime wear.

As with all of their yarns, Knitting for Olive is mindful about the sustainability of Cotton Merino, using OCS certified organic cotton and RWS certified wool. RWS is short for Responsible Wool Standard and the certification ensures that animals, farmers and the environment are all treated respectfully. Along with protecting soil health, biodiversity, and safe working conditions, RWS certification protects the Five Freedoms of animal welfare: freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury and disease, freedom to express normal behavior, and freedom from fear and distress. In other words, happy and healthy sheep!

Bailey knit the swatch above with Cotton Merino on US 2.5 needles, and we all admired the fine fabric. Then she held Cotton Merino and Pure Silk together on US 6 needles, and we loved the colorful marl even more!

Last week’s blog post has plenty of pattern ideas for a single strand of these yarns – today, let’s look at patterns for two strands held together.

Look for Knitting for Olive in the fingering weight section here at HYS – we can’t wait to see what you make with it!

Back in stock: Isager Highland Wool.

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It’s been a while since we restocked Isager Highland Wool, a light and lofty fingering weight wool in muted, earthy colors.

Isager Highland Wool:

  • light fingering weight
  • solid and heathered colors
  • 100% Peruvian Highland wool
  • 301 yards/50 g
  • gauge: 26 sts / 30 rows using 3mm needles
  • hand wash, lay flat to dry

Like many of Isager’s yarns, Highland Wool is most often used in combination with other fibers. I paired it with Isager Bomulin for the “Ranunculus” that hangs at the shop, and Bailey paired it with Silk Mohair for the “Darcy Cardigan” she’s wearing here.

Isager Highland Wool held with Silk Mohair is a lush and lightweight combination with just enough drape – no wonder there are so many patterns that pair them up. Here are a few!

Bouclé is another good playmate for Highland Wool, a looped alpaca yarn that brings its teddy bear texture to the knitted fabric.

“Foundation Sweater,” by Lene Holme Samsøe, knit with Isager Highland & Bouclé

Lene Holme Samsøe’s “Foundation Sweater” showcases this combination, a top-down raglan in magical marled colors.

Bailey helped me come up with a few more unexpected combinations in Bouclé and Highland Wool – I can’t wait to see what else folks dream up!

Look for these and other Isager yarns here at HYS – we can’t get enough of them!

Marled “SABAI Top” in Tynn Line & Bio Balance.

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Bailey’s most recent project for the shop is a marled “SABAI Top,” knit with Sandnes Garn Tynn Line and BC Garn Bio Balance.

Susanne Müller’s “SABAI Top” was one of the most popular patterns of last summer, and we expect to see even more of them when the season comes around again. It’s a winning combination of easy-to-knit and easy-to-wear, a simple design with a few thoughtful details.

Müller’s pattern calls for a single strand of DK or light worsted weight yarn, like Sandnes Garn Line, knit at 5 stitches per inch. Bailey chose to hold two thinner strands of yarn together, not only to get just the right balance of cool plant fibers and stretchy wool, but also to bring in more color.

This juicy blend of Spicy Orange and Fuchsia comes together beautifully, making a fabric that’s more than the sum of its parts. The colors are different, but their closeness in value makes the stitches buzz, though the fabric reads more solid from a distance.

Inspired to knit a marled “SABAI Top” of your own? Here are more color ideas from Bailey and I!

Be sure to check out Bailey’s “SABAI Top” next time you’re here at the shop, the colors are even more exciting in person! You’ll find Sandnes Garn Tynn Line and BC Garn Bio Balance in the fingering weight section.

New colors, show and tell: Isager Bouclé

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Isager released four new shades in their cuddly Bouclé yarn last month, a fluffy alpaca yarn with one looped ply.

Jonna Helin’s cool and casual “Lento” pullover is one of our favorite uses for Isager Bouclé, a timeless stockinette raglan knit at a big gauge for nearly instant gratification.

Kathy knit this particular “Lento”  in Anne’s class on the subject, holding Isager Bouclé with Kelbourne Woolens Camper in a high contrast color combination. In the finished sweater, the fuzzy red Bouclé is the more prominent color, to my eye, but the lighter Strawberry Heather Camper peeks through.

Here are some more high contrast color combinations in Bouclé and Camper!

Low contrast combinations will blend together more, so that the finished garment reads solid from a distance, revealing subtle color variation up close. Here are some intriguing low contrast pairs to consider…

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!

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 Helin’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.