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 March 28, 2014 | By Julia
Isager Alpaca 2 is a favorite yarn around here. This fingering weight blend of merino wool and alpaca is light and lofty, tremendously soft in the hand, and good for all kinds of projects. Many knitters have fallen in love with it while knitting the “Stole,” a simple striped wrap from the popular Wearwithall. Others have … [more]
Published March 26, 2014 | By Julia
As promised, here’s a second installment of show and tell, all sweaters and vests that started as yarns at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. Beth and her husband came in to show off the sweater she knit for him in Plymouth Tweed. After solving a sizing conundrum and learning how to install a zipper, Beth was … [more]
Published March 24, 2014 | By Julia
I’ve seen so many amazing finished garments come through the shop since I last wrote a “show and tell” blog post, especially on the recent Triangle Yarn Crawl, to which so many shoppers wore their handmade best. I can’t always have my camera handy to document the projects that knitters and crocheters create with yarn from … [more]
Published March 21, 2014 | By Julia
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 … [more]
Published March 19, 2014 | By Julia
Last Spring, we had two Knit-Alongs at the shop: first we knit up the summery “Gemini” tee, and then we made “Hexagonal Market Bags.” Halfway through March, sick of freezing rain and snow, we’ve decided we’re ready for another warm-weather Knit-Along. Inspired by the latest new yarn at the shop, Anne, Rosi and I have … [more]
Published March 17, 2014 | By Julia
This past week, we welcomed a brand new yarn to the shop: Ewe So Sporty, from Ewe Ewe! Ewe So Sporty is a sport-weight version of the popular Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted, and both are soft and springy machine-washable merino wools with excellent stitch definition. Along with this new sport weight yarn came a batch … [more]
Published March 14, 2014 | By Julia
Last week, we unpacked a very large box of yarn from Schoppel-Wolle, a German company perhaps best known for their self-striping sock yarn, Zauberball. Zauberball is a fingering weight yarn that slowly changes from one color to the next several yards at a time, so that whatever you’re knitting or crocheting with it comes out … [more]
Published March 12, 2014 | By Julia
The Triangle Yarn Crawl is a self-guided tour of local yarn shops, where knitters and crocheters get together and hop from one shop to the next, shopping, entering raffles, and seeing the full breadth of available fibers. They happen twice a year, and the time has come again: the Spring 2014 crawl is coming up soon … [more]
Published March 10, 2014 | By Julia
Shibui has just released their Spring/Summer 2014 pattern collection, six new Mix patterns that combine Shibui yarns two or three strands at a time to make unique fiber blends. We’re also excited to announce that in April, we’ll host a trunk show featuring these very garments. We can’t wait to see them in person! “Mix … [more]
Published March 8, 2014 | By Julia
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 … [more]