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 August 23, 2013 | By Julia
Yesterday’s blog post was all about the latest Kira K patterns we’ve stocked at the shop. Kira Dulaney is a prolific designer of both knit and crochet garments, however, and we wanted our knitters and crocheters to be able to see her whole collection. Kira, like many designers, has made her patterns available as Ravelry … [more]
Published August 22, 2013 | By Julia
We were first acquainted with designer Kira Dulaney at last year’s TNNA, when we found her booth alongside Sincere Sheep, offering patterns for Sincere Sheep Equity Sport. This year we visited her booth again, remembering that she offered as many crochet patterns as knitting patterns, and filled up on both. We’ve seen a resurgence of … [more]
Published August 20, 2013 | By Julia
Our Annual Inventory Sale left us with some big holes in our supply of Knitter’s Pride needles, so it was with great relief that I unpacked an absolutely enormous shipment of needles this past week. Now they’re all here: circular and double pointed Dreamz, Cubics, and Karbonz needles. We even got a set of the … [more]
Published August 18, 2013 | By Julia
This week brought big boxes of yarn from Berroco. The yarns are familiar–Ultra Alpaca Fine, Ultra Alpaca, and Lustra–but the colors are brand new, just introduced by Berroco for Fall. Ultra Alpaca Fine is a fingering weight blend of wool, alpaca, and nylon. Its fiber content and gauge suggest socks, but Ultra Alpaca Fine is … [more]
Published August 16, 2013 | By Julia
Along with all the favorite sock yarns we’ve reordered, we also picked up a brand new sock yarn: Frolicking Feet, from a small yarn company out of Maine called Done Roving. Done Roving is a family-run business based on a farm, and they make a point of sourcing their fiber domestically when possible, and processing … [more]
Published August 14, 2013 | By Julia
UPDATE: As of 11/19/2014, we are totally sold out of Crystal Palace Merino 5! ************************************************************* We have many machine-washable, worsted weight wools at the shop because they’re good for so many things. Knitters and crocheters alike often turn to machine-washable, worsted weight wools for blankets, baby things, sweaters for children and adults, toys, and accessories … [more]
Published August 12, 2013 | By Julia
In the midst of a muggy summer week, the Fall 2013 issue of Interweave Knits has arrived, just in time for cool-weather daydreaming. What garments and accessories will we knit in anticipation of the seemingly-distant sweater weather? This issue features garments and accessories in lacy drop-stitch patterns, cables, and texture patterns. I noticed one sweater … [more]
Published August 10, 2013 | By Julia
Another luscious fingering weight yarn arrived this week: Dream in Color’s Smooshy with Cashmere. Smooshy with Cashmere is an aptly-named blend of 70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon. It’s hand-dyed in variegated and semi-solid colorways, deliciously soft and squishy, perfect for next-to-skin wear. We first ordered Smooshy with Cashmere about a year and … [more]
Published August 8, 2013 | By Julia
Mountain Colors is a small yarn company in Montana that has been hand-dyeing yarn for almost twenty years. We’ve stocked their sock yarn, Bearfoot, in the past; in fact, I’ve written about it here on the blog before. Recently we found ourselves with only four skeins in stock, which seemed a sad and lonesome number–time … [more]
Published August 6, 2013 | By Julia
We’re pleased to announce the arrival of an armful (or two) of String Theory sock yarns. Our supply of Caper Sock and Bluestocking sadly diminished, we placed an order with the lovely Karen and Tanis, who dye these vibrant yarns in Blue Hill, Maine. We picked some new colors and some old favorites, and the … [more]