Tag Archives: shawls

A Little Book of Moon-Inspired Shawls, by Pauliina Kuunsola.

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The latest book from Laine is here! Let’s page through A Little Book of Moon-Inspired Shawls ($22), by Pauliina Kuunsola.

Pauliina Kuunsola is a knitwear designer and tech editor who works as a senior editor at Laine Publishing. Inspired by the colors and textures of nature, the night sky and mystic realms, Kuunsola designed nine shawls for this petite paperback collection.

The patterns within use a variety of techniques, from lace and texture patterns to embroidery, slipped stitches, and marling.

The designs feature different shawl shapes, such as crescent, asymmetric triangle and pi, and use yarns from lace weight to DK. We may not have exactly the yarns called for in the pattern, but we have many lovely substitutes, and are happy to help you find the perfect yarn for your project!

A Little Book of Moon-Inspired Shawls is $22, and available here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, along with many other inspiring publications and hundreds of yarns to choose from!

Malabrigo Ultimate Sock + Mohair KAL.

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We’re delighted to have a fresh supply of Malabrigo Ultimate Sock and Mohair, just in time for Malabrigo’s upcoming KAL!

Lora Marin designed this stunning lace shawl for Malabrigo Ultimate Sock and Mohair, using the yarns separately to highlight the difference in texture.

For this shawl, she used these yarns in the same colorway, Aniversario, though more contrast or variation in colors would also have a nice effect. Here are some color ideas!

Want to join the Malabrigo KAL, which starts in September? Head to their blog to register in order to receive the pattern, and come by our shop to pick out your yarn. You’ll need 2 skeins of Ultimate Sock ($21 each) and 3 skeins of Mohair ($15 each).

We’ve highlighted a few of these color combinations in a display here at the shop – look for it as you walk in.

You can also see our full selection of Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in the fingering weight section, and our full selection of Mohair in the lace weight section. We can’t wait to see your shawls take shape when the Knit-Along begins next month!

Show and tell: texture and color.

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Need some inspiration for your next project? Here’s another round of show and tell, featuring projects that make interesting use of color and texture.

Carribeth designed and knit this shawl using Dream in Color Smooshy Cashmere in one of their special applied pooling shades – she did stockinette stitch wherever the yarn was peach, pink, or terra-cotta, but did a mesh lace whenever the aqua blue streak came along. Look for similar patterns on our latest Pop-Up Club blog post!

Above is Wendy’s “SSP (slip stitch party) shawl,” an Isabell Kraemer pattern that combines slip stitch colorwork and texture.

Wendy picked colors in Brooklyn Tweed Peerie and Isager Alpaca 2, so there are slight textural differences in the yarn due to fiber content, as well – a lovely detail!

Margaretta’s “Aloe” socks also combine color and texture using a stitch pattern that was new to her, Anne, and myself – two-colored dip stitch.

The pattern is from Laine’s recent 52 Weeks of Socks, Vol. II, and Margaretta used Kelbourne Woolens Perennial, a soft and squishy merino/alpaca blend.

Anne knit this “Ardelle Hat” using Malabrigo Mecha, a sample for her recent class on the subject. The cabled band is worked flat, then grafted, then stitches are picked up from one edge to complete the body and crown of the hat – a clever construction!

Here is Ruth’s “Wild Flowers” shawl, a floral field rendered in intricate texture patterns using Brooklyn Tweed Arbor. For sharp stitch definition, there’s no better yarn!

Thanks to Carribeth, Wendy, Margaretta, Anne, and Ruth for sharing their projects with us! We love seeing what folks make with yarn from our shop, and always look forward to show and tell.

Back in stock: Isager Alpaca 2.

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Over the past month or so, we’ve replenished our supply of Isager Alpaca 2 twice, bringing some bestselling colors back into stock – there always seems to be a steady demand for this fuzzy blend of merino and alpaca, beloved for its soft hand and harmonious color palette!

Isager Alpaca 2:

  • light fingering weight
  • 50% alpaca, 50% merino
  • 275 yards/50 g
  • $12 each

Anne’s seasoned “Stole” sample has hung on the wall for years now, yet it regularly catches the eye of knitters seeking a soothing, repetitive project, one that’s easy to execute, but with graceful results.

Rather than work each stripe to a specific measurement or number of rows, Anne knit until each ball of yarn ran out, then began the next color that suited her, using only 8 shades, rather than the suggested 9. It’s easy to adjust the thickness of the stripes or the size of the piece, making it narrower or wider than the pattern dictates. Anne’s  “Stole” is decidedly wider, leaning towards blanket-sized, in fact.

With over thirty colors to choose from, each “Stole” is unique – come by the shop to put together your very own colorway!

Look for Alpaca 2 in the fingering weight section here at our shop! We love Isager yarns and carry a lot of them – Japansk Bomuld, Bomulin, Silk Mohair, Spinni, Alpaca 1, Alpaca 3, Tvinni, Highland Wool, Jensen, Sock Yarn, and more.

LYS Day 2023: Casapinka colorways from Dream in Color!

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Happy Local Yarn Store Day! Come by the shop tomorrow, Saturday, April 29, for 25% off featured yarns and 50% off select books – you can read all about those sales on our recent blog post.

Each year on Local Yarn Store Day, designer Casapinka releases a pattern to celebrate. This year, it’s “Kitation,” an asymmetrical triangular shawl in two colors. Get a coupon code for a free download when you buy two 400 yard skeins of any fingering weight yarn at our shop this Saturday!

“Kitation,” by Casapinka, photo © Casapinka

Dream in Color dyer Veronica has created new colorways especially for Casapinka’s LYS Day 2023 pattern, and we’re delighted to have them here at our shop!

Each bundle includes 2 skeins of Dream in Color’s signature luxury fingering weight yarn, Smooshy Cashmere.

Dream in Color Smooshy Cashmere: fingering weight, 70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon, 400 yards in each 100g skein; $68 for LYS Day pair

These LYS Day pairs will also work well for Casapinka’s “Breathe and Hope,” “Ric Rac,” and “Albuquerque Sunset” shawls.

We only have two of each pair, so hurry in if you want to claim one! Thanks for supporting our shop on LYS Day and every day, we love being your local yarn store!

Back in stock: Bamboo Pop!

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Just in time for spring, we’ve got a fresh supply of Universal Bamboo Pop!

Universal Bamboo Pop:

  • DK weight
  • solid and variegated shades
  • 50% cotton, 50% bamboo
  • 292 yds/100g
  • $11 each

We chose a mix of solid and variegated shades, designed to stand alone in one-color projects or pair up for high and low contrast combinations. Anne is working on a “Hitchhiker” shawl with Bamboo Pop – check it out next time you’re here at the shop!

What else to make with Bamboo Pop? Here are some ideas!

Tees and tanks:

Accessories:

Come by the shop to plan your warm-weather knitting! We look forward to seeing you there.

Isager Alpaca 2 + Vertices Unite.

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Isager Alpaca 2 has a particularly harmonious color palette – each shade is lovely on its own, but they are even happier in combination. Looking through multi-color projects on Ravelry, Stephen West’s “Vertices Unite” caught my eye – a five color shawl in two sizes, composed of various geometric shapes that build on one another as you knit, in a playful modular fashion.

“Vertices Unite,” by Stephen West, photo © Stephen West

Stephen West is well known for his whimsical and sometimes wild use of color, but this particular piece is more muted. Inspired by this colorway and by the yarn itself, I’ve created some “Vertices Unite” combinations of my own, using Isager Alpaca 2.

Isager Alpaca 2: light fingering weight, 50% alpaca, 50% wool, 275 yards/50 g; $12 each, $60 for bundles of 5 to make the small size shown above.

Come by the shop to put together a “Vertices Unite” colorway of your own; we have 30 shades of Isager Alpaca 2 to choose from! We are still taking online orders as well, so if any of these color combinations grabs you, order online for local pickup or shipping.

Show and tell: PetiteKnit patterns.

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It’s been far too long since I shared show-and-tell here on the blog, though it’s an ongoing part of our daily Instagram posts – let’s see what folks have been making with yarn from our shop!

PetiteKnit has become one of the most-mentioned knitwear designers here at our shop. Almost every day, at least one knitter comes in shopping for, working on, or wearing a PetiteKnit design. Here are some of the PetiteKnit projects I’ve captured lately!

Margaretta is a fan of PetiteKnit – here are her two most recent sweaters, “Ingrid Sweater Baby” in Berroco Ultra Wool above, and “Moby Sweater” in Isager Jensen and Silk Mohair below.

Morgan knit this “No Frills Sweater” with Brooklyn Tweed Loft and Isager Silk Mohair held together throughout – the result is lovely, a perfect balance of structure and softness.

Michele came in wearing her first PetiteKnit sweater, “Sycamore Sweater,” and reports that the pattern was detailed and well written – she used Isager Jensen, Spinni, and Shibui Tweed Silk Cloud in this striking garment.

I knit my first PetiteKnit pattern recently, too, though it’s a far simpler design – here’s the “Sophie Shawl” I knit as a shop sample in Fibre Co. & Make Aran. The size small makes a such a nice scarf, wrapped around and tied like a kerchief, that I decided to make one for myself, too!

Thanks to Margaretta, Morgan, and Michele for sharing their work with us! We love to see what you make with our yarns, and can’t wait to see what comes off your needles next.

Koigu Collector’s Club: Hay.

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The Koigu Collector’s Club continues! Each month, we’ll receive 21 skeins of KPPPM in a limited edition color dyed especially for a select group of local yarn stores that carry Koigu. KPPPM is a fingering weight superwash merino, hand-dyed in vibrant colors by mother/daughter team Maie and Taiu Landra on their farm outside of Toronto, Canada.

Koigu KPPPM:

  • fingering weight
  • hand dyed, variegated
  • 100% superwash merino wool
  • 175 yards/50 g
  • $15.50 each

This month’s limited edition shade is Hay, a creamy neutral colorway with streaks of pumpkin and bronze, and the occasional charcoal speckle. It happens to look a lot like the yarn used in Joji Locatelli’s “The Lone Skein Shawl,” though you’d need 3 skeins of KPPPM for that lovely project.

Hay is a natural match with Caramel, in Malabrigo Ultimate Sock – together, they’d make a lovely autumnal “Moonflowers Shawl,” by Ambah O’Brien.

Here are a few more color combinations for this new mosaic shawl pattern, using other Koigu Collector’s Club colorways – Space Exploration, Red Brick House, The Pond, and Tapestry.

Want to make your own “Moonflowers Shawl” combination, or pick up a special lone skein for “The Lone Skein Shawl?” Look for Koigu KPPPM in the fingering weight section here at our shop, along with many others! We’re here from 11am – 5:30pm, Tuesdays – Saturdays; masks required for entry.

Painting Shawls, by Stephen West.

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Exciting news – Stephen West’s latest book is here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! Let’s take a look at Painting Shawls.

Painting Shawls ($40) is a collection of 13 shawl patterns from Stephen West, a designer known for bold color choices and intriguing shawl construction and techniques.

Each of these patterns features a main color framing several contrast colors, using only stripes and slipped stitches to form playful, rhythmic shapes throughout the garment.

West encourages knitters to choose their own colors for these shawls, and provides playful, intuitive tips for color selection along with practical tutorials on casting on, modifying the size, weaving in ends, and more.

Styled with West’s signature dramatic flair and photographed with a keen sense of movement, Painting Shawls is great fun to flip through.

Look for Painting Shawls on the teacart here at our shop, surrounded by the latest publications! We’re still taking online orders as well – just fill out our online order form for local pickup or shipping.