Tag Archives: silk

Hello, Riverwalk.

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October 2026 marks Hillsborough Yarn Shop’s 20th anniversary, and we’re celebrating with a special colorway – meet Riverwalk, dyed by the fiber geniuses at Fleece Artist / Hand Maiden!

Riverwalk is named for a trail here in downtown Hillsborough, just a block or so from our shop. It’s a paved urban greenway that runs along the Eno River, lined with trees and shrubs, where folks walk to a soundtrack of songbirds and cicadas.

I often take Riverwalk on the way back to the parking garage from the post office, having dropped an armload of yarn-filled packages in the mail. Riverwalk is part of the NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail, our 1,175 mile state hiking trail – I love to imagine the varied paths that connect to cross our state.

Jana at Fleece Artist / Hand Maiden was enthusiastic when we reached out about a special anniversary colorway earlier this year. She developed a variegated colorway inspired by our local landscape, evoking the weathered wood of the boardwalk, the grey blue river, the green oak leaves and reddish brown of the acorns.

Riverwalk is dyed on two dreamy mohair/silk bases:

  • Superkid Silk: fluffy, drool-worthy lace weight blend of mohair and silk
    • hand-dyed, every skein is unique
    • 70% kid mohair, 30% silk
    • 437 yards/50 grams
    • hand wash, lay flat to dry
  • Maiden Hair: a strand of mulberry silk wrapped in soft and hazy kid mohair
    • hand-dyed, every skein is unique
    • 67% silk, 23% kid mohair, 10% nylon
    • 328 yards/100 grams
    • hand wash, lay flat to dry

It’s a cool, autumnal colorway that mesmerizes on the needles – I’ve enjoyed watching the colors change and interact, stitch by stitch.

I’m making a “Chevron Cloud” shawl, modified to make the most of one Riverwalk bundle – 1 skein each in Superkid Silk and Maiden Hair. I cut out one pattern repeat, and cast on 81 stitches for a narrower accessory.

Though both of these yarns are composed of the same fibers, mohair and silk, their ratio and construction are distinct, and capture our colorway with subtle differences. After an initial swatch, Anne and Bailey and I agreed that they should be striped together in a special accessory, the better to enjoy the soft fibers and intriguing color combination.

We also have single skeins of Superkid Silk in Riverwalk, in case you want to use it on its own, or hold it together with a solid colorway for a unique color blend – ask us for ideas during our 20th Anniversary Celebration, when Riverwalk officially comes out! That’s Friday, October 16, from 6:00-8:00 pm. We hope to see you there!

Hello, Isager Mulberry Silk.

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We love all things Isager here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, and are excited to bring their new yarn into the shop – meet Mulberry Silk!

Isager Mulberry Silk:

  • lace weight
  • 2-ply
  • 100% Chinese mulberry silk, spun and dyed in Italy
  • 25 grams/ 229 yards
  • hand-wash cool, lay flat to dry

The first thing that must be said about Isager Mulberry Silk is that it’s incredibly, wonderfully, luxuriously soft.

This delicate, lace-weight, 100% silk is designed to be combined with other yarns, adding drape, elegance, and a little shine to any yarn it’s held with. Whether paired with cotton, linen, or wool, it provides extra softness without the fuzziness of mohair or alpaca.

Mulberry Silk is well suited for lighter garments, shawls and scarves. When I went looking for pattern ideas, I was especially inspired by those that paired two different lace weight yarns together, or one lace and one fingering – combinations that won’t overwhelm this fine silk.

Lace + lace: 

Lace + fingering: 

I’m thinking of knitting “An Italian Spring Shawlette” with Mulberry Silk, Alpaca 1, and Trio 1 for a special blend of fibers and colors. As we unpacked the new yarn this past Saturday, Bailey and I came up with so many color and yarn trios that I just couldn’t decide – low contrast or high? Quiet neutrals or saturated colors? Matching shades or unexpected marls? Come by the shop to see Mulberry Silk and you’ll probably find me in the same state of indecision!

Hello, Knitting for Olive Pure Silk.

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We are overjoyed to have Knitting for Olive on our shelves!

Knitting for Olive is a small family-run yarn company based in Denmark, specializing in high quality natural fibers. Sustainability, responsibility and care are as important to them as beautiful colors – each of their yarns is created with respect for animals, workers and our environment.

We’ve added two Knitting for Olive yarns to our collection here at HYS – Pure Silk and Cotton Merino. These yarns are identical in weight, yardage and gauge, so can be used interchangeably. Today, we’ll look more closely at Pure Silk. Keep an eye out for more on Cotton Merino next week!

Knitting for Olive Pure Silk:

  • fingering weight
  • 100% Bourette Silk
  • 273 yards (250 meters) / 50 grams
  • hand wash in cool water, lay flat to dry
  • gauge: 28 stitches = 4″
  • needles: US 2.5 (3 mm)

Knitting for Olive first caught our eye because of its lovely color palette. From subtle neutrals to vivid brights, their yarn comes in colors we want to wear, and colors we often see knitters reaching for.

Knitting for Olive Pure Silk is made from waste created during silk processing, called bourette. In conventional silk production, the silk worm cocoons are boiled, preserving the thread, but killing the silk worms. Knitting for Olive’s silk is made of threads from broken cocoons, allowing the silk worms to complete their life cycle. The short, leftover silk fibers are spun into a cruelty-free yarn with a rustic look and matte finish. The fabric it makes is as soft and cool to the touch as any silk, however – come in and pet this swatch to see for yourself!

Pure Silk is all drape and no elasticity, perfect for the lightest warm weather accessories and garments. It may take tiny needles and a long time to knit a garment with a single strand of this yarn, but the results are compelling – here are some pattern ideas for either Pure Silk or Cotton Merino!

Knitting with two strands of Pure Silk or Cotton Merino would be faster, and still not too heavy for spring… stay tuned for double-strand pattern ideas next week! In the meantime you’ll find both of our Knitting for Olive yarns in the fingering weight section here at HYS.

Back in stock: Julie Asselin Leizu Fingering Non Traitée.

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We have new shades in Julie Asselin’s elegant Leizu Fingering Non Traitée!

We’re so happy to have these skeins at the shop at last – shipping and sourcing delays made our wait a little longer than usual, but this subtle hand dyed merino/silk blend is worth the wait.

Julie Asselin Leizu Fingering Non Traitée:

  • fingering weight
  • 3 ply
  • hand dyed; we recommend alternating skeins to blend in larger projects
  • 90% non-superwash merino wool, 10% silk
  • 420 yards/115 grams (4oz)
  • hand wash cold, lay flat to dry

Our friend and teacher Katherine fell especially hard for this smooth and springy yarn when it first landed at our shop a year ago.

She crocheted Saskia Paulich’s “Crochet Shawl CLEO” with Leizu Fingering Non Traitée, and came back for a sweater quantity.

Above is Katherine’s “Plain Yoke Tee 20” in progress, using a strand of fuzzy Isager Silk Mohair to bring Leizu Fingering Non Traitée up to gauge. The combination is delicious – soft and smooth, drapey but substantial, with a little flicker of contrast between the colors.

She loved this yarn blend so much that she cast on with it again – here’s her “Eloïse Shawl” in progress, rich with cables and illustrating the stellar stitch definition of Leizu Fingering Non Traitée.

Katherine’s “Crochet Shawl CLEO” is on display here at the shop, and it’s a good example of why we have so many samples – the finished shawl is so much softer than the yarn in the skein! In part this is because the skein is tightly twisted, putting a little tension on the yarn that relaxes beautifully when it’s wound and stitched into fabric. Come by and give it a squeeze to see what I mean.

Look for Julie Asselin Leizu Fingering Non Traitée in the fingering weight section here at HYS, and in our online store!

Back in stock: Isager Highland Wool.

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It’s been a while since we restocked Isager Highland Wool, a light and lofty fingering weight wool in muted, earthy colors.

Isager Highland Wool:

  • light fingering weight
  • solid and heathered colors
  • 100% Peruvian Highland wool
  • 301 yards/50 g
  • gauge: 26 sts / 30 rows using 3mm needles
  • hand wash, lay flat to dry

Like many of Isager’s yarns, Highland Wool is most often used in combination with other fibers. I paired it with Isager Bomulin for the “Ranunculus” that hangs at the shop, and Bailey paired it with Silk Mohair for the “Darcy Cardigan” she’s wearing here.

Isager Highland Wool held with Silk Mohair is a lush and lightweight combination with just enough drape – no wonder there are so many patterns that pair them up. Here are a few!

Bouclé is another good playmate for Highland Wool, a looped alpaca yarn that brings its teddy bear texture to the knitted fabric.

“Foundation Sweater,” by Lene Holme Samsøe, knit with Isager Highland & Bouclé

Lene Holme Samsøe’s “Foundation Sweater” showcases this combination, a top-down raglan in magical marled colors.

Bailey helped me come up with a few more unexpected combinations in Bouclé and Highland Wool – I can’t wait to see what else folks dream up!

Look for these and other Isager yarns here at HYS – we can’t get enough of them!

Hello, Cascade Kid Seta Hand Paints.

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Our passion for mohair is still strong – here’s a brand new yarn from Cascade, Kit Seta Hand Paints! When Anne saw these subtle, painterly colorways, she knew they’d add something special to our lace weight section, which is already bursting with lovely fuzzy yarns.

Cascade Kid Seta Hand Paints:

  • lace weight
  • variegated
  • fuzzy
  • 74% super kid mohair, 26% silk
  • 232 yds/25 g
  • gauge: 18 – 25 sts = 4″ (10 cm)
  • needle size: US 3 – 8 (3.25 – 5.0 mm)
  • hand wash cold, lay flat to dry

Cascade Kid Seta Hand Paints combines the luxurious softness of super kid mohair and silk with hand-painted color variations for a truly unique finish. This lace-weight yarn has a delicate halo and feather-light feel, introducing depth and visual interest through subtle shifts of color. Use Kid Seta Hand Paints alone for a statement piece or blend it with a solid yarn to enhance texture and bring rich dimension to any design.

We have a great many yarns that pair well with mohair, in a wide range of gauges. Pairing fingering weight yarn with mohair is especially common, it seems, so I started my color combining there. I found lovely and intriguing shades to pair with Kid Seta Hand Paints in Harrisville Designs Shetland, Isager Alpaca 2, and Kelbourne Woolens Camper.

There are a few colors in each of these variegated shades of Kid Seta Hand Paints – emphasize one by finding it in a solid yarn.

We’ve shared pattern ideas for yarn combinations like these several times over the past few years – here’s a fresh batch of patterns that would shine in these yarns!

Garments:

Accessories: 

Look for Cascade Kid Seta Hand Paints here at HYS!

New colors in Isager Silk Mohair!

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Isager Silk Mohair has become our bestselling yarn here at HYS, a soft and fluffy lace weight that brings a glorious fuzzy halo to any project. When we spotted four new shades, we had to have them, of course!

Isager Silk Mohair:

  • lace weight
  • fuzzy
  • 70% kid mohair, 30% silk
  • 233 yards/25 g
  • hand wash cold, lay flat to dry

Color 101 is a dark teal, saturated and moody. Hold it with other shades of teal, whether they match or vary in value – I find it pleasing with a wide range of deep blues and greens.

Color 58 is a pale, warm yellow, light enough to pass for cream. It can also tone down a more saturated yellow, or warm up a cooler shade.

Color 27 is a clear light pink, evoking cotton candy or cherry blossoms. It’s sure to blend well with many shades of pink, but I love Bailey’s idea to hold it together with a light blue!

Color 4 is a unique bronzy brown, a real color shifter that pairs as well with deep mustard as it does with medium brown, or even certain shades of olive.

Look for Isager Silk Mohair in the lace weight section, along with all kinds of fuzzy yarns for carrying-along – Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair, Isager Soft Fine, Kelbourne Woolens Harmony, Fyberspates Cumulus, Malabrigo Mohair, Hand Maiden Superkid Silk, and more.

New colors! Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair

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Mohair enthusiasm is at an all time high here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop – we never tire of the fuzzy halo it brings to knitted fabric, and neither do you, it seems! These soft lace weight yarns are some of our best selling, and we’ve become obsessed with having every possible color in stock.

When we went to order Tynn Silk Mohair from Sandnes Garn, Bailey and I pulled out all our mohair and brushed alpaca from every brand and looked for gaps in the spectrum. We needed purple, it was determined, a whisper pale pink, a green between kelly and olive, a clear sky blue, and more shades of gray.

Here are the new colors of Tynn Silk Mohair we came up with, along with their neighbors on the mohair rainbow.

Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair:

  • lace weight
  • fuzzy
  • 57% mohair, 15% wool, 28% silk
  • 233 yards/25g
  • hand wash cold, lay flat to dry

You’ll find Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair in the lace weight section here at HYS, along with Isager Silk Mohair, Soft Fine, Kelbourne Woolens Harmony, Fyberspates Cumulus, Malabrigo Mohair, and Hand Maiden Superkid Silk – hope to see you at the shop soon!

Show and tell: stripes.

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Time for another round of show and tell! Today’s projects all feature stripes, whether high-contrast or low, many-colored or few.

First up, Margaretta’s “Chevron Cloud,” knit with Hand Maiden Superkid Silk and Isager Alpaca 2. Pattern by Espace Tricot.

The color and yarn combination here is subtle, but exquisite – variegated mohair creates painterly stripes, and Margaretta picked a shade of sage green Alpaca 2 that matches without blending in or disappearing.

Karin came by the shop wearing her “DRK Everyday Cowl,” by Andrea Mowry, knit with Malabrigo Arroyo. The solid Natural is a perfect complement to the wildly variegated Aniversario.

Here’s the “Versa Cowl” I knit as a shop sample with Malabrigo Seis Cabos. Pattern by Aimee Pelletier.

People often ask how hard the slip stitch pattern is, and I’m happy to say that it’s neither hard nor a slip stitch pattern – just knits, purls, and stripes!

Last but not least, here’s Kristin’s “Stole” in Isager Merilin. Like Anne, she used just five colors to make a narrower wrap that’s just right for spring.

Many thanks to the knitters who shared their stripes with us today, and to everyone who starts their project with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. We are inspired by your stitches and can’t wait to see what you come up with next!

“Norma Sweater” kits and colorways.

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Since we opened our online store in September, we’ve noticed a trend in orders. A particular combination of Isager yarns kept popping up in a particular combination of colors.

Having hosted an Isager Archives Knit-Along last spring, we knew exactly what pattern these folks had in mind: “Norma Sweater,” by My Favourite Things Knitwear.

We decided to make it easier on all the knitters out there wanting to make a “Norma Sweater” of their own, and put these special colors together in a kit – look for it in our online store!

If you, too, have fallen for My Favourite Things’ captivating color combination, you can buy all the yarn you need in our Norma Sweater Kit. Just pick the size you want to make and add it to your cart!

You can always pick your own colors, of course – Bailey and I were inspired to do just that as these kits came together. Here are a few other colorways for the “Norma Sweater,” using Isager Tweed, Silk Mohair, and Tvinni.

Look for Isager Tweed, Silk Mohair, and Tvinni here at HYS, and explore all our kits in our online store!