Hello, Malabrigo Mora.

Posted by Julia on August 22, 2015

Not long after our recent Malabrigo restock, we received another little box from Malabrigo. Say hello to their newest yarn, Mora.

Mora is a 2 ply fingering weight yarn composed of 100% silk, which explains its soft, smooth hand, and deeply saturated hand-dyed colors.

Each 50 gram skein has about 225 yards, enough for a small cowl, like Michele Wang’s “Pei” or Jo Strong’s “Irish Mesh Cowl.” Two skeins will make a shawlette, like Heidi Kirrmaier’s “Saltwater” or Kate Ray’s “Multnomah.”

Come by the shop to see these shimmering skeins for yourself, and plan a special project with Mora. See you there!

Back in stock: Swans Island Natural Colors Merino Fingering.

Posted by Julia on August 15, 2015

Swans Island Natural Colors Merino Fingering has been a favorite yarn from the moment it first arrived at the shop, back in 2011. It’s been so well-loved, in fact, that our basket of the stuff began to empty once again last month, leaving us with a paltry palette of just eight-or-so colors. Our recent Swans Island shipment remedied that, and how.

We added eleven colors on this order, filling the basket quite nicely, indeed.

The Natural Colors collection is so-named because its yarns are hand-dyed with plant-, mineral-, and insect-based natural dyes. One of those is indigo, used to create vivid blues, purples, and grays.

Indigo has a tendency to rub off with the abrasion of knitting or crocheting, and will turn your fingers blue as you work with it. It washes off with soap and water, and shouldn’t continue to rub off once the finished piece is washed and rinsed til the water runs clear. I wrote a blog post awhile back about what to expect from indigo-dyed yarns, and Swans Island marks their indigo-based colors with a little tag, explaining the same.

Over the years, we’ve seen glorious shawls and stunning sweaters made from this special yarn. It’s happy in stitch patterns from simple garter stitch to elegant lace, and one 525 yard skein goes a long way. For pattern inspiration, check out our Pinterest page online, or come to the shop to flip through the Swans Island pattern binder.

Look for Swans Island Natural Colors Merino Fingering in the fingering weight section of the shop. See you there!

Back in stock: Jitterbug.

Posted by Julia on August 4, 2015

Colinette Jitterbug is a longtime favorite here at the shop, a bouncy superwash merino wool in a fingering weight.

We were so delighted yesterday to fill the somewhat empty Jitterbug cubby with an armful of new colors, some semi-solid, some wildly variegated.

Jitterbug is great for socks, but over the years, we’ve seen it put to many other uses, like blankets and baby things, sweaters and shawls. Check out the “Fingering weight” board on the HYS Pinterest page for pattern ideas.

Look for Jitterbug in the fingering weight section at the shop! See you there.

New old Isager patterns.

Posted by Julia on June 28, 2015

We always place a big Isager order at TNNA, and this year our main cause was restocking Alpaca 2 and Tweed. While we were there, we learned that some old favorite patterns for Isager yarns had been rescued from their out-of-print status and rereleased as single patterns.

When it was published back in 2009, Grace Anna Farrow’s booklet The Fine Line was a big hit here at the shop, and we were disappointed when printing stopped. All the shawls in this unique collection call for Isager’s lace weight Spinni (sometimes called Wool 1), making inspiring use of the Isager color palette in stripes, chevrons, color blocks, and waves. Three of those patterns are back on our shelves: “Shale,” “Volt,” and “Dawn.”

We’ve seen several “Volt” shawls come and go, and I’ve managed to capture two in past show-and-tell posts. Here’s Natalie’s “Volt,” knit in Spinni.

Nancy knit her “Volt” in Isager Alpaca 2, a thicker yarn with more drape, due to the alpaca content.

Both of these yarn choices are absolutely beautiful and right for the pattern, and they’re not the only ones–imagine “Volt” in Isager Alpaca 1 or Tvinni, Shibui Cima or Staccato, Fibre Company Meadow or Baa Ram Ewe Titus, to name a few!

Helga Isager’s “Camomille” has been another popular pattern, from her now out-of-print Amimono 2010 booklet. Knit with Isager Tvinni and Alpaca 1, this striped shawl stole many a heart when it visited the shop during a trunk show in 2012.

Margie knit this version of “Camomille,” substituting Malabrigo Finito for Isager Tvinni.

We’re so happy that these four shawl patterns are available again, and living in our Isager pattern binder! Come by the shop to flip through that binder, where perhaps you’ll find your next project. See you there!

Araucania Ranco and Queensland Bebe Cotsoy: now on sale!

Posted by Julia on June 26, 2015

UPDATE: As of 4/22/2016, we are totally sold out of Araucania Ranco and Queensland Bebe Cotsoy!

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Two more discontinued yarns have moved to the Sale Trunk here at the shop: Araucania Ranco and Queensland Bebe Cotsoy. Lovely yarns, both, but since they’re no longer manufactured, we’re offering them now at a deep discount of about 30% off their original price!

Araucania Ranco is a fingering weight yarn from Chile, hand-dyed in variegated and semi-solid colorways.

It’s composed of 75% wool and 25% nylon, and though that nylon makes it nice and sturdy for socks, it’s still a hand-wash-only yarn, as the wool is not superwash. Also consider Ranco for shawls and scarves, mitts and lightweight hats. In some colors, we may even have sweater quantities.

Queensland Bebe Cotsoy is a worsted weight blend of cotton and soy.

Soft, smooth, and machine-washable, Bebe Cotsoy is ideal for baby sweaters and blankets.

Though we’re sad to see good yarns go, we love sharing them with you at a discounted price. Come by to pick up some Ranco and Bebe Cotsoy at a great price before they disappear!

A reminder: all sales are final on discounted yarn. There can be no returns or exchanges, nor special orders–the discount applies only to what we currently have in stock. Thanks!

New colors in Vivacious 4ply.

Posted by Julia on June 16, 2015

We received a lovely bundle from Fyberspates last week, bursting with bags of their Vivacious 4ply yarn. Vivacious 4ply is a high twist, superwash merino wool in a fingering weight. Though we just started stocking this yarn in February, a reorder was already necessary, and their newest shades tempted us, too.

Each 100 gram skein has 399 yards, enough for a pair of socks or mitts, a hat, scarf, or shawlette. Vivacious 4ply is hand-dyed, so each skein is unique, even from the same dye-lot; remember you can alternate skeins to blend hand-dyed yarns in larger projects.

We were also delighted to see these two new books from Fyberspates. Vivacious Kids is a collection of garments and accessories for children ages 2-10, a range for which it is sometimes surprisingly hard to find knitwear designs. CoopKnits Socks Vol. 2 is a pleasing and diverse collection of sock patterns, from the simple to the ornate.

Look for Vivacious 4ply in the fingering weight section of the shop!

More and more new colors in Shetland Spindrift.

Posted by Julia on April 13, 2015

It’s been about a year since I last wrote about Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift here on the blog. Our little basket of Shetland Spindrift has grown over the past year, as interest in the yarn and in colorwork knitting has grown here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop.

Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift is a classic fingering weight 2-ply shetland wool. It comes in little 25 gram balls to accommodate fair-isle knitters and their many-colored projects, for they don’t always need much yardage in any one shade.

Shetland Spindrift comes in 200+ colors, and though we can’t have them all in stock, we’re more than happy to order whatever colors you like, in whatever quantity.

We’ve expanded our selection of colors one special request at a time, and now I associate these shades with particular knitters and their projects: a palette of undyed shades for a “Sheep Heid” tam, rich blues and greens to recreate a favorite striped sweater, a few bright shades to perk up a growing stash of Shetland wool for colorwork knitting, autumnal rusts and mossy greens for a series of slip-stitch scarves, and so on.

We’ve seen lots of finished projects in Shetland Spindrift, too. Here’s Ruth in her “Mitered Cardigan,” from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knit One, Knit All. With guidance from Nancy during last year’s class on the subject, Ruth knit this unusually-constructed cardigan in record time for such a fine gauge yarn.

One of Shetland Spindrift’s many lovely qualities is the structure it brings to knitted fabric, which is critical for a good-sized garment mostly in garter stitch. I’m certain Ruth’s sweater will look as lovely years from now as it does in this photo.

Here’s my “Puffin,” from Kate Davies’ Colours of Shetland, a sweater that you’ve likely seen on my person if you’ve been by the shop in the past several months. I loved knitting it, love wearing it, and anticipate making another Kate Davies sweater with Shetland Spindrift sometime soon.

Amy brought in her “First Footing,” an elaborate pair of colorwork socks designed by Kate Davies. This half of the pair is currently on display at the shop, so you can get a good look at it while you browse our baskets of Shetland Spindrift.

I know there’s plenty of Shetland Spindrift out there on the needles; we’d love to see what you’re making with it! Come by the shop to share your progress and plan your next project. See you there!

Baa Ram Ewe Trunk Show!

Posted by Julia on April 3, 2015

We’re delighted to be hosting a Baa Ram Ewe Trunk Show, featuring garments from Rachel Coopey’s Coop Knits Toasty Vol. 1!

All of these accessories are knit with Baa Ram Ewe Titus, a fingering weight blend of alpaca, Wensleydale, and Bluefaced Leicester wools, sourced and spun entirely in the UK.

This collection shows how well Titus behaves in a variety of stitch patterns, from smooth stranded colorwork to texture patterns, cables, and lace.

Come by the shop during April to admire the Baa Ram Ewe Trunk Show and pick out a few skeins of Titus for your next project!

Hello, MJ Opulent Fingering.

Posted by Julia on March 31, 2015

Another new yarn has found its way to the shop this Spring: meet MJ Opulent Fingering.

Based in Lafayette, Colorado, MJ Yarns specializes in variegated and semi-solid colorways, with short color runs to minimize pooling.

Opulent Fingering is a tightly-plied blend of 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon, with 416 yards on each 100 gram skein. It’s perfect for a special pair of socks, a cowl, shawl, or pair of mitts.

MJ Yarns offers a selection of free patterns on their website; consider also the “Willow Cowl,” “Starshower” cowl, and “Multnomah” shawlette, all of which are well-suited to variegated fingering weight yarns. Look for more pattern inspiration on the “Fingering weight” board on the HYS Pinterest page. See you at the shop!

New colors in Titus.

Posted by Julia on March 22, 2015

We’re delighted to announce the recent arrival of three new colors in Baa Ram Ewe Titus!

Titus is a fingering weight blend of alpaca, Wensleydale, and Bluefaced Leicester wools, sourced and spun entirely in the UK.

We’re proud to have been the first US stockist of the stuff, back in 2012 when it came in just one color.

Since then, Titus has been warmly embraced by knitters, crocheters, and weavers all over the world, and the palette has expanded considerably.

We have three sample garments knit in Titus at the shop, which hint at the many possibilities for this special yarn: “Baht ‘At,” a pair of intricately cabled fingerless mitts, “Color Affection,” a three-color garter stitch shawl, and “Northallerton,” a slouchy colorwork hat. Titus is happy at a range of gauges, depending upon how dense a fabric you’re after, and upon the kind of garment you’re making.

For more pattern ideas, check out Coop Knits Toasty Vol. One, Kate Davies’ “Paper Dolls” and “Catkin,” Kirsten Kapur’s “Minetta,” and Carol Feller’s “Titus Adrift.” Also follow us on Pinterest, where I recently sorted the patterns and projects by gauge, just like the yarns at our shop. Check out the “Fingering weight” board for plenty of ways to use Titus, then come by the shop to plan your next project!