Tag Archives: brooklyn tweed

The Weekender KAL: show and tell.

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Back in April 2019, Anne and I embarked on an informal knit-along, knitting Andrea Mowry’s “The Weekender” sweater and inviting anyone and everyone to join us. We were delighted that so many folks were inspired to make the sweater, each bringing their own style and taste to this simple design, each knitting at their own pace. Some finished right away and then had to wait patiently for sweater weather to arrive, others signed up for Amy’s Weekender class to have her guidance as they knit along through the fall and winter. Many are still knitting, and we’re looking forward to seeing their sweaters in use this winter or next. As far as I’m concerned, our KAL has no end-date, so consider this round of Weekender KAL show and tell the first of many!

Michele was the first to finish. She knit her “Weekender” with Debbie Bliss Luxury Tweed she picked up on sale a few years ago, putting that sweater quantity to good use.

Here’s Debbie in her “Weekender,” knit with Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in Snowbound, BT’s softest gray. Something about the reverse stockinette seems to let the heathered colorway shine – flecks of dark gray and black pop out from the overall light color, giving a simple stitch pattern more interest.

Anne and I had our own “Weekenders” on display at the shop all through the fall, and in fact, hers is still hanging – I was excited to wear mine and brought it home last month! Anne’s is on the left, knit with Shelter in Soot, and mine is on the right, knit with Kelbourne Woolens Scout in Sunflower Heather.

Amy is well into teaching a handful of classes on “The Weekender,” and so finished hers in a productive flurry of preparation for teaching. She used Shelter in the marled Caraway color, a good match for this design, with its plain texture and simple shape. She also modified the neckline for a turtleneck, and opted to knit the entire body in the round and steek the armhole openings – very clever!

Many thanks to Michele, Debbie, and Amy for sharing their sweaters and knitting along with us! We know there are many other Weekenders in various stages of completion out there in our HYS knitting community – let us know how it’s going, we can’t wait to see you all in your sweaters!

Brooklyn Tweed Wool People 13 Trunk Show!

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We are delighted to announce that a new trunk show from Brooklyn Tweed is here to spend a couple of weeks at our shop. Come by before January 26 to see the Wool People 13 collection!

Wool People is an annual collaboration between Brooklyn Tweed and a variety of independent knitwear designers from around the world. Some of their names are familiar, but most are new to me. Those designers bring their own vision and aesthetic to Brooklyn Tweed’s breed-specific wool yarns, a combination that offers an exciting array of new designs.

Nearly every available Brooklyn Tweed yarn is featured in these designs: from the lace weight Vale, through fingering weight Loft and Peerie, DK weight Arbor, worsted weight Shelter, and bulky weight Quarry – all of which are 10% off during the Trunk Show.

Every pattern collection, it seems, is more appealing to me in person than in photos online – including collections that are very appealing in photos online! There’s something special and impossible to substitute about seeing and touching the garments for oneself, perceiving the weight, drape, texture, stitch definition, and color of them with your own eyes and hands.

Come by the shop before January 26 to see Wool People 13 and get featured Brooklyn Tweed yarns at 10% off!

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges or returns. Thanks!

Brooklyn Tweed Sample of the Month: Slade.

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Our Brooklyn Tweed Sample of the Month for January is here! Come by this month to see “Slade.”

“Slade” is a cardigan designed by Michele Wang for BT Men in 2013, which was then and is still now a rarity in hand knitting: a collection of garments for men. This shawl-collared cardigan is knit with Shelter, Brooklyn Tweed’s signature worsted weight, woolen-spun yarn. It comes in 45 colors, so there’s plenty to choose from. Even better, we’re offering them at 10% off during January – come by soon to take advantage of this discount!

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!

New Brooklyn Tweed Kits!

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Just in time for last minute gift shopping, we’ve put together brand new kits featuring Brooklyn Tweed Peerie!

Each kit includes a “Cloudline” hat pattern and 2 skeins of Peerie, Brooklyn Tweed’s fingering weight merino wool. For this beginner-friendly pattern, two different shades of Peerie are held together throughout, creating a marled fabric.

“Cloudline” is from the new BT by Brooklyn Tweed collection, a line of concise, beginner-level patterns.

We’ve made up a couple of kits in the color combination shown in the pattern, and created four more of our own!

Swing by to see the colorways we came up with and pick one out for a knitting friend this holiday season!

Brooklyn Tweed and Shibui Samples of the Month!

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December is here, and with it, new featured samples from Brooklyn Tweed and Shibui!

Our Brooklyn Tweed Sample of the Month is Jared Flood’s “Umaro,” an impressive lace and cable blanket knit with two strands of BT Quarry held together.

Quarry is Brooklyn Tweed’s heaviest yarn, a bulky weight, woolen-spun Targhee-Columbia wool. Each plump 100 gram skein boasts 200 yards, quite a bit for a yarn that knits up at 3-3.5 stitches per inch. It’s what our friend Emily used for her own “Umaro” blanket, below – she brought it in this week for show and tell, and reports that she snuggles underneath it on the couch with her kids all the time. A success!

Our Shibui Sample of the Month is “sequences,” by Lori Versaci, knit with Shibui Drift.

Drift is a treat to work with, a luxurious worsted weight blend of merino and cashmere.

We’re offer a 10% discount on Brooklyn Tweed Quarry and Shibui Drift until the end of the month – come by soon to take advantage and see these beautiful knit items!

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!

Winter scents from Harmony Farm Candles.

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We’re delighted to have a shelf full of Harmony Farm Candles again!

Harmony Farm Candles is run by our friend Erin in nearby Mebane, North Carolina. Erin hand-pours her candles in small batches using 100% US-sourced soy wax, with no added dyes. Their scents are fresh and bright, but not overwhelming – “delightfully fragranced,” as she puts it.

The three newest scents on our shelves are meant to evoke the season – Sweet Peppermint, Winter Wonderland, and the beloved Wintergreen.

Tuck a candle in with a few skeins of yarn, a special set of needles, or a yarn bowl this holiday season. As gifts, these candles are always warmly-received, and they’re a great little addition to a gift certificate.

Look for Harmony Farm Candles in our gifts section!

Show and tell: stranded colorwork.

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While the shop is closed for a Thanksgiving break, I thought it would be fun to catch up on some show and tell here on the blog. We’ll reopen at our regular business hours on Tuesday, December 3; til then, let’s have a look at some of the projects folks have brought into the shop to show us!

I noticed a theme running through my current stash of show-and-tell photos: stranded colorwork. It’s a popular technique in our classroom, which is where these first two projects came to be. Above is Kristen in her “Galloway” cardigan, knit with Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, looking lovely in shades of blue and gray. Below is Peggy’s “Galloway,” and also her very first sweater – well done!

Shelter is a popular yarn for colorwork sweaters – it’s what Glen used for his “Knitter’s Dude” cardigan, designed by Andrea Rangel. This was his first steek, a milestone, and expertly executed. Nice job, Glen!

Emily knit this “Plum Pudding Pig” with Fibre Company Lore, a DK weight Romney wool that’s well-suited to colorwork. When she brought it in for show and tell, we all wanted to give it a squeeze.

Below is Shula’s “Tessera Cowl,” designed by Jared Flood, and knit with Brooklyn Tweed Loft. Not all knitting projects are a joy from beginning to end – of this one, Shula bluntly said, “This was a pain in the neck,” laughing, but relieved to be done with it. We’ve all had projects like this, no?

Shelley knit this “Còinneach” cardigan with Swans Island All American Sport in a striking color combination, candy-colored brights popping out against a neutral brown background. The pattern is from Kate Davies’ West Highland Way.

Thanks to Kristen, Peggy, Glen, Emily, Shula, and Shelley for sharing their work with us, and thanks to everyone who starts their projects with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop!

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday, we look forward to seeing you when the shop opens again on Tuesday, December 3. In the meantime, look for more show and tell on our blog in the coming days!

Brooklyn Tweed Sample of the Month: BT Kids.

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Our Brooklyn Tweed Sample of the Month for November is here! Come by this month to see selections from the BT Kids collection.

When we were planning our Brooklyn Tweed Sample of the Month program, Anne was especially excited to see “Atlas (For Kids),” a colorwork yoke that called her grandchildren to mind. When Kel at Brooklyn Tweed offered to lend us anything from the BT Kids collection, we jumped – you’ll find six pieces on display this month!

All of them are knit with Loft, Brooklyn Tweed’s signature fingering weight, woolen-spun yarn. It comes in 45 colors and we’re delighted to report that we have them all in stock. Even better, we’re offering them at 10% off during November!

We’ll be closed for a Thanksgiving break from Wednesday, November 27 – Monday, December 2, reopening at our regular business hours on Tuesday, December 3, so if you’re anxious to see these samples and get Loft at a discount, plan your visit accordingly. We hope to see you soon!

Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!

On our needles: Brooklyn Tweed Ranch.

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One of the perks of working at the shop is knitting with exciting new yarns, sometimes even before they are available on our shelves. For the past couple of weeks behind the scenes, Anne and I have both been working with Ranch 02, the latest small batch, ranch-specific yarn from Brooklyn Tweed. Take a look at what’s been on our needles!

I’ve just completed Jared Flood’s “Tillage Hat,” a new design for BT Ranch 02, and a cousin to his “Tillage” pullover. I chose a light color to be sure all the texture and cables would show well, somewhat uncertain about the stitch definition of a woolen-spun yarn. I needn’t have worried, however, as this 3 ply yarn is nice and round, and shows texture beautifully.

Ranch 02 is great fun to knit with, springy and light in the hand, and makes such a soft, cohesive fabric.

Anne has had both Ranch 01 and Ranch 02 on her needles of late, and chose the same pattern for both. “When In Scotland” is a triangular garter stitch shawl, a lovely project for letting the yarn shine.

For the first shawl, she used Ranch 01, a worsted spun Rambouillet wool in naturally dyed shades.

She used Ranch 02 for the second shawl, and marveled at the difference between the two yarns.

Despite all they have in common – their fiber content, gauge, and number of plies – they differ in spinning method. Ranch 01 is worsted spun and Ranch 02 is woolen spun, making the former heavier and more smooth, and the latter lighter and more squishy. You can learn all about worsted and woolen spun yarns on Brooklyn Tweed’s website; they’ve written at length about how each kind of yarn is produced and what the difference is in the knitted fabric.

Come by the shop to see Ranch 02 and all of Brooklyn Tweed’s offerings – we have every yarn they make, and binders full of their patterns. There’s even some Ranch 01 left on our shelves!

See you at the shop!

Hello, Brooklyn Tweed Ranch 02.

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We are delighted to announce that Brooklyn Tweed’s newest yarn has arrived!

Meet Ranch 02, the second in Brooklyn Tweed’s series of ranch-specific, small-batch yarns.

Ranch 02 is a worsted weight, woolen-spun, limited edition, ranch-specific Rambouillet yarn, which means every fiber in these skeins was sourced from a single flock of sheep living on Forbes Ranch in Kaycee, Wyoming.

Brooklyn Tweed has always sought to highlight single breed wools and support US ranchers with sustainable environmental practices. This project allows them to shine a spotlight on the people and practices behind their yarns, one ranch at a time. You can learn more about Forbes Ranch from a lovely video produced by BT – it gives a good sense of the people who made this yarn possible.

After the wool was sourced at Forbes Ranch in Wyoming, scoured at Bollman Industries in Texas, and spun at Crescent Woolen Mill in Wisconsin, it traveled to Pennsylvania to be dyed at Caledonian Dye Works. The 10-color palette is inspired by the landscape of northern Wyoming, and the sheep that roam the land.

What to knit with Ranch 02? Anything that calls for Shelter, Ranch 01, or worsted weight yarn of any kind. Here are a few ideas from the BT archive, all available to purchase from Ravelry and many available in print here at the shop:

Looking beyond Brooklyn Tweed designs, here are a few other patterns that would be great for Ranch 02:

Jared Flood has also designed two new patterns especially for Ranch 02, a textured yoke pullover and a cabled hat. As a special treat, you can get a coupon for a free download of Flood’s “Tillage Hat” with any purchase of Ranch 02 here at our shop!

Look for Ranch 02 in the worsted weight section here at our shop while supplies last, and check out our full selection of Brooklyn Tweed yarns and patterns while you’re here. See you at the shop!