Tag Archives: worsted weight

New colors in Malabrigo Rios.

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Malabrigo recently released a bunch of new colors in their beloved worsted weight superwash merino, Rios. Meet the Tribeca collection!

Rios is beautifully hand-dyed in rich, memorable colors, soft and springy in the hand, and machine-washable, no less. A superwash worsted weight wool is a versatile kind of yarn, good for garments and accessories alike. We’ve seen it all in Rios over the years – sweaters for all ages, blankets large and small, hats and mitts and cowls and slipper socks and more.

These delicate pastel shades are semi-solid, ideal for showing off texture patterns. Try Tin Can Knits’ “Flax” and “Barley,” Stephen West’s “Dustland,” Joji Locatelli’s “Hipster Shawl,” and Andrea Mowry’s “Nurtured.”

With so many beautiful colors, it’s tempting to combine them, too – for colorful ideas, check out Shannon Cook’s “Bradway,” Lisa Hannes’ “Walk in the Woods,” Jennifer Steingass’s “Fern & Feather,” Andrea Mowry’s “Nightshift,” and Tin Can Knits’ “Banff.”

Come by the shop to pick up some Malabrigo Rios for your next project! See you there.

New colors in Fibre Co. Cumbria Worsted.

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Fibre Company just added eight fresh new shades to Cumbria Worsted!

Cumbria Worsted is composed of 60% merino wool, 30% masham wool, and 10% mohair. The soft white merino is blended with the dark gray masham, creating a natural heathered base color over which all the other colorways are dyed.

How to use Cumbria Worsted? Look for worsted weight patterns where stitch definition and structure are important; think cables, texture patterns, hardy sweaters and heirloom blankets or shawls.

My first thought on seeing these new colors was how perfect they’d be for “The Weekender,” Andrea Mowry’s basic pullover that has charmed so many of us. It’s never to late to join our informal Weekender Knit-Along, and we’ve also got Weekender classes on the schedule!

We’ve got print patterns from the Fibre Co. for Cumbria Worsted, too, and of course there’s plenty to choose from on Ravelry – also consider Marie Greene’s “Stillwater” cardigan, Hannah Fettig’s “Coastal Pullover,” Kate Gagnon Osborn’s “Clawthorpe” pullover, “Rockcliffe” scarf and “Seathwaite” hat, and Alana Dakos’ “Four Seasons” shawl, to start with. Keep digging, and you’ll likely end up with a long wishlist of patterns perfectly suited to this yarn. Let us know what you find!

Come by the shop to see the new Cumbria Worsted colors and plan your next project!

Back in stock: Berroco.

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Berroco yarns are some of our standbys, from the smooth Modern Cotton to the durable Ultra Wool line to the soft and fuzzy Ultra Alpaca line. We order and reorder these yarns throughout the year, but last week’s restock was particularly sizable.

Berroco Modern Cotton is an economical, machine-washable blend of cotton and rayon in that versatile gauge, worsted weight. It’s perfect for warm-weather knit and crochet projects, or year-round for those allergic to wool, and seems especially popular for blanket making.

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. It also comes in DK weight and fingering weight gauges.

We were especially low on Berroco Ultra Alpaca Chunky, a bulky weight blend of wool and alpaca, and are pleased to have a full cubby again. This yarn has been popular for Kate Davies’ “Carbeth” and cocoknits’ “Emma,” and one knitter we know, Michele, used it to make this incredible “#21 Star Sweater.”

Look for a variety of Berroco yarns here at our shop!

New colors in Kelbourne Woolens Germantown.

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Last week, a big box arrived from Kelbourne Woolens, packed full of their worsted weight wool, Germantown. Inside were six new colors, plus a handful of colors we’d sold out of.

Germantown is a recreation of a classic wool that had been produced in Germantown, Pennsylvania, under a few different brand names since the mid-to-late 19th century. Made of 100% North American wool, Germantown is a worsted spun, worsted weight yarn with a smooth texture, soft hand, and nice elasticity.

The Kelbourne Woolens team see this yarn as a classic basic wool for beginners as well as more advanced stitchers – easy to work with, with good stitch definition, but at a reasonable price for a domestically-produced yarn of this quality.

These new colors are a playful mix of brights and pastels, one that fits beautifully into the existing Germantown color palette. 

© Kelbourne Woolens

One skein is enough for a hat, and the folks at Kelbourne Woolens are designing one for every month of this year. Even better, every one of these patterns is free to download from Ravelry – look there for “January,” “February,” “March,” “April,” and “May,” and stay tuned for the rest of their Year of Hats!

See you at the shop!

New marls in Brooklyn Tweed Shelter and Loft.

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Brooklyn Tweed just released two new marled shades in Shelter and five in Loft, and we’re delighted to have them here at the shop!

“Marled” means that each ply of the yarn is a different color, making a candy cane twist of the two.

They knit up looking flecked and pleasantly irregular, and if the two colors within the marl are close in value, they might appear blended from a distance, as in the photo below – this shows Shelter in the color Narwhal, which is composed of Fossil and Sweatshirt.

Shelter has had three marled colorways up to this point, all neutrals. You can see them at work in BT patterns like “Atlas,” “Mason,” “Mossbank,” and of course Andrea Mowry’s “The Weekender,” the subject of our current informal knit-along.

The two new shades are Caraway, an earthy mix of Hayloft and Truffle Hunt, and Amaranth, a fiery combination of Cinnabar and Long Johns.

Loft hasn’t had any marled colorways until this week, and these new additions sent me back to the BT pattern archive, looking for designs that would do well in marled colors.

Consider “Redford,” “Benton,” “Eternity Scarf,” and “Kelpie,” as a starting place – there are so many incredible patterns for Loft!

 

Jared Flood has also designed a new brioche hat for Loft, “Skipp,” which is free when you purchase 2 skeins of Loft from our shop before April 30th. He’s included options for single- and two-color brioche, as well as two different fits, watchcap and slouchy.

 

You’ll find Shelter in our worsted weight section and Loft in our fingering weight section. See you at the shop!

 

 

 

The Weekender KAL: swatching.

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As you may have read in our most recent email newsletter, Anne and I have fallen in love with Andrea Mowry’s “The Weekender.” It’s been a popular pattern since it came out in late 2017, but somehow neither of us was compelled to cast on for it until recently. Maybe it’s because we’ve seen so many knitters make it successfully, maybe it’s because Shelter is the one Brooklyn Tweed yarn Anne hasn’t knit with yet, maybe it’s because my “Ursula Cardigan” is taking forever and I crave a simpler project. No matter the reason, we’re excited to announce an informal knit-along!

Copyright Andrea Mowry.

 

How to participate? Simply cast on for your own “Weekender” and knit at your own pace. There will be no deadline, just the camaraderie of working from the same pattern at the same time. Anne and I are here to answer questions as you select your yarn, needles, and what size you’ll knit, and will post our progress along the way.

So far, we’ve gotten as far as swatching.

Mowry has cleverly designed the body of this sweater to be knit in the round with the wrong side facing, so you can peacefully knit in stockinette, then turn your work inside out for a reverse stockinette fabric. Because the sweater is knit in the round, it’s important to swatch in the round.

Anne is knitting with the recommended yarn, Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, a worsted weight, woolen spun wool that is lightweight and spongey, excellent for sweater-making. Mowry calls for 4.5 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch in the round, so Anne cast on as many stitches as it took to fill her 16″ circular needles for a real, honest-to-goodness sense of her gauge and fabric. Before blocking, it was looking like she’d get gauge on US 10 needles, but after blocking, US 9 needles turned out to be right on.

I’m following the lead of a few projects I found on Ravelry and knitting “The Weekender” with Kelbourne Woolens Scout, a robust DK weight wool that I’ve been anxious to get on my needles. I knit my swatch in the round on DPNs, casting on for about 8″ of fabric, and was surprised and delighted to get stitch and row gauge on US 7. My “Weekender” will be somewhat more loosely-knit than Anne’s, and I’m excited to see how it turns out.

Copyright Andrea Mowry.

We both plan to knit the 44″ size, which will give us several inches of positive ease, but less than the 10″ Mowry suggests – Anne and I both prefer more close-fitting sweaters and this will already be a few more inches of ease than we normally knit for ourselves.

Have you been thinking about making “The Weekender,” or wanting a simple sweater that’s as effortless to wear as a sweatshirt? Cast on with us this week, or next week, or whenever suits you – knit along with us at your own pace, and come by the shop any time to ask questions and share your progress! Brooklyn Tweed just came out with two new marled colorways in Shelter, just to complicate your color selection process – more on that soon!

Hello, Malabrigo Washted.

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A brand new yarn from Malabrigo has arrived! Meet Washted.

Washted is a worsted weight, superwash merino, with 210 yards on each 100 gram skein, and it’s hand-dyed in rich variegated colors. It’s a lot like Malabrigo’s popular Rios yarn, except that Washted is single ply where Rios is plied.

The downside of single ply yarn is often discussed here at the shop, namely, that single ply yarns are the first to pill. The upside, however, is that the super soft merino wool is even softer in a single ply.

This makes Washted ideal for accessories that don’t see a lot of abrasion, like cowls, hats, and shawls. Looking through projects on Ravelry, I saw knitters using Washted for Nina Machlin Dayton’s “Civetta Cowl,” Lucia Ruiz de Aguirre’s “Patricia hat,” and Andrea Mowry’s “Nightshift” shawl, but there are so many inspiring worsted weight patterns out there – check out our “Worsted weight” Pinterest board for starters.

Look for Malabrigo Washted in the worsted weight section here at our shop, just above the Rios cubby!

Shibui Sample of the Month: Half and Half Cowl.

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February is here, and with it, a new Shibui Sample of the Month! We offer a 10% discount on Shibui yarn purchased for our featured sample until the end of the month.

This month’s sample is the Churchmouse “Half and Half Cowl,” a simple ribbed cowl with a slit halfway up to create an opening over the shoulder.

“Half and Half Cowl” is knit with Shibui Drift, a worsted weight blend of 85% extra fine merino wool and 15% cashmere. It’s just as soft as that combination sounds, a perfect choice for a special accessory like this.

Come by the shop to before February 26th to try on the “Half and Half Cowl” and get Shibui Drift at 10% off to make one of your own!

 

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!

Kelbourne Woolens Building Blocks Collection Trunk Show!

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We’re so excited to announce that we’ve just received a Trunk Show featuring Kelbourne Woolens Germantown. Come by the shop to see accessories from the Building Blocks Collection!

Germantown is a North American sourced yarn with a story to tell, a recreation of a classic wool that had been produced in Germantown, Pennsylvania, under a few different brand names since the mid-to-late 19th century.

The Building Blocks Collection consists of three basic patterns: a hat, a scarf, and mittens. Each one has three variations, taking knitters from the simplest stitches to more complicated patterns, one step at a time. I can see one of these patterns as a great gift for a new knitter, along with a few skeins of Germantown.

It’s great to finally touch knitted fabric made with Germantown, as Anne and I have admired it since its October release but frankly, haven’t had time to cast on and work with it ourselves.

Come by the shop to see the show, and get 10% off KW Germantown while you’re at it!

 

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!

Back in stock, show and tell: Berroco Ultra Wool and Ultra Wool DK.

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This season, we seem to be constantly ordering and reordering Berroco Ultra Wool and Ultra Wool DK. Not long before we closed for our Thanksgiving break, I unpacked a bigger box than ever from Berroco, for it contained some new colors along with all our old favorites.

Ultra Wool and Ultra Wool DK are smooth and sturdy superwash wools, one of the few that suggests “tumble dry low” rather than “lay flat to dry.” They’re easy-care, practical, economical, and come in a wide range of solid and heathered colors; no wonder we’re selling so much of them!

The latest Berroco Portfolio collection features these yarns, and we were delighted when Berroco also sent us a sample of the cover sweater, Lori Versaci’s “Lane’s Island Pullover.” There’s nothing like a finished garment to give you a sense of how a particular yarn knits up, and this one has already compelled plenty of knitters to try Ultra Wool DK, many of whom return to it for other projects.

April was one of the first knitters we knew to complete an adult-sized sweater in Ultra Wool DK, and when she wore it in, singing the yarn’s praises, we were truly impressed. The cables of her “Bowery Tunic” show beautifully, and April didn’t report any of the out-of-control stretching that superwash wools can sometimes experience during blocking.

Margie has also been working with Ultra Wool DK of late, knitting not one, but two “Isabelline Cowls.” I never tire of seeing what an impact a change in color can have; this pair is a nice example of how low- and high-contrast color combinations can both work beautifully in stranded colorwork. And you might be surprised which of these has higher contrast – I was! Look at these photos through the black and white filter on your camera and you’ll see what I mean.

Ultra Wool DK is great for crochet projects, too! Check out Linda’s amazing blanket for proof positive.

Look for Ultra Wool and Ultra Wool DK here at the shop, and keep an eye out for something new from Berroco, too… more on that soon!