Hello, Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift.

Posted by Julia on April 16, 2014

We’ve long been stockists of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, a classic fingering weight 2-ply shetland wool. One of my favorite (and hardest-wearing) sweaters is knit in Shetland Spindrift, in fact. Anne and I were delighted to replenish our supply of the stuff recently, and picked up a couple of new patterns as well.

Shetland wools are somewhat rustic and some people find them a bit prickly, with little fibers sticking out of the yarn. Because of each stitch’s willingness to stick to its neighbor, Shetland Spindrift is ideal for steeking, where knit fabric is cut to make cardigans, armholes, or v-necks. Shetland Spindrift may not be merino-soft, but it’s perfectly suited to fair-isle knitting, and maintains its shape over time through repeated wearings and washings.

Last week, when our Jamieson’s order arrived, I cast on for Sandy Blue’s “Autumn Tam,” a 10-color fair-isle hat that’s not nearly as intimidating as it might first appear. I have been having so much fun knitting this thing, I can hardly tell you. The colorwork charts are just complicated enough that they’re delightfully engaging without being frustrating, and either the foreground or background color changes every couple of rounds. As a result, the fabric in my hands is ever-evolving, and I am quite entertained by every moment spent with this project.

I took this photo a few days after I cast on for the “Autumn Tam,” and my, it has grown since then–come by the shop and you’re likely to find me with my hands full of Shetland Spindrift, eagerly stitching on this hat. See you there!

Sonetto shawl.

Posted by Julia on March 2, 2014

Last week, Amy brought in this new shop sample: the “Sonetto” shawl, knit in two shades of Fibre Company Meadow.

“Sonetto” is an asymmetric triangular shawl pattern suitable for new lace knitters, and one whose size is easy to adjust depending upon preference, or amount of yarn.

It’s cast on at one point of the triangle, increasing in width every row, and finished with a neat picot bind-off.

Amy altered the pattern a bit to knit it in two colors, using the intarsia technique of twisting one color of yarn around the other at a certain point in every row. She wrote a bit about how to make this change on her Ravelry project page, if you’d like to make the same modification to a “Sonetto” shawl of your own.

“Sonetto” calls for between 375 – 575 yards of fingering weight yarn, though this is somewhat flexible–we’ve seen one made up in Selku, a sport weight wool, and the Meadow used in Amy’s shawl is more a lace-weight than a fingering-weight yarn. Inspired by Amy’s “Sonetto,” several knitters have embarked on “Sonetto”s of their own in yarns like Malabrigo Finito, Isager Plant Fibre and Alpaca 2–I can’t wait to see how they come out!

Judy Marples’ “Sonetto” pattern is available as a Ravelry In-Store Pattern Sale here at the shop; we’ll print a copy for you and save a digital copy to your email or Ravelry Library. Come by the shop to see Amy’s “Sonetto” shawl and plan your next project. See you there!

Kindling shawl.

Posted by Julia on February 20, 2014

A new lace shawl now decorates the walls at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop: “Kindling,” by Kate Gagnon Osborn, knit with three skeins of Fibre Company Savannah.

If you’ve visited the shop on a Sunday recently, you may well have seen Rosi stitching on this shawl. Once the knitting was done, she passed it on to me so I could try my hand at blocking it with blocking wires–a new skill for me.

Using a Knitter’s Pride Lace Blocking Kit and some online tutorials, blocking the “Kindling” shawl was easier than I thought it might be.

It’s always amazing to me how the fabric changes with a good soak, and this is particularly true for lace patterns. When they first come off the needles, they look rumpled and bumpy, but after blocking, the eyelets open up and the lace pattern can really shine. It was satisfying to see, even though I hadn’t knit the thing myself.

Fibre Company Savannah is a sport weight blend of 50% wool, 20% cotton, 15% linen, and 15% soya, which gives it the elasticity of wool and the lightness of plant fibers–a perfect spring and summer yarn.

Come by the shop to admire Rosi’s handiwork and see our “Kindling” sample for yourself. You’ll find Savannah in the sport weight section, and the pattern is always available as a Ravelry In-Store Pattern Sale–we’ll print it out for you and save a digital copy in your email or Ravelry pattern library. Hope to see you there soon!

New colors in Berroco Maya.

Posted by Julia on February 1, 2014

Last April, we ordered our first bundle of Berroco Maya, a worsted weight blend of cotton and alpaca spun up into a stretchy, lofty chainette. We were delighted to learn that Maya now comes in a wider range of colors, and ordered another bundle twice the size of last year’s.

There are many pleasant qualities that set Maya apart. The combination of cotton and alpaca is soft and light, thanks in part to its chainette construction. A chainette yarn is basically a knitted tube, and the inherent stretchiness of knitted fabric transforms that mostly-cotton fiber into smooth and stretchy yarn. It also creates a loftier yarn than plant fibers usually offer, much lighter in weight than we might normally expect from a worsted weight cotton yarn. And have I mentioned: Maya is machine-washable, which makes it ideal for baby and children’s things, especially for those who live in warm climates or may be sensitive to wool.

Our big bundle of Maya also included a hand-knit sample of a lacy, cropped sweater from the latest Maya booklet.

We’re always delighted to have generous, garment-sized samples like these, because they give the best sense of how a yarn behaves in knitted fabric. Come on in and try it on for size, study the stitch definition, feel the weight and texture of the thing with your own hands.

While you’re at it, peruse the Maya booklets for pattern inspiration.

When you’re thinking warm-weather knitting, remember Berroco Maya. See you at the shop!

Back in stock: Ewe Ewe.

Posted by Julia on January 7, 2014

Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted has become a staple here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, admired for its softness, easy-care, and steadily growing selection of solid colors. Ewe Ewe’s pattern support covers a range of projects, from baby blankets to small accessories to adult sweaters, a variety of garments that show the versatility of this plush yarn. Last week, we received a large box from Ewe Ewe, nearly doubling our inventory of the stuff, and bringing every missing color back to this basket.

Anne and I have used Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted for two shop samples. Anne made two “Boston Whaler” hats with just two skeins of Wooly Worsted, inverting the colorway for the second hat. The pink-on-indigo version stayed here at the shop, while the indigo-on-pink hat went to her granddaughter, of course.

Now that Ewe Ewe comes in 20 colors, there are plenty more color combinations to play with, which of course is what I found myself doing as Rosi and I unpacked the yarn.

Ewe Ewe has lots of other patterns that call for two colors or more, including the “Easy as ABC Top-Down Raglan Baby Sweater,” the “Layer Cake Cowl,” and the newly released “Fireside Wristlets,” a free pattern for simple ribbed mitts. If you’re not in the market for a baby hat, but you still want to play the Ewe Ewe color-combining game, consider these!

Our second Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted sample is the “Wearever Wrap,” a colorful triangular shawl that I crocheted in just a few afternoons at the shop. When I saw the sample “Wearever Wrap” at market in June, I knew I’d like to make one for the shop, and selecting six colors was half the fun.

I used an H hook (5 mm), which was smaller than recommended in the pattern, and still it blocked out to a nice, generous size.

Come by the shop to flip through the Ewe Ewe pattern binder, admire Wooly Worsted in all 20 shades, and plan your next project!

Hello, Mountain Fusion Teton.

Posted by Julia on December 11, 2013

Just in time for last-minute holiday gift-making, we received 6 new colors in Mountain Fusion Teton, a bulky weight merino wool.

Mountain Fusion Teton is the result of a collaboration between two small US yarn companies: Mountain Meadow Wool, of Buffalo, Wyoming, and Mountain Colors, of Corvallis, Montana. This springy, colorful yarn is 2 ply, where one ply is thick and the other is thin.

This gives a pretty consistent texture with plenty of color interest, not to mention enough yarn in one skein to create a hat or cowl in an afternoon. The pattern for this simple hat is printed on the Mountain Fusion Teton yarn label; also consider “Thorpe,” or the “Drop Stitch Cowl,” both of which are available as free downloads from Ravelry.

Come by the shop to pick up a skein or two of Mountain Fusion Teton, and you’ll have cozy winter accessories in no time, whether for yourself or for someone yarn-worthy. See you at the shop!

Shibui swatches.

Posted by Julia on December 2, 2013

Since Shibui Cima, Silk Cloud, and Pebble arrived last month, I’ve enjoyed seeing more and more projects come together with one or more of these yarns. Folks are planning cowls, shawls, mitts, and hats with the stuff, and I’ve cast on for a pullover knitting Silk Cloud together with Isager Highland. I’ve also enjoyed the task of knitting Shibui swatches for the shop in all three yarns and all manner of yarn combinations.

First, I knit a swatch in each yarn, following the suggested gauge on the ballband.

Next, I knit swatches in each of the yarns held double.

Then came the most fun: I made a swatch for every possible combination of the three yarns.

Each yarn brings its own characteristics to the finished fabric when combined; Cima lends a certain bounciness to whatever yarn it accompanies, Pebble gives a loftiness and tweedy texture, and Silk Cloud shimmers beneath its fuzzy mohair halo.

I noted the gauge and needle size for each swatch, but don’t limit yourself to these gauges alone. Like all yarns, this trio can be worked up at a wide range of gauges for different kinds of fabric and purposes.

Our Shibui Mix Party may be full, but you can still come by the shop to see and touch these swatches, which give a tangible sense of how Shibui yarns play together. Follow our “Inspiring Stitches” board on Pinterest for pattern suggestions for these and other HYS yarns. See you at the shop!

Kauni Color Wave Shawl.

Posted by Julia on November 23, 2013

A few weeks ago, I wrapped up the knitting of a new shop sample: the “Kauni Color Wave Shawl.”

The shawl is knit using one skein each in two colors of Kauni Effektgarn, a self-striping sport weight wool with long stretches of color. One skein made stripes in shades of black, brown, and gold, while the other shifted from greens to purples.

Not only do the yarns make stripes, but the shawl itself is striped. I worked two rows from the first colorway and two rows from the second colorway, back and forth throughout the piece.

The knitting was simple–mostly garter stitch, with steady increases and a small lace border–but the shawl is colorful and interesting to look at, cozy to wear. Knit from the top down, it’s easy to lengthen or shorten. In fact, this particular “Kauni Color Wave Shawl” is somewhat longer than the pattern suggested, and I didn’t even use up all the yarn.

Look for the pattern in our Kauni Patterns binder, where you’ll find many other intriguing uses for this singular yarn. See you at the shop!

Hello, Swans Island Organic Washable.

Posted by Julia on September 6, 2013

For three years now, we have visited the Swans Island booth at TNNA to place orders for their exceptionally soft merino yarns which are hand-dyed in Maine. Many of our knitters have made sweaters, shawls, hats, and mitts with these yarns, then come back for more, telling us how nicely they behave on and off the needles. When we arrived at market this year to find that Swans Island had created a machine-washable yarn, we knew we had to have it.

Swans Island have made this dk weight yarn machine-washable using a new-to-the-US process called Ecowash^®, which coats the yarn with an organic compound rather than stripping the scales from the fiber. This helps to prevent felting and gives the Swans Island Organic Washable a softer hand than many other superwash wools.

I knit a little baby vest for the shop using a few skeins we picked up at market, thinking how perfectly suited this yarn is to heirloom baby knits: buttery soft, minimally processed, organic, yet still machine-washable. I alternated skeins to keep this subtly semi-solid shade from pooling, and I’m glad I did; one skein was slightly darker than the other, and working back and forth between the two balls of yarn was a painless way to blend them.

The pattern is “Cabled Vest,” from Susie Haumann’s All You Knit is Love, a collection of knits for babies ages 0-18 months. The pattern calls for two Isager yarns held together, but the gauge is 5.25 stitches per inch, which is perfectly achievable using a single strand of dk weight yarn.

Besides baby things, Swans Island Organic Washable is perfect for adult garments as well as accessories. Its round shape and plump, springy quality give it excellent stitch definition for cables and other texture patterns. One 140 yard skein is plenty for a pair of Welting Fantastic Mitts, and another two will make a matching cowl. A Ravelry search sorting by gauge, looking only at patterns calling for dk weight yarns, kept me daydreaming for longer than I’d like to admit, scrolling through patterns for sweaters, shawls, and socks.

Look for the Swans Island Organic Washable yarn in the second room of the shop, sharing the spotlight with Alchemy and Smooshy with Cashmere. It’s an exciting time to visit the shop, as there seem to be new yarns arriving every week. See you there!

Hanne Falkenberg hat kits.

Posted by Julia on July 18, 2013

Hanne Falkenberg is a Danish knitwear designer whose patterns come in kits with her signature shetland wool yarn. You may have seen some of her designs in person at our Hanne Falkenberg Trunk Show last Fall, when a group of finished garments were lent to us so that knitters interested in Falkenberg kits could admire the sweaters and try them on for size. Her colorful Lascala scarf has been hanging on our wall for some time now, intriguing knitters with its garter and slip stitch colorwork. Here is the smallest Hanne Falkenberg project yet: a hat, perfect for dipping your toe into Falkenberg’s clever designs.

The body of the hat is knit in stripes, though you can’t see it in this picture; the black stripes are knit in reverse stockinette, and the blue stripes are knit in stockinette, which recedes behind the reverse stockinette stripes like an accordion.

The result is a cozy, stretchy, textured hat that fits snugly and is long enough to pull down over your ears to keep the cold away. Winter accessories like this make for great summer knitting, if seemingly counterintuitive. It’s small enough not to feel heavy as you work on it, and will certainly be ready to wear when the cold weather reappears.

We recently got a shipment of kits to make these hats in all manner of color combinations, from the subdued to the whimsical.

Come by the shop to try the hat on for yourself, and get one of the kits at 15% off during our Annual Inventory Sale!