Tag Archives: merino

Hello, String Theory.

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I know I said we were elated at the arrival of Jitterbug last week–and really, we were! But that was before yesterday’s shipment from String Theory, a new yarn company for us. Yesterday, excitement erupted at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop as Anne pulled skein after skein of beautiful hand-dyed yarn out of the box, passing them around to an appreciative group of knitters who petted, hugged, and admired the new yarn with great delight. Several of them decided they couldn’t leave without a skein, and so they were here and gone before they even made it onto the shelf. Luckily, there is still plenty to show off. Have a look at what all of the fuss is about.

String Theory is a small company out of Blue Hill, Maine, a two-woman operation that has been getting a lot of attention recently. String Theory was recently profiled in Coastal Knits, a lovely pattern collection that we’re forever reordering. Clara Parkes mentioned them in a recent post on Knitter’s Review, which led me back to her Knitter’s Book of Socks, where I found patterns using both of the String Theory sock yarns we just got in.

String Theory’s Caper Sock is a luxurious fingering weight yarn, a blend of superwash merino, cashmere, and nylon. Cookie A’s pattern from Knitter’s Book of Socks, below, uses the Caper Sock yarn with lovely results.

Bluestocking, on the other hand, is perhaps the more interesting of the two String Theory sock yarns because of its fiber content: 80% Bluefaced Leicester wool and 20% nylon. Bluefaced Leicester is a particular breed of sheep known for its long, strong fibers, which ought to make a particularly durable pair of socks. (Care to learn more about breed-specific wools? Put Clara Parkes’ Knitter’s Book of Wool on your holiday wish list, or give it to yourself as a gift. Fascinating stuff!) It’s rare and exciting to see a yarn label that specifies the breed of sheep whose wool is inside it, with the exception of the ubiquitous Merino. I can’t wait to give Bluestocking a try, perhaps using Ann Budd’s pattern from Knitter’s Book of Socks.

The third and final kind of yarn we received from String Theory this week is their Merino DK, a name which speaks for itself. I can add little else to describe it, though I’ll mention that it’s superwash, squishy and soft, and that each 100 gram skein is packed with 280 yards. At a dk weight, that can easily take you through a hat, cowl, pair of mittens, or maybe even a scarf.

Come by the shop and we’ll be sure to show you in person all that I’ve shown you here. Forgive us if we can hardly contain our delight: we love yarn, we love knitting, and we are utterly irrepressible. See you at the shop!

Jitterbug. Again.

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You would not believe the gasps of delight that accompanied this week’s much anticipated shipment of Colinette Jitterbug. (I know I say things like that a lot–it seems that weekly, we receive boxes of gasp-inducing yarns–but I’m just reporting the facts, here. We’re an excitable bunch.) Unlike most yarns, the Jitterbug comes to us in bunches of untwisted hanks, which makes for a dramatic entrance.

After oohing and aahing over each color as it emerged from the box, Anne and I got right to work twisting up each hank.

Jitterbug, as I’ve written before, is a tightly-plied, squishy, merino yarn in fingering weight which comes to us all the way from Wales. We’ve carried primarily variegated colorways thus far, but the semisolid colorways have been so tempting that we finally, happily gave in.

I went home with a skein of Jitterbug in a golden yellow to make myself a pair of bright, wild socks. There are several other projects awaiting my attention, but it’s quite possible that I’ll put them all aside to cast on with this yarn, for which I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews.

One such rave-reviewer is Anne, who made a little something out of Jitterbug for herself earlier this year.

No big deal, just one of the most amazing sweaters we have in the shop, an exquisite design from Marianne Isager’s Japanese Inspired Knits. Come by to examine Anne’s sweater in close, glorious detail, and to snag a skein of Jitterbug for yourself.

See you at the shop!

Claudia Hand Painted Yarns. Again.

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We first welcomed Claudia Hand Painted Yarns to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop only a few months ago, but already it’s been such a hit that we decided to order more. We made up a few more kits for the Double Silk T-Shirt and Cardigan, replacing the color combinations that flew out of the shop when we first got them in stock. We also made up kits for the Warm Me Up pullover sweater, also knit with the Claudia Hand Painted Silk Lace.

For those of you who’d like to find other uses for the Silk Lace, we’re also offering that yarn separately outside of the kit. Each shining skein is 1100 yards long, so one could easily get you through a sizeable lace shawl.

The most exciting part of the most recent Claudia shipment for me, however, was this:

A handful of new colors in the Fingering yarn. Anne generously let me pick out the colors from Claudia’s tremendous selection, and as you might have predicted, I went with the semisolid colorways instead of the variegated. These colors are vivid, rich, and complement one another nicely, if I do say so myself. Any of them would make a stellar pair of Interrupted socks, no?

Come by to see these new beauties and the rest of the Claudia Hand Painted Yarns.

P.S.

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Along with our Malabrigo Lace, we got a handful of bags of Malabrigo Rios in whatever colors were available. It wasn’t a big Rios shipment, but it was enough to brighten the display, and to allow us to breathe easier, knowing there were sweater quantities of a few colors, if needed.

I just knit a very simple garter stitch cowl for my sister out of Rios and loved every stitch for its stretchy, springy softness. Next time you’re shopping around for washable worsted weight yarn, consider Rios!

Hello, Malabrigo Lace.

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Malabrigo is known for its rich colors and buttery softness, as well as for its own popularity. Because of its fine qualities and popularity among knitters and crocheters, it’s hard to get a hold of, and it’s hard to keep in stock. Periodically, we’re able to replenish our collection of particular Malabrigo yarns, and this time around, we were able to finally get our hands on some Malabrigo Lace.

The Lace is a single ply made from baby merino wool, used as often for garments as it is for lace shawls. Faced with the pleasurable challenge of working up a shop sample in Malabrigo Lace, I spent at least an hour roaming around Ravelry looking at what others had used it for before I settled on a pattern. As of now, I’m about a dozen rows into Saroyan, a lovely, lacy, leafy scarf that’s available as a free download on Ravelry. I’m not far enough along to share pictures yet, though I’ll surely do so as it grows. When I started working on it, someone commented, “That’s not really your kind of thing, is it?” and while it’s not, that’s part of why I chose it. I rarely knit lace patterns, I rarely knit scarves, I wouldn’t have chosen this particular color for myself–but I’m having such fun! It feels good to reach out of my comfort zone and knit something different. If you’d like to make a lace-weight Saroyan of your own–or a Citron, or a Featherweight Cardigan, or any number of other things–come by the shop and we’ll talk Malabrigo Lace.

Katia Fabula. Once more.

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I know I’ve written about this yarn twice before, but it’s time, once more, to remind you of the existence of Katia Fabula. Super-bulky, very soft, machine-washable merino wool which we now carry in a whopping  8 colors. Have a look!

I have a feeling that as the holidays grow nearer, this yarn will begin to look more and more appealing to those of us who’ve been putting off gift-knitting. A hat in Fabula could likely be a knit in two sittings, maybe one if you’re really pressed for time, and a scarf wouldn’t take too much longer if you cast on narrowly… just saying. 
See you at the shop!

Tvinni.

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Anne and I recently decided that we needed more colors of Isager Tvinni (pronounced, incidentally, “tweenie.” In case you were curious), a fingering-weight merino from Denmark. We pored over the colorcard, comparing the awe-inspiring array of available colors to our small Tvinni collection, carefully selecting those colors that would play well together and reflect a wider spectrum. Today we received a box which brought these new colors, along with six more copies of Tutto a Mano. I was forced to reorganize the Isager island, petting each yarn and sorting them by color. It’s a hard job, you know, but someone has to do it.

Take a look at our updated Tvinni collection, and see if you’re not inspired to knit it right up.

Hello, Swans Island.

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I could not possibly be more excited to introduce you all to this thrilling new yarn, an organic, hand-dyed merino from the Maine-based company Swans Island.

If you’ve been in the shop in the past two days, then you know that our excitement for this yarn has been obvious, reflected not only in our squeals of delight and our ear-to-ear grins, but also in its placement: front and center on the teacart.

Swans Island Organic Merino is spun and dyed in Maine, and comes in two weights, a worsted and a fingering. The worsted is put up in 100 gram skeins with 250 yards each, while the fingering boasts 525 yards to the skein. These details blur into the background, however, when you touch this yarn. Immediately, the yarn’s main feature is obvious: it is incredibly, amazingly soft. The secret to this softness is in the gentle, minimal processing that comes with ecologically-friendly natural dyes, which you can read more about on the Swans Island website. My new hero, Clara Parkes, author of the Knitter’s Book of Wool, wrote a characteristically in-depth review of the Swans Island Worsted on her blog, Knitter’s Review–a great resource if you’re thinking of giving this yarn a try. And if you’re thinking of giving it a try but don’t know what to knit, check out the first wave of Swans Island patterns, which can be found in a binder between the two Swans Island baskets.

Myself, I’m the lucky girl who gets to knit up a shop sample with this wondrous stuff, a hat, which I’ve just cast on for. Only four rows in, I can already tell you that this yarn is a dream. I have several Swans Island sweater daydreams floating around in my head, competing with one another. I’m so excited, I have no idea which to cast on for!

Claudia Hand Painted Yarns.

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With August comes the new Fall yarns, and here is one of our most exciting acquisitions of the season: Claudia Hand Painted Yarns, out of Harrisonburg, VA. Anne fell in love with a silk sweater she saw at TNNA in June, and the rest is history, which is to say, the makings of that silk sweater are now in the shop. We’ve put kits together with 2 skeins of the Claudia Hand Painted Silk Lace in different but complimentary colorways, which are held together throughout the knitting of either a cardigan or a t-shirt. The kits include the yarn, the pattern, and a Hillsborough Yarn Shop project bag.


Obsessive sock knitter that I am, though, the real excitement for me is the Claudia Hand Painted Fingering yarn. Made of 100% extra fine merino, hand painted in bright variegated colorways, this yarn is squishy and soft but tightly plied, which should make for luxurious but long-wearing socks.

I’ve already knit a sample sock for the shop with this yarn, so you can get a feel for how it knits up. The pattern for said sample sock is forthcoming–a pattern of my own design, which I’m excited to release into the world as soon as I’m done editing it. Til then, you’ll be delighted to know that there are many wonderful free patterns for Claudia Hand Painted Fingering yarn. If you’re looking for a way to use this yarn, try Skew, Herringbone Rib Socks, or Roll Top Socks, ankle socks which actually take only one 50 gram skein. The Claudia Hand Painted Fingering yarn is about equivalent to Koigu in weight and yardage, so it’s a perfect substitute if any patterns for Koigu should happen to catch your eye.

Come by the shop to see Claudia Hand Painted yarns in person, to squeeze some skeins and admire the vivid colors!

Kusha Kusha.

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The Kusha Kusha scarf gets a lot of attention at the shop. This is in part because of its unusual, organic-looking shape, almost like a strand of kelp. Another reason to take note of this scarf is its fiber content. Kusha Kusha is knit with two strands of lace weight yarn held together, one of which is 100% merino wool, the other of which is stainless steel wrapped in silk. The stainless steel gives memory to the yarn and the resulting fabric, so that you can crinkle it up or stretch it out and it holds its shape.

The Kusha Kusha scarf comes as a kit from Habu Textiles, complete with the pattern and a cone of each yarn. We’ve carried these kits at the shop for some time, but our supply was getting low. When we reordered this past week, we got many more colors than we’d ever had before, a spectrum of elegant pairings.

Make sure to take a look at this unusual scarf the next time you’re in the shop. If you’re curious to see what others have done with this kit and pattern, check out the Kushua Kusha Love group on Ravelry. See you at the shop!