Tag Archives: merino

An Isager shipment. Part 1.

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As I’ve written here before, Theresa Gaffey’s Stole from the book Wearwithall has been a popular project at the shop lately. Gaffey’s design is beautiful in its simplicity, allowing knitters to relax and let the exquisite yarn do the talking.

The yarn is Isager Alpaca 2, a fingering weight blend of merino wool and alpaca. Only two weeks into our inventory sale, we were completely sold out of Wearwithall and very nearly sold out of Alpaca 2. I’m happy to announce that both are now back in stock. To all who were interested in making the Stole your next project: come and get it!

You can find Wearwithall and Isager Alpaca 2 in the Fingering Weight section of the shop in the second room. See you there!

More show and tell.

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Here are two more finished projects whose lives began as yarn from the Hillsborough Yarn Shop.

Kathy brought in her completed Wingspan made with a single skein of Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball, a self-striping fingering-weight yarn. Like Anne’s Wingspan made in Kauni, the color changes in the Zauberball highlight the unusual construction of this shawlette.

Carrie Anne brought in a cowl she made that used just one skein of the luscious, soft-as-cashmere Malabrigo Finito. It’s always great to see what the yarn becomes when it grows up into a finished piece, and to see projects that make the most of a single skein. Thanks for the show and tell, ladies!

KnitScene.

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The Fall issue of KnitScene is here, with more fodder for our cold-weather daydreams.

This issue offers sweaters, shawls, and accessories, one of which stood out to me in particular. These cabled fingerless mitts are made out of Zitron Kimono, a sport-weight blend of merino wool and silk that we happen to stock at the shop.

Come by the shop to snag this latest issue of KnitScene, and at 15% off during July, no less. See you soon!

The Stole.

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I mentioned a few posts ago that the Stole, with a capital “S,” might be a good way to take advantage of our Annual Inventory Sale. Nine skeins of Isager Alpaca 2 have a way of adding up, and the month-long 15% discount on everything in the shop will help take the edge off. The Stole has become a bit of a hit here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop since we first got the new book Wearwithall. As in, we had to restock nearly every color of Alpaca 2, and we may need to do it again soon. I thought the Stole deserved more than a mention; here is its very own post.

Having seen several beautiful Stoles-in-progress, Anne recently cast on for one of her own, using seven colors of Alpaca 2 whose first life was as a colorwork pullover. After two years on the needles with only a few inches done, Anne decided it was time to rip out the colorwork and give the yarn a second chance as a Stole.

As you can see by all the progress she’s made in only a handful of weeks, she made the right choice. Sometimes it seems painful to rip out a work in progress that you realize you’ll never finish, but this is one of the major joys of knitting: yarn can be reused. Your efforts are not wasted when you rip something out; a pile of ripped-out yarn is a sign that lessons have been learned and a new project can begin.

It’s been such a pleasure to watch knitters break from the colors shown in the pattern to create their own combinations–this one cool in blues and greens, that one warm in neutrals, another autumnal with a pop of chartreuse. The Isager color palette is welcoming in this way, the colors play well together in all kinds of variations.

Come by the shop to quench your thirst for Alpaca 2, and to see Anne’s Stole-in-progress. This is a project that needs to be touched to be understood; photos don’t do it justice. See you at the shop!

New colors from String Theory.

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Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve gotten a couple of boxes from String Theory. As I’m sure you know by now, we love boxes from String Theory, because along with the colorways we’ve come to know and love come the colorways we’ve never seen before. Tanis and Karen do amazing things with yarn and dye, and Anne and I are delighted to see what they’ve come up with. Most recently, we’ve received new colors in Selku, a sport weight merino and silk, and Caper Sock, a fingering weight superwash merino blended with cashmere for softness and nylon for strength. I know I’ve sung the praises of these yarns many times, but I can’t let a new shipment from String Theory come and go without devoting a blog post to it. Take a look at these colors!

 

As much as I love the Caper Sock, It’s the Selku I’ve got my eye on. So far I’ve seen an exquisite Marianne Isager sweater started in it, along with two shawls. Over and over again, I pick String Theory’s deep blue, Cobalt. I used it in Caper Sock on my North Arrow scarf, and then again in a pair of Bluestocking socks. As much as I love Cobalt, I’m not sure I can justify using it a third time, but I’m anxious to try Selku. What would you do with 378 yards of shimmering sport-weight wool and silk?

Come by the shop to take a closer look!

Local Color Hues.

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A brand new batch of roving for spinning and felting has just arrived at the shop, hand-dyed by local fiber artist Lorin Fields.

 
This 100% merino roving from Local Color Hues is buttery soft, and comes in super-saturated semisolid colorways. I’m not a spinner, myself, but these are extremely tempting little bundles of fiber nonetheless. I imagine that it would be a pleasure to work with, and could be transformed by a spinner into some really special yarn.

Come by the shop to see Local Color Hues roving up close. You’ll find it tucked in the Local Yarns corner, next to wool roving from Brightside Wool.

Hello, Ewe Ewe.

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Once again, Clara Parkes inspired us with a recent Knitter’s Review. She never fails to peak our interest. Sometimes it’s a tool, sometimes a book–this time, it’s yarn, from a new company called Ewe Ewe.

Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted Washable is a squishy, soft yarn which is well described by its alliterative name. With 95 yards of machine-washable merino wool in each 50 gram ball, Wooly Worsted Washable is an excellent choice for accessories and baby things.

The color palette is limited but vibrant, and the pattern support makes good use of it in stripes and colorwork.

This yarn is a pleasure to knit with, with brilliant stitch definition and a springy texture. “It knits itself,” Anne has often remarked since Ewe Ewe’s arrival, and she should know. This baby hat was completed in less than 24 hours, with enough yarn left over to make another with the colors inverted.

Come by the shop to pet Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted Washable, and remember it for baby- and gift-knitting. Find it on the teacart, and find Ewe Ewe patterns in our recently reorganized pattern binders.

60 More Quick Baby Knits.

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60 More Quick Baby Knits is the latest collection of patterns for the popular Cascade yarns, focusing this time on Cascade 220 Superwash Sport, a lightweight washable merino wool.  

60 More Quick Baby Knits is well described by its simple title; inside, you’ll find everything baby: sweaters, booties, onesies, hats, blankets, sleep sacks, and more. There’s a nice variety of patterns, as you might expect in a group as big as 60, from simple texture patterns to cables, lace, and colorwork. Something for every knitter with a baby project in mind.

Find it on the shelf with all our baby books. See you at the shop!

Hello, Caper Sock.

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As many of you already know, String Theory yarns move quickly around here. One week, we’re tearing into a box of their hand-dyed yarn, and the next, it seems, we’re studying an emptying cubby of Caper Sock, wondering how we sold out of so many colors so quickly. It gives us an excuse to give them a call and request more, of course, and with each order, we are tempted by the many colorways we haven’t stocked before. Our most recent order brought the biggest variety of Caper Sock we’ve seen yet.

What a spectrum! I find myself selecting colors I’d normally pass over. Suddenly, I like purple, and grass green.

Those of you who subscribe to our newsletter may already know that I recently self-published a pattern using Caper Sock.

North Arrow is a two-color garter stitch scarf with a short-row triangle and chevron stripes. My version is now hanging in the shop, so you can see and touch the scrumptious, soft fabric that Caper Sock creates. With our current selection of colors, choosing a pair for North Arrow makes for a fun diversion. I’d love to see a North Arrow in any of these combinations, for example:

Or you could follow Anne’s lead, and knit a North Arrow in Malabrigo Sock yarn.

We have even more Malabrigo Sock to choose from than we do Caper Sock, if you’ll recall, making the color-combining into a seemingly-endless game. Come to the shop and play!

And do take a look at North Arrow on Ravelry, if you’re interested. I’d love to hear what you think!

Hello, Malabrigo Finito.

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A few months ago, I overheard Anne having a serious-sounding phone conversation with a representative from Malabrigo Yarns. I heard her request “a bag in every color” and knew it must be something good. Then a pause. Then, “better make it two bags in every color.” It must be very good indeed, I thought. How right I was!

Malabrigo has released another new yarn: Finito, a fingering weight superfine merino wool. Produced in limited quantities only once a year, Finito is made from the very finest of merino wool fiber, and beautifully hand-dyed in the usual Malabrigo fashion. The people at Malabrigo told us it was softer than their usual merino wool, which was hard to imagine, but I must say, they weren’t wrong. Each 50 gram skein is 200 yards long and deliciously soft to the touch.

Of course Anne has already selected enough for a sweater. I tried to exercise some restraint and only came home with three skeins to play with. What will become of these three skeins I don’t quite know, but I’m sure I will have a wonderful time finding out.

Come by the shop to see this newest Malabrigo yarn as well as the old favorites: Malabrigo Lace, Sock, Arroyo, Rios, Silky Merino, Worsted, and Twist. See you at the shop!