Tag Archives: self-striping

Noro Knitting Magazine.

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The latest issue of Noro Knitting Magazine has arrived!

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The premiere issue came out last fall, and all our copies were quickly snapped up. Lovers of Noro will find plenty to knit in this current issue, too; all of these patterns take full advantage of those self-striping yarns. From shawls and scarves to sweaters and dresses, these patterns make good use of self-striping yarns in many gauges, often combining them with solid colors for an interesting effect.

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There are patterns here for crocheters, too.

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Come by the shop to grab a copy of Noro Knitting Magazine, and plan your next project with Noro yarns!

New from Plymouth.

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We recently unloaded a big box from Plymouth, full of new yarns, patterns, and notions.

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Gina is a new yarn for us here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, a soft, self-striping, worsted weight wool. We got eight colorways and a handful of patterns to give you ideas for how to use this yarn.

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Sakkie is another new yarn, a lustrous, sturdy sock yarn composed of 40% merino wool, 40% mohair, and 20% nylon. Anne picked a few solid colors and a few variegated colors.

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Sakkie is intended for socks, what with its tight twist and strong fibers, but a quick glance at Ravelry reveals that knitters are also using it for shawls, scarves, hats, and mitts. How would you use this fingering weight yarn?

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We also got a few new patterns for good old Galway, a worsted weight wool that comes in all kinds of colors. Look for these in the binder marked “Men’s Sweaters and Vests,” and come by to see all the new goodies from Plymouth. See you at the shop!

New color in Kauni Effektgarn.

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This week, we received an exciting shipment: a brand new colorway in Kauni Effektgarn, a sport weight, self-striping wool.

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The yarn in any given skein of Kauni shifts gradually from one color to the next, and it’s these long color repeats that set it apart from other self-striping yarns. Kauni can yield fascinating and stunning results in colorwork, brioche, mosaic, and double knitting, and you can get a good sense of how this yarn behaves by looking through patterns and projects on Ravelry that use it. It helps even more to see finished pieces in person, and to that end, we have two knit samples in the shop made of Kauni–a Wingspan and a Wiggle Wrap.

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We also have a binder of Kauni patterns that holds all kinds of uses for the yarn; come by the shop to flip through it if you’re seeking inspiration.

From Plymouth.

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A very large box arrived this week from Plymouth, the company that brings us a wide range of yarns from the classic 100% wool Galway to the fluffy Baby Alpaca Grande to self-striping yarns in a variety of fibers. This particular box contained a little bit of everything: a new sample sweater made up in Galway, a couple of bags of Mushishi, some patterns, and a new yarn: Adriafil Knitcol.

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Knitcol is a self-patterning superwash merino in worsted weight, perfect for socks, accessories, and baby things. Anne is soon to start a pair of thick socks for her husband in Knitcol; they’re sure to be cozy and handsome in the brown and gray colorway. We were also lent a sample headband made in Knitcol–Calorimetry, a free pattern from Knitty.

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We’re always happy to see new uses for Galway, a soft and sturdy standby of a yarn. We’ve seen it used in sweaters, neckwarmers, hats, and countless felting projects. This cropped, short-sleeved cardigan is another great use for Galway; what have you used it for?

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Above, you’ll see Mushishi, looking happier with three new colors in its cubby. This self-striping blend of wool and silk comes in huge skeins of almost 500 yards, which can go a long way in worsted weight. One skein of the stuff could grow up to be two scarves or cowls, a small shawl, or at least two hats. Come by the shop to see Mushishi, Knitcol, our newest Galway sample, and the rest of the Plymouth gang. 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!

Noro Kureyon Sock.

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I know I already mentioned Noro Kureyon Sock when I introduced Week 3 of the Going-to-Market sale. But this morning, as I pulled every skein of Kureyon Sock out from back-room storage to display our whole supply in one big basket, I thought a bullet-point on a list might not have been enough. After all, this yarn has its devotees. 

I’ve seen many pairs of incredible socks made up in Kureyon Sock. Like most Noro yarns, Kureyon Sock is self-striping, making a simple vanilla sock exciting, and shining in entrelac and colorwork patterns. Kureyon Sock is also ideal for fine-gauge scarves, shawls, cowls, hats, and mitts. I haven’t worked with it myself, but again and again, I hear that it softens and blooms after washing.

Come by the shop this week to snag a skein or two of Kureyon Sock at 25% off. At less than fifteen dollars a skein, it’s a good time to stock up on a yarn you love or sample a yarn you’ve never tried. See you at the shop!

 

Just a reminder–all sales are final on sale items; there can be no exchanges, no returns, nor will we special order. Thanks!

Noro Knitting Magazine.

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The premiere issue of Noro Knitting Magazine has arrived at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop.

Inside, you’ll find many, many projects that make good use of Noro yarns, which self-stripe in vibrant and often surprising color combinations. These patterns take advantage of those qualities to create all kinds of garments, from dresses, sweaters, and skirts to shawls, hats, and other accessories.

Despite the its title, Noro Knitting Magazine offers crochet patterns as well as knitting patterns.

Come by the shop to take a closer look at Noro yarns and Noro Knitting Magazine!

Kochoran cowl.

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During quiet moments at the shop, when all the restocking, reordering, class-scheduling, question-answering and yarn-selling is taken care of for the moment, Anne and I often ask one another, “What hasn’t been swatched yet?” This simple cowl is what happened when the answer to that question was “Noro Kochoran,” a bulky, self-striping blend of wool, angora, and silk.

I rarely work with yarns as thick as Kochoran, so it was a pleasantly unusual to see the knitted fabric emerge so quickly. I cast on at the end of the day one Thursday and the cowl was done mid-morning on Saturday. It was a chilly day in the shop, and the insistent air-conditioning had us bundled up in many lovely (if seasonally-inappropriate) shop samples. Here Anne knits a North Arrow scarf while modeling the Kochoran cowl and the Norby hat, made up in the exquisitely soft Schulana Lambswool.

The Kochoran cowl is a simple, quick knit, and fetching in its simplicity, I think–a nice accessory to make now and store for winter gift-giving. I know a knitter who made a bunch of cowls something like this one for nearly all the women in her family last holiday season. Easy to make and well-received when given: a winning combination, don’t you think?

WollZauber Magazine.

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Several weeks ago, a new magazine arrived at the shop and I neglected to blog about it. WollZauber had the misfortune of making its grand entrance on the same day as the new Schulana yarns. I photographed WollZauber, promised to get back to it, and then we got a box from String Theory, followed by a most exciting shipment from Malabrigo. Suddenly a month had passed, and all the while, WollZauber has been patiently waiting for an introduction.

WollZauber provides pattern support for Schoppel-Wolle yarns: Zauberball, Crazy Zauberball, Zauberball Starke 6, and Lace Ball. All of the above are self-striping yarns that are unusually packaged in round balls. Many of them are great for socks, and all are fine choices for shawls and scarves. One of our customers made a Wingspan in Zauberball, in fact, and we have a beautiful Multidirectional Scarf made up in Crazy Zauberball, lent to us by another lovely knitter.

It never hurts to have more ideas for these most interesting yarns, though. Here’s a peek inside WollZauber.

Find WollZauber by the Zauberball basket.

Works in progress, works completed.

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Anne and I are never without a shop-sample-to-be, it seems. All our new yarns need swatching, and lately we’ve been making whole projects instead of the usual 4″x4″ swatch, the better to show off the yarn. Here’s what we’re up to lately.

We recently got a new yarn from Araucania for the spring: Lontue, a 50/50 blend of cotton and linen. It’s interesting stuff: variegated in color, thick-and-thin in texture, and very fine, but with a suggested gauge of 5 stitches per inch.

I tried it in a drop-stitch scarf, which I really cannot recommend this yarn for–boy, did it look messy! While I was ripping that out, Anne suggested trying a seed stitch. Only a few rows in, it was clear that the pattern would be completely obscured by the yarn’s color and texture. I settled on garter stitch, so that the yarn could shine, and it’s been going well since then. I’m at work on a simple garter stitch shawl, in the style of the Isager Alpaca 1 shawl.

Meanwhile, Anne has completed her Wingspan in Kauni Effektgarn, and it now hangs proudly on the wall at the shop. It’s mesmerizing, especially in person, and another great example of what a good Eucalan soak can do for what seem to be scratchy wools. How the Kauni softened with that wash!

Come by the shop and see it for yourself.