We’ve just received another new magazine: KnitScene’s Fall 2014 issue is here!
This issue focuses on texture patterns, tweeds, and scarves of all kinds–the cozy stuff of Fall knitting.
Familiar yarns always catch my attention as I’m flipping through a new magazine. Hey there, Savannah, Shetland Spindrift, and Pebble.
A stack of knitting and crochet magazines makes fun, inspiring summer reading. Come by the shop during July to get them at 15% off thanks to our Annual Inventory Sale!
Last year, Alana Dakos published Botanical Knits, a collection of garments and accessories inspired by trees and foliage. As soon as we heard there was a sequel afoot, we preordered a big stack of them for the shop. At last, it’s here: Botanical Knits 2!
The cover project, naturally, was the first to catch my eye, a shawl knit in Fibre Company Meadow and Shibui Cima, two favorites around here.
Botanical Knits 2 is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Alana Dakos, a book as beautifully designed as the patterns inside.
Come by the shop to pick up copies of Botanical Knits and Botanical Knits 2, and get 15% off during the month of July! Look for Botanical Knits 2 on the teacart, surrounded by new and inspiring books and magazines. See you at the shop!
A reminder: all sales are final on discounted items. There can be no returns or exchanges, nor special orders–the discount applies only to what we currently have in stock. Thanks!
We’re so excited to announce that we’ve just received a Trunk Show featuring Fibre Company yarns and patterns. The Summer Sweater collection will be on display here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop until July 20th, and we have all the yarns and patterns to make these garments your own!
The Summer Sweater collection consists of six garments knit in Fibre Company’s most warm-weather-friendly yarns, Savannah and Meadow. Each yarn is composed of both plant and animal fibers, giving the finished fabric a nice blend of elasticity and drape.
Savannah is a sport weight mix of wool, cotton, linen, and soya, and Meadow is a blend of merino, llama, linen, and silk spun into a lace/fingering weight yarn.
We have shawls made in each one of these yarns, but they are just as well suited to sweater-making, and it’s a treat to see that in person. Trunk shows like these are a unique opportunity to touch and try on for size before you cast on for a project.
“Sonora” is my favorite, a simple tee with cap sleeves that I’m sure I’d wear all the time. This collection offers a range of tees and tanks, with different color and texture patterns making each one unique.
Come by the shop before July 20th to admire the Summer Sweaters Trunk Show, try them on for size, and plan one for yourself!
It’s time again for show-and-tell! We’re fortunate to see many knit and crochet projects come through the shop, and when I’m able, I like to photograph them and share them here on the blog.
René brought in her “Celeste,” a beautiful beaded lace shawl knit in Swans Island Organic Merino Fingering.
René designed, named, and knit this shawl for her sister, and the pattern can be found in Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders.
Jane fell in love with Grace Anna Farrow’s “Twinleaf” shawl at last year’s Fibre Company Trunk Show and recently completed one of her own.
Knit in Fibre Company Meadow, this two-color garter stitch shawl is elegant in its simplicity, decorated with thin stripes and shaped with short-rows. I love Jane’s color-combination: ”Fennel” and “Cornflower.”
Rosi finished her “One-Skein Zigzag Cowl” in Mirasol Nuna, as part of our informal “Zigzag Cowl” Knit-Along. Look for it at the shop in the sport-weight section, alongside my cowl in Ewe So Sporty.
I have a little show and tell, too. A few months ago, I designed and knit this little sweater for my niece, using three shades of Cascade 220 Superwash Sport.
I gathered some of my favorite books to guide me, using Elizabeth Zimmermann’s updated Knitting Workshop for seamless sweater construction, Ann Budd’s Handy Book of Top-Down Sweaters for sizing, and Mary Jane Mucklestone’s 200 Fair Isle Motifs for some of the patterning. I had so much fun making this thing that it almost didn’t matter if it fit her or not–but I am so delighted that it does, and that she likes wearing it!
Thanks to everyone who starts and completes their projects at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! We feel so lucky to be part of your creative process.
Acadia, from the Fibre Company, is a special yarn indeed, and has become a favorite at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. This DK weight blend of merino, alpaca, and silk has a unique blend of rugged tweedy texture and soft hand, and served as our introduction to the Fibre Company. We were delighted to receive the four newest colors in Acadia last week!
We’ve been stocking Acadia at the shop for almost two years, and in that time, I’ve seen it put to good use in all kinds of projects: “Welted Fingerless Gloves,” the knit “Quaking Aspen” shawl, the crocheted “Belle Epoque” shawl, “Ritalin Cowl,” even a very special baby sweater.
“Quaking Aspen” is a free pattern from the Fibre Company, calling for just two skeins of Acadia in the main color and one skein in the contrast color. Our “Quaking Aspen” sample is hanging up at the shop; come by to feel it for yourself, try it on for size, and get a good sense of how this yarn behaves in knitted fabric.
We’re loving this expanded palette of Fibre Company Acadia. Find it in the second room of the shop, hanging on the tree in the DK weight section!
The latest issue of Interweave Crochet has arrived!
This Spring 2014 issue is full of crochet accessories and garments, many of them in fine, lightweight yarns and stitched in openwork patterns for warm-weather wear. I was particularly impressed by the garments in this issue, for adults and children alike, and spotted some familiar yarns, too–an elegant sweater in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine, and another in Fibre Company Acadia.
Look for this issue of Interweave Crochet on the teacart among the latest publications!
The Spring/Summer 2014 issue of Vogue Knitting is here!
Inside, you’ll find patterns for a mix of garments and accessories for warm-weather knitting: openwork tops for layering in transitional seasons, lightweight scarves and shawls, bright color-block sweaters, and a series of three-season hoodies.
I noticed a favorite yarn in this issue, too–one skein of the delightful Fibre Company Meadow, knit up into a floral lace scarf.
We always like to see what Meg Swansen is writing about in her Vogue column–this time, it’s tips and tricks for lace-knitting, a topic well-suited to the projects in this issue.
Look for Vogue Knitting on the teacart among the latest books and magazines. See you at the shop!
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!
The Spring 2014 issue of Interweave Knits is here!
Inside, you’ll find garment and accessory patterns suitable for transitional Springtime weather: lightweight sweaters, shawls, cowls, and the like.
For me, there is one show-stopping sweater in this issue: Kate Gagnon Osborn’s “Meltwater Pullover,” knit in Fibre Company Savannah.
If you’ve ever asked me about my “Stasis” pullover, which has seen a ton of wear this winter, you probably know how well I love colorwork yoked sweaters like these. For those new to this technique, Interweave offers an article on how to hold two yarns when doing stranded two-color knitting.
Look for Interweave Knits on the teacart in the front room at the shop!
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!