Tag Archives: superwash

Hello, CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK.

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We’re excited to announce the arrival of another new fall yarn: meet CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK!

Socks Yeah! DK is a thicker version of CoopKnits Socks Yeah!, from designer Rachel Coopey. Both yarns are smooth, tightly plied blends of superwash merino and nylon, which make them perfect for sock-making, as the name suggests. To that end, Coopey has so far published one pattern for this new yarn, a two-tone pair of socks called “Bob.”

But soft, easy-care DK weight yarns have plenty of applications beyond socks. Baby and children’s things come to mind, little sweaters like Dani Sunshine’s “Pixie Dust,” tincanknits’ “Peanut” and “Tenderheart,” and all the squeezable toys from Ella Austin’s Dovestone Smallholding collection. Also consider Socks Yeah! DK for everyday accessories, like Churchmouse’s classic “Welted Fingerless Gloves” and “Welted Cowl & Infinity Loop,” or Sarah Young’s “Rikke Hat.” 

Look for more pattern ideas on our “DK weight” Pinterest board, and look for CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK in our DK weight section here at the shop. See you there!

Dream in Color Pop Up! Club.

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We’re happy to announce that we’re participating in Dream in Color’s Pop Up! Club 2017-18! That means that every two months from August to February, we’re getting a special new colorway from Dream in Color, a Tuscon-based producer of small batch hand-dyed yarns.

Our August shipment features Jilly, a fingering weight superwash merino wool with 440 yards on each 100 gram skein. This tightly spun single-ply yarn is soft and smooth, painted with streaks and speckles.

One skein would make an excellent pair of socks, a small cowl or shawlette. Buy two for a generous shawl, or get here soon and scoop up a sweater’s-worth. Jilly should play well with a variety of fingering weight yarns, and could be worked into a “Find Your Fade” shawl or “Confetti” sweater, to name just a few recent patterns that showcase speckled yarns.

Look for this limited edition Pop Up! Club colorway in the fingering weight section here at the shop!

Back in stock: Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply/Sport.

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Our big fall order from Fyberspates came in last week, and one of the yarns we restocked in a big way is Scrumptious 4ply/Sport.

Scrumptious 4ply/Sport is a soft, shimmering yarn, made of 55% superwash merino and 45% silk. It’s a bit heavy for a fingering, and a bit light for a sport, hence its fractured name. In our shop, you’ll find it in the sport weight section, but don’t rule it out if your pattern calls for fingering weight yarn; look carefully at the pattern gauge and check to see if it falls in the suggested gauge range of Scrumptious 4ply/Sport – between 24 and 28 stitches over 4 inches.

I recently completed a shop sample in Scrumptious 4ply/Sport, Purl Soho’s “Two-Color Cotton Cowl.” Though I knit it on the recommended needle size, I didn’t get the recommended gauge, so it’s a smaller circumference than the pattern intends. Still, it’s a fabric I like, and still long enough to wrap once or twice around one’s neck, so in this case, not getting gauge worked out perfectly. It was my first time doing two-color brioche, which was much less difficult than I imagined, and I’d definitely recommend it as an introduction to the technique.

With all these colors back on our shelves, there are lots of great color pairings to be had. Come by the shop to pick up a couple of skeins of Scrumptious 4ply/Sport for a cowl of your own!

Back in stock: Classy mini-skeins.

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Dream in Color Classy mini-skeins are back in stock!

Dream in Color only occasionally produces these 50-yard mini-skeins of their worsted weight superwash wool, Classy, and the color selection is different every time.

It’s fun to see a mix of new colors and old favorites with each shipment, and even more fun to arrange them in 8-skein combinations for “Technicolor Cowls.”

Nancy Leuer’s “Technicolor Cowl” is a simple but entertaining project with a focus on color.

It’s knit in the round, with stripes of stockinette and reverse stockinette that make a squishy, textured fabric from this springy superwash merino yarn. The pattern is free when you purchase eight Dream in Color Classy mini-skeins for the project.

Look for Dream in Color Classy mini-skeins in the worsted weight section, and have fun picking colors for a “Technicolor Cowl” of your own!

Hello, Berroco Ultra Wool.

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Last week brought a new yarn to our shop. Meet Berroco Ultra Wool!

Berroco Ultra Wool is a worsted weight superwash wool, one of the few that suggests “tumble dry low” rather than “lay flat to dry.” That makes it a truly easy-care yarn, perfect for baby and children’s garments, blankets, and everday accessories.

Each 100 gram ball boasts 219 yards, already wound into a center-pull skein, no less. I was pleased to find that the center-pull end is neatly tucked into the label, so you don’t have to reach into the depths of the skein to fumble for it.

We got 23 shades of Ultra Wool to start with, aided in our selection by a knitter, crocheter, and quilter with an affection and aptitude for working with bright colors. She hurried in to pick out a basket full of Ultra Wool when it arrived here at the shop, and is planning a crocheted granny-stripe blanket with it – I can’t wait to see it in progress!

I made two swatches with Ultra Wool, one knit and one crocheted. Wanting to give those considering this yarn a good sense of what to expect from it, I machine-washed those swatches in a zippered mesh bag, then threw them in the drier for while, pulling them out before they were fully dry. They’d fuzzed up a little, but I’m pleased with the result – look for them in the Ultra Wool cubby and see what you think.

Thinking of Purl Soho’s “Super Easy Baby Blanket,” I began putting 7-color combinations together as I unpacked the yarn.

  

There are so many possibilities! For other colorful blanket ideas, check out the suggestions on this HYS blog post about Berroco Modern Cotton, and for other things to do with worsted weight yarn, look to our Pinterest board on that subject. See you at the shop!

New colors in Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply/Sport.

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We’ve stocked Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply/Sport for a while now in a limited number of colors. As interest grew in this a shimmering blend of merino and silk, we decided it was time to expand our selection.

We got in a nice bunch of brights and jewel tones to complement our neutrals and pastels, and were pleased to find that they play well together.

Scrumptious 4ply/Sport is a soft, shimmering yarn, made of 55% superwash merino and 45% silk. It’s a bit heavy for a fingering, and a bit light for a sport, hence its fractured name. In our shop, you’ll find it in the sport weight section, but don’t rule it out if your pattern calls for fingering weight yarn; look carefully at the pattern gauge and check to see if it falls in the suggested gauge range of Scrumptious 4ply/Sport–between 24 and 28 stitches over 4 inches.

Look for pattern ideas on our Fingering and Sport weight Pinterest boards, and come by the shop to see this pretty stuff in person!

New from MJ Yarns, part 2.

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I’ll continue this virtual unpacking of our recent MJ Yarns shipment with the newest yarn at the shop: say hello to the Simple Sock mini-skeins.

These 50 yard mini-skeins are semi-solid colors hand-dyed on a fingering weight blend of Corriedale wool and nylon, machine-washable and sturdy enough for socks.

They’re perfect for small, decorative projects, like Churchmouse’s “Jolly Wee Elf,” Kate Gagnon Osborn’s “Holiday Cheer Ornaments,” Tanis Lavalee’s “Love You Forever” hearts, or Anna Hrachovec’s “Tiny Fox” and “Tiny Owl.”

Any of you out there working on “Beekeeper’s Quilts” with your fingering weight leftovers? A handful of Simple Sock mini-skeins could augment your collection, provide a little pop of color. The smallest toddler size of Kathryn Folkerth’s “Badlands Mitts” calls for just 50 yards, too!

Mini-skeins like these are also well-suited to striped or fair-isle socks or mitts, many-colored shawls, hats, or cowls. Consider Melanie Berg’s “Solaris,” Martina Behm’s “Leftie,” and Joji Locatelli’s “Fine Tune.”  Here are a couple of combinations I dreamed up with no particular pattern in mind, just an impulse to play with the colors at hand.

Look for a basket full of MJ Yarns Simple Sock mini-skeins in the fingering weight section here at the shop, and create color combinations all your own! See you there.

New from MJ Yarns, part 1.

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A couple of weeks ago, we got a big box from MJ Yarns in Lafayette, Colorado. It was stuffed with colorful hand-dyed yarns, half of them new shades in a familiar base and the other half a new yarn altogether. For today, we’ll look at that first half: new colors in Opulent Fingering.

Opulent Fingering is a tightly-plied blend of 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon, with 416 yards on each 100 gram skein. It’s perfect for a special pair of socks, a cowl, shawl, or pair of mitts.

MJ Yarns specializes in variegated and semi-solid colorways, some of which have short color runs to minimize pooling. Others, like the shades in the new Weird Sisters line, are dyed specifically with pooling in mind, and create a unique spiral stripe throughout socks, mitts, or other small circumference knits.

The Weird Sisters’ color names are as colorful as the skeins, inspired by the witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. For more information about how to manipulate the colors in these unique skeins, along with a free sock pattern, head to the MJ Yarns website. I also spotted the “Weird Sisters Hat” on Ravelry, a simple stockinette number designed to show off these very colorways.

Look for Opulent Fingering in the fingering weight section here at the shop, and keep your eye on the blog to see what else was in our box from MJ Yarns! See you at the shop.

Hello, Baa Baa Bulky.

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I’m delighted to announce that the latest yarn from Ewe Ewe is now on our shelves! Meet Baa Baa Bulky.

Like Wooly Worsted and Ewe So Sporty, Baa Baa Bulky is a superwash merino, soft and easy to care for.

We’ve been short on washable yarns in bulky weight these past few years, so we’re particularly excited to welcome Baa Baa Bulky to the fold. For frequently-worn accessories, baby and children’s garments, superwash wool is just the thing, and this one is a pleasure to work with.

I’ve developed an extremely simple baby blanket pattern to show off Baa Baa Bulky, a small piece designed for a car seat or stroller.

It’s nothing but good old garter stitch, squishy, stretchy, and warm. I picked a trio of gender neutral colors, though I find the combination of white, gray, and a pop of color quite appealing, regardless of the pop color.

The pattern is free when you purchase the yarn from us. Look for Baa Baa Bulky in the bulky weight section here at the shop, and come by to pick three shades to make a “Baa Baa Blanket” all your own!

See you at the shop.

Hello, Malabrigo Caracol.

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Back at TNNA in June, we stopped by the Malabrigo booth, eager to see their newest yarn for the first time. Caracol is not only new, but also an unusual yarn, for Malabrigo and the Hillsborough Yarn Shop alike. We were genuinely surprised when we saw it, and I’m happy to report that it’s now on our shelves! Meet Caracol.

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Caracol is a super bulky weight yarn with a thick and thin texture, a style we haven’t brought into the shop for a few years now, as preferences for smoother yarns grew. What really sets this yarn apart, though, is that it’s criss-crossed by a thinner yarn before being kettle-dyed in Malabrigo’s signature super-saturated colorways, creating a unique look and texture we’ve just never seen before.

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Some skeins are criss-crossed with a black binder thread, giving a stained glass effect, and others with white, for more subtle variation.

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We went home from TNNA with a sample skein of Caracol that was handed over to me for sample-knitting. A yarn with this much personality doesn’t need a complicated pattern to show it off, so I knit up a very quick hat and topped it with a very big pom-pom. The pattern is “The Big Hat,” a free download from Ravelry, also suitable for Malabrigo Rasta if smoother yarns are more your speed.

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Those who know me know this is not usually my kind of yarn, but I have to say, this was a really fun change of pace! Caracol is squishy, soft as can be, and provides near-instant gratification. Look for it in the super bulky section here at the shop, and remember it when the need for a handmade gift sneaks up at the last minute!

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