Tag Archives: shop samples

Color Affection.

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On the drive back from TNNA, I finished knitting Color Affection, a shawl made in three shades of Titus.

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Many of you have probably run into this pattern before. Maybe you’ve made one yourself, or one of your friends has made one, or maybe you’ve perused the 9,300+ Color Affections on Ravelry. It’s an asymmetric, crescent-shaped shawl in lace or fingering weight yarn, knit all in garter stitch stripes. Increases and short rows create the curvy shape, and much of the pleasure of knitting it is in seeing how the colors play together.

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Titus, a fingering weight blend of Wensleydale and Bluefaced Leicester wools and British Alpaca, is fuzzy and creates a gently draping fabric at this loose gauge, a perfect match for Color Affection. The pattern, written by designer Veera Valimaki, calls for 385 yards of each color; each skein of Titus has only 350 yards, but I decided to try it with one skein of each anyway, and cross my fingers that I had enough to complete the shawl as written. Luckily, I finished with yarn to spare.

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At the shop, you’ll find this Color Affection hanging on the wall below Wingspan. Come by to try it on for size, admire Titus, and plan a Color Affection of your own. If there’s not a color combination in Titus that wins your affection, consider Isager Alpaca 2, Swans Island Organic Merino Fingering, or Sincere Sheep Equity Fingering. See you at the shop!

Three new knit samples.

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Over the weekend, Amy dropped off three new knit samples, each one the subject of an upcoming class.

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We’ve seen this Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf pattern made up in Zauberball Starke 6; here, it’s shown in Noro Silk Garden in shades of blue, green, and purple. The self-striping yarn really highlights the short-row construction of this garter stitch scarf, and the aran weight yarn knits up quickly, creating a cozy accessory.

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The Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf class meets two Saturday afternoons in August; read more about it and sign up on our website.

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This Inspira Cowl is knit with two different colors of Noro Kureyon in a simple stranded colorwork pattern. It’s a generously sized cowl that is shaped to hug the neck and accomodate the shoulders. The Inspira Cowl is an opportunity to learn to knit in the round, make decreases, and work a two-color stranded knitting pattern. Class meets two Saturday afternoons in September; head over to our website to sign up now.

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This last sample, a fair isle tam, is made using one self-striping yarn, Noro Silk Garden, and one solid color yarn, Plymouth Galway. The solid color recedes into the background and the self-striping yarn pops out as the main pattern color, giving the look of a many-colored fair isle garment without having to weave in all those ends. I’m sorry to report that Amy’s Beginning Fair Isle Tam class is already full, but the pattern is free from Knitty.com, and we’ll be happy to answer any questions should you decide to tackle it on your own. And if you’re set on learning fair isle knitting, including weaving in all the ends, take a look at Anne’s Introduction to Fair Isle class, which meets Wednesday evenings in July. She’ll even teach you how to bravely cut your knitting, creating steeks!

Come by the shop to see all three samples, and the yarns used to create them. If you hurry in today, June 19th, you can even get the Noro yarns at 25% off, on this last day of our Going to Market Sale! See you at the shop.

Argosy scarf.

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A new knit scarf has arrived at the shop, knit by Amy as a sample for one of her upcoming classes. Here’s Argosy!

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Argosy is a free pattern from Knitty, which Amy knit in Noro Silk Garden Lite, a self-striping DK weight blend of silk, mohair, and wool. Argosy is a great way to show off the kind of self-striping yarns that Noro is known for.

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It’s knit on the bias, which results in diagonal stripes when using a self-striping yarn. It makes a gently draping, light fabric, in part because of the light-weight yarn and in part because of the lacy patterning.

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Amy’s Argosy Scarf class focuses on a particular pattern, but our classes always teach any special techniques that are required for whatever pattern students will be knitting. These techniques will serve you well not only in making the pattern at hand, but also in future knitting endeavors. Sign up for the Argosy Scarf class and you can expect to learn how to do the cable cast-on, how to cast on stitches in-line, how to do yarnovers and decreases, and how to read a lace knitting chart.

Learn more about the Argosy Scarf class on our website’s “Classes, etc” page, where you can sign up and prepay to ensure your place in class. Come by the shop during our Going to Market Sale to pick up Noro Silk Garden Lite at a 25% discount, and to admire this scarf in person!

Volt.

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Next time you come by the shop, keep an eye out for a new knit sample: a completed Volt shawl, lent to us by Nancy, who just finished teaching a class on the subject.

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Volt is a chevron-striped shawl framed by attached i-cord. The pattern is from Grace Anna Farrow’s collection, The Fine Line, which is sadly out of print (but still available as an ebook!). The pattern calls for Isager Spinni, a lace weight single ply wool which creates a lightweight but sturdy fabric. Having already worked with Spinni, Nancy wanted to make her Volt in another Isager yarn, the ever popular Alpaca 2. A fingering weight blend of alpaca and merino, Alpaca 2 makes for a slightly heavier shawl with fabulous drape and indulgent softness.

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Look for it hanging by the sofa, and consider Volt when you’re seeking an unusual knit shawl pattern. The Fine Line is full of them, all making great use of the Isager color palette. See you at the shop!

Another knit from Wearwithall.

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Almost a year has passed since we received our first shipment of the glorious String Theory Selku, a sport weight blend of merino and silk, hand-dyed in vivid, memorable colorways. Almost a year, and yet I cast on for a shop sample in Selku only a fewweeks ago. Why the delay? There’s no real excuse, except that Anne and I wanted it to be a Worthy shop sample. We searched Ravelry for shawlettes, scarves, hats, and mitts in sport weight yarns. It’s not like there aren’t any, but somehow we didn’t find what we were looking for. I started a garter stitch something, but it just wasn’t doing justice to this very special yarn. Finally, we found something of interest in Wearwithall, otherwise known as “the book with The Stole.”

Like The Stole, this pattern is simply named: Woman’s Hat. The gauge is right for the yarn, the lace patterning is simple to execute and lovely to look at, and the slouch shape showcases Selku’s elegant drape.

I finished the hat on Saturday, and while I’m not a hat-wearer myself, I’m very pleased with the results. The only change I made to the pattern was to work the lace chart four times instead of the called-for five; the hat was looking deep enough to my eye at four. Come by the shop to try it on for yourself, pet the Selku, and look through Wearwithall if you haven’t yet. See you there!

Noro Slip-Stitch Cowl.

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On Tuesday morning when I first opened the shop for the week, a new knit sample caught my eye. A cozy, woolen cowl in a riot of colors made me reach for my camera. Take a look at this Slip-Stitch Cowl from Knit Noro Accessories.

This cowl was knit by Katherine, an amazing knitter and crocheter that we are proud to have as a teacher at the shop. Her latest class is on this very cowl, which uses a simple slip-stitch pattern and two colors of the self-striping Noro Kureyon yarn to give the illusion of stranded colorwork. As I write this, there are only two spaces left in the class, which begins in September. Sign up now if you’d like to join Katherine and a great group of knitters in the making of your own Slip-Stitch Cowl!

If you’re unable to secure a space in the class, or would like to tackle this project on your own, come by the shop to page through the beautiful book Knit Noro Accessories. We have many colors of Kureyon in stock, as well; come and lose yourself in the endless color combinations!

Be Sweet shawl kits.

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Many a visitor to the shop has been wooed by the Be Sweet shawl kits. The sample shawl and scarf that hang by the kits are feather-light and translucent, but made of a textured mohair yarn in thick, bold stripes–qualities that seem to contradict one another, and thus, entrance. It’s simplicity, too, is appealing, for after all, it’s just garter stitch.

Each kit comes with a pattern and five 25 gram balls of the lace-weight Be Sweet Extra Fine Mohair yarn, enough to make one striped shawl or two striped scarves. They’re neatly tucked into a Hillsborough Yarn Shop notions pouch, making them an ideal gift for a knitter.

This past week, many missing colorways were replenished, filling the basket with tempting options, making it harder to decide which one you’ll take home. Come by the shop to see them all.

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.

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?

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!