Tag Archives: shibui

Shibui Sample of the Month: Comfort Zone.

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April is here, and with it, a new Shibui Sample of the Month! We offer a 10% discount on Shibui yarn purchased for our featured sample til the end of the month.

This month’s sample is “Comfort Zone,” by Elizabeth Smith, a striped garter stitch wrap with a ribbed edge.

“Comfort Zone” is knit with four shades of Shibui Drift, a worsted weight blend of 85% extra fine merino wool and 15% cashmere.

Come by the shop to before April 29th to see “Comfort Zone” and get Shibui Drift at 10% off to make one of your own!

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!

HYS Colorwork Trunk Show.

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One of our special attractions for this year’s Triangle Yarn Crawl is a collection of garments made by knitters in our community – folks who work, teach, and shop here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. The theme is colorwork, interpreted somewhat broadly to include not only fair isle, but also intarsia, double knitting, brioche, log cabin and short-row-shaped patterns made with self-striping yarns.

It’s an inspiring group – come by the shop during the Triangle Yarn Crawl to see the following garments:

  • Log cabin blanket, based on Sarah Bradberry’s “Log Cabin Square,” knit with Noro Kureyon and Plymouth Galway. Made by Rosi, who works at our shop most Sundays.
  • “Rionnag Cowl,” by Kerry Bullock-Ozkan, a local designer who knit this piece with Tukuwool Fingering.

We’ve also pulled together some of our tried and true colorwork samples from around the shop – Anne’s “Candy Darling” in Fibre Company Arranmore Light, Amy’s “First Footing” in Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift and “Mix No. 23” in Shibui Cima, my “Cliff Hat” in Shibui Pebble, “Autumn Tam” in Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, and “2 Color Cotton Cowl” in Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply.

It’s so exciting to see this riot of color covering our walls – many thanks to the talented knitters who lent their garments to this show!

New colors from Shibui.

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This spring, Shibui introduced a new yarn, Fern, but they also added three new colors to nearly every line of yarn they make. First is White, a brighter white than Shibui’s existing Ivory.

You can see from the photo above that White varies from yarn to yarn, looking bleached and bright in Rain and Lunar, but somewhat creamier in Silk Cloud, Twig, and Cima – it always fascinates me to see how different fibers take the dye, or in this case, its absence. Many Shibui patterns call for two yarns held together, where these subtle differences will blend in interesting ways.

Next is Bone, a warm off-white. With the variation across yarns, it’s a little tricky to distinguish White from Bone in these photos, but it’s much more clear when you separate them by yarn type.

Here are all three new colors in Twig, with Shore at the very top – a clear sky blue.

Since we sort our yarns by gauge here at the shop, you’ll find these new colors sprinkled all around. Look for Pebble, Cima, Silk Cloud, and Lunar in the lace weight corner, Reed and Staccato in fingering weight cubbies, Twig and Fern in the sport weight section, and Rain hanging on the DK tree.

See you at the shop!

Hello, Shibui Reed.

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Today was the first day of Spring, though dropping temperatures and a prediction of snow had us doubtful. Still and all, warm weather is coming, and that means new plant fiber yarns are popping up at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. Last week, I introduced Shibui Fern, an organic cotton – today, let’s meet Shibui Reed!

Reed is a replacement for (and improvement upon) Shibui’s now-discontinued Linen. The gauge, yardage, fiber content, and structure are all the same: both yarns are fingering weight, chain-plied linen, with 246 yards per 50 gram skein.

The difference is that Reed is softer and more consistent than the Linen that came before, a refinement that came with switching mills.

Reed is ideal for any pattern that calls for Linen – “L.1” and “Otherside” are popular examples – but consider it whenever fingering weight yarns are used and drape is desired. Looking on Ravelry, I saw plenty of “Hitofude” cardigans in Linen or Reed; what a nice warm-weather layer that would make.

Look for Reed in our Fingering weight section here at the shop!

Hello, Shibui Fern.

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Shibui’s newest yarn is here! Meet Fern.

Fern is a sport weight organic cotton, with 232 yards on each 50 gram skein.

Unlike Rain, Shibui’s DK weight cotton, Fern is matte rather than lustrous, and brushed for extra softness.

Like all Shibui yarns, Fern is designed to be used on its own or mixed with other yarns for intriguing fiber and color blends. By itself on a US 4, the suggested gauge is 24 stitches over 4 inches; we knit up a little swatch to give a sense of it.

Fern appears in several patterns from the new Shibui Spring/Summer 2018 collection, including “Oasis,” a bias knit scarf with thin stripes and a bit of texture.

This pattern is free when you purchase the yarn here at our shop. Other patterns from the new collection are sold singly; look for them in a binder near a basket of Fern.

Look for Fern in our Sport weight section here at the shop, alongside Shibui Twig. See you there!

New from Shibui.

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We just got a huge order from Shibui, full of new yarns, patterns and colors!

Their newest yarn is Fern, a sport weight organic cotton, which comes in a wearable range of neutrals with a few pops of color.

New to us is Reed, a replacement for (and improvement upon) their now-discontinued Linen. Reed is a fingering weight, chain-plied linen, softer and more consistent than the Linen that came before.

Their Spring/Summer 2018 pattern collection is here, too, with the usual simple yet sophisticated fare we’ve come to expect from Shibui.

All that and three gorgeous new colors in nearly every Shibui yarn… It’s just too much for one blog post – stay tuned for a closer look at all of the above, or come by the shop to see it for yourself!

 

Shibui Sample of the Month: Wintour.

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January is here, and with it, a new Shibui Sample of the Month! We offer a 10% discount on Shibui yarn purchased for our featured sample til the end of the month.

 

This month’s featured sample is “Wintour,” by Julie Hoover, a relaxed pullover in stockinette stitch, with repeating purl stripes and knit 2, purl 2 ribbing.

It’s knit with Shibui Twig and Shibui Pebble held together throughout, for a balanced blend of drapey linen and fluffy merino and cashmere. The resulting fabric is cohesive, mid-weight, perfect for a near-year-round pullover.

Shibui’s colors match from one line of yarn to another, for the most part, so you can find a matching shade in Twig and Pebble for this project. A soft neutral shade seems to suit the casual, everyday design, but a pop of color may be more your style – Shibui excels in both these categories.

 

 

Come by the shop to before January 31st to see “Wintour” and get Shibui Twig and Pebble at 10% off to make one of your own!

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!

Shibui Fall/Winter 2017 Trunk Show!

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A new Trunk Show has arrived to decorate our walls, Shibui’s Fall/Winter 2017 collection!

These garments are designed by Shellie Anderson, Shibui’s in-house designer, the mind behind the simple, elegant garments the company is so well known for. Many of these feature two different yarns held together throughout, creating unique color and fiber combinations.

There are many fun and useful things about trunk shows, like being able to play a bit of dress-up and try garments on for size, but one of the best aspects of a Shibui trunk show is seeing these yarn combinations in person.

We’re offering a 10% discount on the featured Shibui yarns during the Trunk Show – come by before December 23rd to see it for yourself!

A reminder: all sales are final on discounted items; there will be no exchanges or returns. Thanks!

Show and tell: texture.

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While the shop is closed for a Thanksgiving break, let’s enjoy another batch of show-and-tell! Here are some highly-textured knits made with yarns from our shop.

Corey knit the cowl above with Fibre Company Knightsbridge, a luxurious blend of camel, alpaca, and silk. The pattern is “Alastair,” a textured loop scarf that we were pleased to see Corey wearing when he attended our Anniversary Party back in October.

Amy knit this “Blackberry Cable Pillow Cover” with Berroco Peruvia Quick, a sturdy bulky weight wool that’s well-suited to this kind of project.

Mary put a different Berroco yarn to use in her “Cumberland” cowl; Maya is a chain-plied, worsted weight blend of cotton and alpaca. It makes a lightweight accessory suitable for the transitional weather of spring and much of the fall here in North Carolina. It also renders texture patterns beautifully!

Here is Michele’s “Spectrum,” knit with Shibui Rain and Silk Cloud. The only stitch pattern in this luxurious wrap is stockinette – it’s the yarns that make this a textural piece. Sometimes the two yarns are held together, and other times the lace weight Silk Cloud is worked alone for those sheer stripes.

Rosi’s textured show-and-tell is still underway, but I couldn’t resist sharing a picture of her work-in-progress: “Vanora,” knit with Brooklyn Tweed Loft. I made the same sweater earlier this year using Fibre Co. Cumbria Fingering and it’s amazing how different it looks just on account of the color and the texture of the yarn.

Marsha knit this tiny “Fine Fella” with Malabrigo Sock, sizing an adult hat down to a preemie size by altering the gauge of yarn and needles – from worsted weight on US size 6 to fingering weight on a US size 1, to be exact. It’s an heirloom-quality bit of charity knitting Marsha did as part of the Ol’ North State Knitting Guild, a generous use of her talent and time.

Thanks to the knitters who shared their work on the blog today, and to all those whose projects begin with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. We love seeing what you make!

Shibui Sample of the Month: “Viewpoint.”

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November is here, and with it, a new Shibui Sample of the Month! We offer a 10% discount on Shibui yarn purchased for our featured sample til the end of the month.

This month’s featured sample is “Viewpoint,” by Anne Ginger, a versatile 2-color scarf/shawl knit with Shibui Pebble held doubled throughout for a plush, lightweight fabric.

“Viewpoint” is composed of two mirror-image triangles that meet along a center line. This is a hard one to describe verbally; better to stop by the shop during November to see it for yourself. Come by the shop to before November 30th to see “Viewpoint” and get Shibui Pebble at 10% off to make one of your own!

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!