Blog
Published March 26, 2024 | By Julia
Spring is here – time to reach for plant fiber yarns! Meet our newest arrival, Cascade Botanika.
Cascade Botanika:
- sport weight
- speckled with natural dyes
- 100% organic cotton
- 328 yards/100g
- $12.50 each
Botanika is a soft and smooth organic cotton yarn, dyed with natural pigments sourced from plant leaves, roots and flowers. We have six speckled colors, dyed with the likes of indigo, madder, marigold, and mulberry leaf.
What to make with Botanika? Here are some pattern ideas in adult sizes:
Soft, smooth, machine washable cotton is ideal for baby things, too – here are a few patterns to consider:
Look for Cascade Botanika in the sport weight section here at HYS, along with other plant fiber yarns, like Kelbourne Woolens Skipper, Mojave, and Cascade Ultra Pima Fine!
Published February 1, 2016 | By Julia
We’re delighted to welcome a brand new yarn from the Fibre Company: meet Cumbria Fingering. Like its big sister, Cumbria Worsted, Cumbria Fingering is a soft and sturdy blend 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 … [more]
Published January 30, 2016 | By Julia
Earlier this week, a particularly large box arrived from Berroco, filled with over 40 pounds of Modern Cotton. Since its debut in Spring 2014, Modern Cotton has become a staple here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, so we picked up some of the newest colors and replenished our supply of old favorites. We now have … [more]
Published January 27, 2016 | By Julia
We’re delighted to announce that we now carry Gradient BFL from Cutthroat Yarn! Gradient BFL is a 100% superwash bluefaced leicester wool in a fingering weight, and it’s hand-dyed by Cutthroat Yarn founder Jeanette Ward in Leesburg, Virginia. We’re always on the lookout for locally-sourced yarns, and plied self-stiping yarns, too; Gradient BFL fills both … [more]
Published January 25, 2016 | By Julia
Isager is a Danish yarn company run by designer Marianne Isager and her daughter, Helga Isager. We’ve carried their yarns, books, and patterns for years now, and do our best to keep a wide selection of colors in stock. With that in mind, we recently replenished our supply of Isager Alpaca 1, so that all 21 … [more]
Published January 23, 2016 | By Julia
The yarn shop is often where new projects begin, but it’s also where problems are solved, techniques are learned, and finished garments are shown off. We’ve had a week of show-and-tell here on the blog, focusing on that last step: standing back and admiring what you’ve made. Paula knit this “Kids Spirit Cardigan” with two … [more]
Published January 20, 2016 | By Julia
Here’s another batch of show and tell, projects that started their lives as yarns here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. Earlier in the week, we saw examples of knitters who go back again and again to the same patterns; today, let’s look at hats. Peggy tried her hand at colorwork for the first time in … [more]
Published January 18, 2016 | By Julia
We always love to see what you’re making with HYS yarns, and I love to take photos of your beautiful finished pieces to share here on the blog. Today, I have a bundle of show-and-tell projects, too many for one or two blog posts to hold. Let’s call this a week of show and tell, beginning with knitters … [more]
Published January 16, 2016 | By Julia
We’re big fans of designer Kate Davies around here. We keep her Colors of Shetland and Yokes on the shelf at the shop, and I knit from them and daydream about them often. Throughout the last months of 2015, we followed along on Davies’ blog as she created her own yarn and developed new designs … [more]
Published January 13, 2016 | By Julia
Happy to report that our shelves are once again full of notions from Cocoknits! It seems many of you were as smitten with these thoughtful gadgets as we were; the little green table I decorated with Cocoknits goodies back in November was quickly cleared. The Knitter’s Keep was the first to sell out, a silicone … [more]
Published January 11, 2016 | By Julia
Every so often, we get word that one yarn company or another has developed new colors, broadening their spectrum and filling in gaps. When the word came recently from the Fibre Company, we put in our order right away for new colors in Road to China Lace and Knightsbridge. Road to China Lace is a … [more]