Author Archives: Julia

Hello again, Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky.

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As the weather cools and the winter holidays approach, bulky weight yarns become more and more popular here at HYS. With that in mind, we ordered a fresh supply of the soft and cuddly Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky.

Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky:

  • bulky weight
  • 100% baby alpaca
  • 108 yards/100g
  • $19 each

Alpaca fiber is known for its fuzzy softness, warmth, and drape, attributes that make it an ideal choice for cozy scarves, cowls, and shawls. Hats, mitts, and sweaters benefit from a more elastic fabric than alpaca tends to create, but you can stitch it on a smaller needle size or in a cable or rib pattern to add structure.

Here are some pattern ideas for Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky!

Look for Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky in the bulky weight section here at our shop!

New from Koigu!

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We have all kinds of new goodies from Koigu this week, hand-dyed in vibrant colors by mother/daughter team Maie and Taiu Landra on their farm outside of Toronto, Canada.

First up, Koigu Paint Cans, five-color mini-skein sets packed up like a tiny pail of paint. Each 25 g mini skein has 87 yards of KPPPM, Koigu’s signature fingering weight merino wool, for a total of 435 yards per Paint Can. That’s just right for a pair of “Zig Zag Mittens” or “Paint Box Mittens” – scan the QR code on the side for more colorful pattern ideas!

For even more fun with mini-skeins, we have Koigu Pencil Boxes, which have 10 x 25g minis, or 870 yards total. That’s enough to knit a “Davenport,” “Rising” or “Grevillea Shawl,” or crochet a “Salsa” or “Juniper Cowl.”

We also got our monthly batch from Koigu’s Collector’s Club, 21 full sized 50 g skeins of KPPPM in a limited edition color, dyed especially for a select group of local yarn stores that carry Koigu.

Painted Bunting is the color, a vibrant mix of neon green and cobalt blue, with streaks of marigold and cream. Stripe it into a “ZickZack Scarf,” slip stitch it into a pair of “Pressed Flowers Socks,” or pair it with mohair for a fuzzy “Sophie Scarf” – we carry many yarns that play well with Koigu!

Look for all our Koigu Collector’s Club colorways in the fingering weight section here at our shop, and check out the Paint Cans and Pencil Boxes in our gifts section. Thanks for shopping local this holiday season!

“Baa-ble Hats” in Brooklyn Tweed.

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Donna Smith’s “Baa-ble Hat” has been charming knitters since it was first published for Shetland Wool Week back in 2015. We’ve seen it knit up in many different yarns over the years, but lately, our favorite recommendation is Brooklyn Tweed.

Nancy knit this “Baa-ble Hat” with Brooklyn Tweed Imbue Worsted, a soft and smooth merino wool.

Above are the colors Nancy chose, and below are a few more ideas I came up with.

Brooklyn Tweed Tones is a great choice for a “Baa-ble Hat,” too, a columbia wool whose colorways are overdyed in vibrant, playful colors, starting with two baseline shades of undyed natural gray.

I love the subtle colors Nancy’s student, Haleh, chose for hers!

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter has more colors to choose from than either Tones or Imbue Worsted – here are a few more “Baa-ble Hat” color combinations in Shelter!

Inspired to make a “Baa-ble Hat” of your own? Come by the shop and see all the options in our worsted weight section, from Brooklyn Tweed and others!

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!

Pom Pom Quarterly: Winter 2023.

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The penultimate issue of Pom Pom Quarterly is here!

We are so sad to hear that they’re closing up shop after the Spring 2024 issue comes out in January; PPQ has been an inspiring resource for so many years. In the meantime, this new Winter 2023 issue is full of artful and intriguing knits in monochrome colorways.

“We love colour so much that often we try and get as much of it into each piece as we can,” the PPQ editors write, “but for this monochrome-themed issue we wanted to see what could be done with fabrics that used more subtle tonal differences within a single hue, or closely related ones.”

Pom Pom has always been a champion of new and emerging designers and indie dyers, introducing us to new names with every issue. We don’t carry all the yarns shown in their pages, but we have many lovely substitutes and are happy to help you find just the right one for your project! Above are a few shades of Brooklyn Tweed Tones and Shelter, reminiscent of Catie Robbins’ intarsia “Redware” shawl.

The dimensional texture of Alessandra Gropazzi’s “Chiaroscuro” scarf caught my eye right away – it’s made with a fingering weight wool and lace weight mohair/silk blend held together throughout. Kelbourne Woolens Camper and Isager Silk Mohair fit the bill, and we have new colors in both of those yarns!

Sara Ottosson’s “Celadon” hat uses a fingering weight wool as a base yarn throughout, and alternates between two shades of fuzzy lace weight yarn to create a subtle colorwork pattern. We have so many yarns that would work well for this, but Ewe Ewe Fluffy Fingering and Fyberspates Cumulus have the perfect colors to match the pattern photo!

Pom Pom Quarterly is $25.50 – come by to snag a copy between 11am – 5:30pm, Tuesdays – Saturdays. We’re also taking orders online for local pickup or shipping. Along with this issue, we have a cubby full of back issues available, now marked down 50%. See you at the shop!

Show and tell: openwork.

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As you may have read in our most recent newsletter, the shop will be closed for our usual Thanksgiving break from November 22 – 27. Feel free to place online orders or email inquiries during that time, but know that we won’t be monitoring our inbox until we’re back in the shop on November 28! We wish you all a peaceful and safe holiday.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy some show and tell!

As I was going through recent photos, I spotted a theme: openwork! Here are some beautiful projects adorned with eyelets.

Above is Edie’s “Holden” shawl, knit with Koigu KPPPM. It’s great to see lace knit up with variegated yarn! Pattern by Mindy Wilkes.

Teresa knit this delicate “Salty Air Tee” with Isager Bomulin, a good example of how lace looks in plant fiber yarns – in a word, lovely! Pattern by Samantha Guerin.

Anne jumped on the “Ranunculus” bandwagon, and knit the sweater above as a gift for a lifelong friend. She held Brooklyn Tweed Ranch 03 together with Fibre Co. Meadow, a low contrast combination that gave just a little dimension to the color and texture of the knitted fabric. Pattern by Midori Hirose.

Lace looks great in thicker yarns, too, showing off the stitch patterns at a larger scale and proving that openwork can be cozy. Above is Ruth in her “Elah” cardigan, knit with worsted weight Kelbourne Woolens Germantown. Pattern by Isabell Kraemer.

Margaretta is a prolific lace knitter – I’ve lost track of how many “Umaro” blankets she’s made! The one above is a baby blanket, knit with worsted weight Berroco Ultra Wool. Pattern by Jared Flood.

The shawl below is also one of Margaretta’s, “Sakura,” knit with Brooklyn Tweed Loft. Pattern by Leila Raven.

Thanks to Edie, Teresa, Anne, Ruth, and Margaretta 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: Ammonite.

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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

Ammonite is a quiet variegated colorway with a surprising variety of hues mixed in – from a distance it reads pale green, but look closely, and you’ll see a whole rainbow!

Pair Ammonite with a fuzzy lace weight yarn and you have the makings of a soft and lovely “Sophie Scarf” or “Oslo Hat – mohair edition,” – here are a few color ideas!

I love the way a strand of lace weight mohair mutes a variegated yarn, bringing new texture and movement to the colors in the knitted fabric.

Here’s my finished “Sophie Scarf”, knit with Koigu KPPPM in Hoof Mushroom and Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair in 6315.

And here are more Tynn Silk Mohair pairings for all kinds of Koigu colors!

Look for Koigu KPPPM in the fingering weight section here at the shop, and check out the lace weight section to see Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair, Isager Silk Mohair, and Fyberspates Cumulus!

Hello, Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair!

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Another new yarn from Sandnes Garn! Meet Tynn Silk Mohair.

Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair:

  • lace weight
  • 57% mohair, 15% wool, 28% silk
  • 233 yards/25g
  • $14 each

Tynn Silk Mohair is soft and shiny, lightweight with a fluffy texture, and often used in tandem with heavier yarns. It pairs beautifully with other Sandnes Garn yarns, of course, like the fingering weight Sunday and DK weight Double Sunday, but is sure to play well with all manner of yarns here at our shop – we can’t wait to see what folks make with it!

I’m working on a PetiteKnit “Sophie Scarf” holding Tynn Silk Mohair with Koigu KPPPM. I love the painterly way they blend together, the solid color and fuzzy halo of Tynn Silk Mohair muting the variegated Koigu a bit. Bailey and I came up with a bunch of other combinations that I’ll share on the blog soon – keep an eye out for that in the next few days, or come by the shop to create your own colorway!

You’ll find Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair in the lace weight section here at HYS – hope to see you at the shop soon!

Amirisu, Issue 27.

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The final issue of Amirisu is here!

Amirisu is a knitting magazine based in Japan, each issue filled with articles, interviews, and patterns from designers all over the world. This is the last issue of Amirisu as we know it, though they will continue to publish pattern books and online content in a similar vein.

This issue features knits full of thoughtful, creative details inspired by music.

I also spotted a profile of knitwear designer Julie Weisenberger, the founder of cocoknits, a purveyor of high quality tools for knitters.

Amirisu often includes tutorials and essays on crafts other than knitting, and this issue includes a few – an interview with a beadwork artist, and two sewing projects.

Amirisu is $24 – swing by to pick up a copy or order online for local pickup or shipping!

Back in stock: Malabrigo Caracol!

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After spending the past few years out of production, Malabrigo Caracol is back!

Malabrigo Caracol:

  • super bulky weight
  • thick and thin
  • marled
  • 100% superwash merino wool
  • 90 yards/150 grams
  • $25 each

Caracol is a super bulky yarn with a unique texture, composed of a thick-and-thin single ply criss-crossed by a thinner yarn. Some skeins are criss-crossed with a black binder thread, giving a stained glass effect, and others with white, for more subtle variation.

A yarn with this much personality doesn’t need a complicated pattern to show it off, and Anne’s “Perky Little Hat” is just the ticket.

What else to make with Caracol? Here are some ideas!

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!