Hello, UKI Supreme weaving yarns.

Posted by Julia on January 6, 2015

We’re happy to announce that we now carry two cotton yarns for weaving from UKI Supreme Corporation, based in Hickory, North Carolina.

With guidance from weavers, we selected a mercerized cotton yarn in two weights: 10/2 and 5/2, each in 6 oz mini-cones.

The 10/2 is the thinner of the two, with ~1575 yards per mini-cone, making it a very fine lace weight. It comes on red cones, to distinguish it from the thicker but otherwise very similar-looking 5/2 mercerized cotton.

The 5/2 mercerized cotton has ~787 yards per mini-cone, making it a light fingering weight. It can be easily identified by its blue cones.

Weavers might use yarns like these for placemats, napkins, and other fabric-making; crocheters might use them for intricate doilies and other fine stitching. Planning a big project? Both yarns come in 1 lb cones as well, and we’re happy to special order them for you; come by the shop to see the 100+ available colors on our UKI Supreme color-cards.

We’ve so appreciated hearing feedback from weavers about your favorite books and yarns, the kinds of looms you’re using, and your enthusiasm for buying weaving supplies locally. We have so much to learn about this craft, and we welcome your input. What do you like to work with, and what would you most like to see on our shelves? We’re so looking forward to seeing woven projects in these Supreme cotton yarns; come by to see them for yourself and tell us what you’re dreaming up!

Back in stock: Jitterbug.

Posted by Julia on November 14, 2014

Yesterday we unpacked a big box from Colinette Yarns, stuffed full of Jitterbug.

Colinette ships their yarns to us in wild bunches of untwisted hanks, making for a dramatic entrance. From there, we twist them up into the hanks you see on our shelves.

Jitterbug is one of my favorite sock yarns, a tightly-plied superwash merino that’s hand-dyed in a range of semi-solid and variegated colorways. Anne is a big fan of Jitterbug, too, though she’s used it for larger garments, like sweaters and vests.

Jitterbug is equally well-suited to baby things, being machine-washable and brightly-colored. I found a ton of adorable “Baby Surprise Jackets” knit in Jitterbug on Ravelry, along with “Little Sister’s Dresses,” “Garter Stitch Baby Kimonos,” and “Saartje’s Bootees.”

Head to the HYS Pinterest page to see more projects and patterns for Jitterbug, and head to the shop to see the yarn for yourself!

New Isager books.

Posted by Julia on October 30, 2014

Along with new yarn from Isager, we also got two new books!

Isager is a Danish yarn company run by designer Marianne Isager and her daughter, Helga Isager. We always look forward to seeing new patterns for Isager yarns, especially from the Isagers themselves.

Spring Summer Autumn Winter is Marianne Isager’s latest collection, featuring a sweater for each season, along with a few simple accessories.

Each of the accessory patterns calls for Isager Alpaca 1 and Spinni held together, creating a unique fiber blend and a rustic marled colorway.

Helga Isager’s latest book is Amimono: the Map Collection.

Inside, you’ll find a mix of garments and accessories, many of which use the same yarn-blending technique.

The “Shetland Cowl” caught my eye, with its simple triangle texture pattern and elegant fibers. The pattern calls for Isager Alpaca 2 held together with a mohair/silk blend, which immediately brought Shibui Silk Cloud to mind.

Incidentally, the Isager and Shibui color palettes are quite compatible; I found plenty of good matches, more than one blog post can easily hold.

Come by the shop to peruse these new pattern collections and the many Isager yarns we carry. See you there!

Hello, Isager Tweed.

Posted by Julia on October 27, 2014

Last week, we welcomed our newest fall yarn: meet Isager Tweed!

Isager Tweed is a fingering weight, single-ply yarn composed of 70% wool and 30% mohair, with 220 yards on each 50 gram skein. Like any classic tweed, the colors read roughly solid from a distance, but on closer inspection, are speckled with contrasting colors.

Anne and I took a long time deciding what we should make with Isager Tweed. It would make a great pair of “Twigs and Willows Mitts” from Botanical Knits 2, a handsome “Barclay” scarf, or a sweet “Rustling Leaves Beret.” I’d love to see an “Aranami Shawl” in five shades of Isager Tweed, too. Ultimately, we were most inspired paging through patterns for Brooklyn Tweed Loft on Ravelry, a treasure trove of fingering weight knits. “Seasons Hat,” “Norby,” “Wheaten,” “Arrowhead Mittens,” “Ticking Cowl” … this is a Ravelry rabbit-hole we’ve gone down oh so many times.

Anne settled on Bristol Ivy’s “Bayard,” pairing Isager Tweed with Isager Alpaca 2, and that striped hat is on her Addi needles now.

Though these two yarns differ in fiber content, ply, and appearance, they are similar in gauge. Most importantly, they share that special Isager color palette, making the Tweed-and-Alpaca-2 color-pairing game especially good fun.

I found equally compelling color combinations when I limited myself to the Isager Tweed basket.

Come by the shop to see Isager Tweed, admire Anne’s hat-in-progress, and plan your next project! See you there.

New from Cascade.

Posted by Julia on October 21, 2014

A couple of weeks ago, back when our big Berroco order arrived, an equally big box from Cascade showed up. Inside were some yarns and colors that needed restocking, and a few new things, too.

Highland Duo is an aran weight blend of alpaca and merino spun into a soft, fuzzy, single-ply yarn. Anne picked this palette, a range of neutrals with a pop of red–perfect for winter wear.

We also got these four new colors of Cascade 220 Fingering, heathered shades that fill out our existing selection nicely.

Cascade 220 Fingering is an affordable 2-ply wool in a fingering weight, well-suited to colorwork, shawls, garments and accessories. Head over to Ravelry for all kinds of pattern inspiration for this yarn, and come by the shop to pick some up for your next project!

See you at the shop!

Back in stock: Ultra Alpaca and Ultra Alpaca Fine.

Posted by Julia on September 30, 2014

These mighty big boxes arrived from Berroco last week, with over 30 pounds of Ultra Alpaca yarns in each one. New colors made up some of the weight, as did some old favorites; the rest was a new yarn entirely, but that’s for another post. The unpacking, sorting, storing, and displaying took Anne and I most of a day!

Good old Ultra Alpaca. This 50%/50% blend of wool and alpaca is a classic, with the structure and elasticity of wool and the drape, halo, and softness of alpaca.

It comes in reasonably-priced, 100 gram hanks with 219 yards each; enough yarn to make a small scarf, a hat, or a pair of mittens. Ultra Alpaca comes in a wide range of colors, from fun brights to classic neutrals; I’ve always particularly admired the heathered shades.

Ultra Alpaca is a great sweater yarn, too, as Mindy here can attest. A bit of show and tell: Mindy came in the other day, having heard about our big Berroco shipment, to show off her very first sweater, knit during a “Start Your First Sweater” class here at the shop. She used Ultra Alpaca in a heathered charcoal and a friendly top-down seamless cardigan pattern from our pattern binder. Look at the fabulous result!

We also got new colors in Ultra Alpaca Fine, a fingering weight blend of wool, alpaca, and nylon. Its fiber content and gauge suggest socks, but Ultra Alpaca Fine is equally at home in larger garments, and especially shines in openwork scarves and shawls.

The alpaca content gives it a bit of a fuzzy halo, something to keep in mind if you’re planning a project that requires sharp stitch definition–those fuzzy fibers can obscure delicate texture patterns a bit. That said, those fuzzy fibers also give the finished fabric softness and warmth.

Come by the shop to see all the new colors in Berroco Ultra Alpaca and Ultra Alpaca Fine, and keep them in mind for sweater, sock, and shawl-making this fall. Stay tuned for the newest Berroco yarn, or come by the shop to see it before it hits the blog!

New colors in Titus Shades.

Posted by Julia on September 16, 2014

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

Titus Shades 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 now comes in no less than 11 glorious shades.

With new colors comes a new pattern collection: Coop Knits Toasty Vol. 1, by Rachel Coopey, featuring accessories of all kinds knit in Titus Shades.

Coopey’s designs use a variety of techniques that show how versatile Titus is. It shines in cables, lace, texture patterns, and stranded colorwork, behaves nicely at a range of gauges.

Rosi has been knitting a sample “Northallerton” hat from this collection, using all three new shades together.

Come by the shop to flip through Toasty, see Rosi’s hat-in-progress and my “Color Affection”–also knit with three shades of Titus. Consider this special yarn for your next project!

Back in stock: String Theory sock yarns.

Posted by Julia on September 12, 2014

Our supply of String Theory sock yarns has been getting dangerously low, a problem we’re always thrilled to correct because it means picking out colors! Karen Grover and Tanis Williams, the amazing dyers at String Theory, create so many delightful, memorable colorways. Many of them have become favorites that we must order if they’re available, but we always love to see new colors, too. Our most recent order brought some of both.

Bluestocking is a lustrous sock yarn, composed of 80% superwash Bluefaced Leicester wool and 20% nylon, for durability. I’ve tested its durability with my own two feet, having knit a pair of socks with a skein of Bluestocking back in 2012. They’ve survived two winters of frequent wear and are still going strong.

Anne has worked with Bluestocking, too, and came back to it for a new project this past week. Her sweet three-year-old grandson recently visited the shop for a quick hug and hello. Anne pointed to the String Theory cubby and said, “You can pick any color you like, and I’ll make you a pair of socks.” Purple it is!

String Theory’s other sock yarn, Caper Sock, is a plump and springy blend of 80% superwash merino wool, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon.

The tight twist and the nylon content ensures that Caper Sock is sturdy enough to withstand the kind of wear that socks put up with, but it’s great for other garments, as well. My “North Arrow” scarf in Caper Sock is on display at the shop, so you can feel for yourself how nicely it knits up.

Come by the shop to dig into the String Theory cubby yourself! See you there.

Back in stock: Misti Alpaca sock yarns.

Posted by Julia on September 8, 2014

It’s rare that we run completely out of a yarn before reordering, but such was the case with Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock Yarn. By the time we made it to TNNA to place our Fall order, not one skein of the stuff remained on our shelves, so we picked a whole new color palette.

Along with the whimsical variegated colorways of Hand Paint Sock Yarn, we were drawn to Misti’s Tonos Carnaval. Both fingering weight yarns are composed of 50% alpaca, 30% merino, 10% silk, and 10% nylon for durability, but Tonos Carnaval is dyed in semi-solid colorways.

Mulling over the color-cards together at market, Anne, Rosi, and I decided that these two yarns were meant to be together. It’s easy to pair up solid colors with variegated, as many of the solid shades can be found within the multicolored skeins. For these photos, I picked two shades of Tonos Carnaval, either one of which pairs nicely with the Hand Paint Sock Yarn in the center.

Consider patterns like “Spectra,” “Daybreak,” “Andrea’s Shawl,” “Nymphalidea,” and “Color Affection.” These are all designs that lend themselves to a combination of solid and variegated colors.

Remember these Misti Alpaca sock yarns the next time a pattern you love calls for fingering weight yarn, and come by the shop to pair these colors up for your next project. See you there!

Back in stock: Mountain Colors Bearfoot.

Posted by Julia on September 3, 2014

We just got a new batch of Mountain Colors Bearfoot!

Bearfoot is a fingering weight blend of wool, mohair, and nylon that is well-suited to sock-knitting, among other things. One 400 yard skein is enough for a pair of socks, gloves, or fingerless mitts, a hat, scarf, or small shawlette. A Ravelry search turned up plenty of pretty “Hitchhiker,” “Traveling Woman,” and “Ishbel” shawls made in Bearfoot.

As I wrote last year, Bearfoot asks to be hand-washed with a bit of vinegar to prevent the bleeding that sometimes comes with richly saturated colors like these, and then as now, I think this special treatment is not too much to ask. Hand-knit socks are special, and will last longer and wear better if cared for as such.

Come by the shop to pick up a skein or two or Bearfoot for your next project!