Show and tell: toys.

Posted by Julia on September 19, 2017

Every day, we are greeted by knitters and crocheters starting new projects, stopping by for yarns, tools, patterns, and inspiration. Many of them also come in with projects they’ve just finished, which is something really special to see; what was once just an idea is now realized. When folks are willing and I’m able, I like to take pictures of these completed projects to share with you here on the blog, and I have a gracious plenty waiting to be featured. Today, let’s look at some of the most charismatic of the bunch: toys!

Margie knit this “Opal Sock Yarn Bunny” for a friend’s first great-grandchild, with enough yarn leftover for a matching hat. I snapped the photo above when she brought the pair in for show-and-tell, but she sent along a better one when her gifts reached their sweet recipient.

Emily knit “Heroic Herschel” for her son as a birthday gift. Knit with three bright shades of Berroco Ultra Wool, Herschel is soft and machine washable.

This hippo has so much personality, and is clearly beloved by both knitter and recipient, which is one of the wonderful things about toy-making – these gifts are always received with delight!

Mary has gotten into crocheted creatures, starting with this goat in Ewe So Sporty, a soft superwash merino yarn from Ewe Ewe. The pattern is from Crochet a Farm, by Megan Kreiner.

After goats came turtles, from Kreiner’s Bathtime Buddies; Mary crocheted one in Ewe So Sporty, then two more using Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift held doubled.

She made a manatee with Wooly Worsted, too, and each of these creatures only makes her want to do more. Can’t wait to see what’s next!

Thanks to everyone who shares their projects and ideas with us here at the shop, we love seeing what you’re making! Keep an eye out for more show and tell here on the blog soon.

Show and tell: colorwork.

Posted by Julia on December 23, 2016

We love to see finished projects that started life as yarn on our shelves, and when I’m able, I love to photograph them and share them here on the blog. I noticed a theme running through my current stash of show-and-tell photos: colorwork. I’m defining that term broadly to include stripes, colorblocks, stranded knitting and intarsia – all the myriad methods for changing colors as you knit.

We’ll begin with Margie, who brought two special pieces in for us to see, both designed by Kieran Foley. Above is “Lotus Crescent,” a unique shawl bursting with techniques from lace to stranded knitting to intarsia – sometimes all three in the space of one row! Margie used Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift for this one, eager to play with the large color palette.

Kieran Foley’s patterns are not for the faint of heart, but Margie persevered. Below is her “Zanzibar” scarf, knit with Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball and a variety of fingering weight scraps.

Loretta knit Melanie Berg’s “Drachenfels” shawl with three shades of Fibre Company Cumbria Fingering, a yarn she’s since used for mittens and has come to love.

This adorable “Pandamonium” hat was Wanda’s first attempt at stranded knitting, and she did a great job! The yarn is Rowan Pure Wool Superwash DK, and she came back for more to make another colorwork hat, encouraged by the success of this one.

Margaretta knit this “3 Color Cashmere Cowl” with Fibre Company Canopy Fingering in a most appealing trio of colors: two greens and a dark charcoal. It was a beautiful combination when I first saw it as three skeins of yarn, only to grow more beautiful as Margaretta stitched them into a cozy cowl.

Ruth knit the “Dreambird” shawl below using Schoppel-Wolle Starke 6 and Swans Island Natural Colors Merino Fingering, with help from a class on the subject here at the shop. The pairing of a self-striping yarn with a semi-solid hand-dyed yarn is a striking one for this pattern, perfect for showing off the short-row shaping.

Thanks to the knitters, crocheters, and weavers who bring in their work to show us what they’ve made! You inspire and amaze us, and we can’t wait to see what you get into next. Hope to see you at the shop soon, but do note our holiday hours, which are always posted on the main page of our website:

Saturday, Dec. 24: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Sunday, Dec. 25: closed

Saturday, Dec. 31st: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Sunday, Jan. 1st, 2017: closed

Show and tell: for grown-ups.

Posted by Julia on November 23, 2016

I’m back with another round of show-and-tell, this time for the grown-ups among us.

Kellie has been busy crocheting “Artfully Simple Infinity Scarves” with Noro Silk Garden Lite. She reports that the pattern is as easy as its title suggests, but that it’s endlessly entertaining, especially with colorful self-striping yarns like these.

They’re long enough to be worn doubled, as shown above, but short enough to hang around one’s neck simply, as shown below; either way makes an eye-catching accessory.

Margie’s needles are always busy, and she’s so prolific a knitter that these finished projects are already well behind her. Still, they bear sharing: above is her “Inverness Cape,” knit in Berroco Ultra Alpaca, and below is her “Escher Poncho,” knit in Malabrigo Rios, with a bit of Fibre Company Cumbria Worsted around the edge.

And there’s more: here’s Margie’s third “ZickZack Scarf,” knit with Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball and Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace held doubled throughout.

Catherine knit this beautiful “On the Spice Market” with Shibui Staccato, a merino/silk blend that has the perfect drape and luster for this shawl.

She carefully chose colors inspired by those shown in the pattern photo, with a few adjustments to make it her own.

Here’s another Melanie Berg pattern, “Sunwalker,” knit by Emma with the brand new Isager Merilin. This is a shawl that the photo doesn’t do justice, as it’s the texture and hand of the fabric that stood out most to me; shawl-knitters, consider Merilin when fingering weight yarn is called for!

Below is Amy’s “Copenhagen Hood,” a quick cozy accessory knit in Fibre Company Tundra, living temporarily at the shop as a sample for her upcoming class on the subject. There are still spaces in her class, if you’d like to join and knit a hood of your own…sign up on our website!

Joanne knit this “Rise” hat with Shibui Drift and Silk Cloud held together, and was so pleased with it that she came back for more yarn to knit one for her husband. I understand the appeal, seeing how well this came out! I can hardly imagine a softer yarn combination, truly.

Nancy knit this “Flowers of Life” pullover for her husband, using a beautiful palette of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift in an intricate all-over fair isle pattern. She’s graciously left it at the shop for a few weeks for all to see and admire; come in soon to see this knitted work of art!

Joanne also has some Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift show and tell: a “Beginner’s Fair Isle Cap,” her first-ever colorwork project. With guidance from Nancy, she selected this color combination and arranged the colors within the motif for a unique accesory.

Thanks again to the knitters and crocheters who share their work with us. We feel lucky to play a part in your creative pursuits, and look forward to seeing the projects you plan!

Interweave Knits.

Posted by Julia on August 7, 2016

The 20th Anniversary issue of Interweave Knits is here!

This Fall 2016 issue is packed with cozy sweaters, and many of them are knit in yarns we carry here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. The colorwork sweater below was knit in one of my personal favorites, Swans Island All American Sport.

Not only is the “Comanche Hill Cardigan” knit in a familiar yarn, it was also designed by a familiar knitter, Kathryn Folkerth. Though she now lives in Tanzania, Kathryn is a HYS regular when she’s in town, and we’re so excited to see her work in Interweave!

Flipping through this issue, I saw more of my personal favorites: Fibre Company Cumbria Worsted in the “Rawah Pullover” above, Baa Ram Ewe Dovestone DK in the “Calder Pullover” below, Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift in the fair isle “Fall River Vest” … yes, this issue is dedicated to wooly, toothy sweater yarns!

Mary Jane Mucklestone’s article on steeking is a good introduction to the subject of cutting your knitted fabric, a technique often used in colorwork cardigans and vests.

Look for Interweave Knits on the teacart here at the shop, tucked in with the latest books and magazines. See you there!

A new kind of color card.

Posted by Julia on February 27, 2016

By now, you likely know how we feel about Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift: how perfectly suited it is for colorwork knitting, the vast selection of colors, and my fondness for knitting sweaters with it, in spite of–nay, because of!–its rustic texture.

I’ve loved watching our one little basket of Shetland Spindrift grow into three over the years, as more and more knitters work with this classic yarn and ask for more and more colors. We are only too happy to oblige!

Anne recently ordered a set of Shetland Spindrift mini-skeins, one in each available color. We’re not selling these mini-skeins; rather, they’ll live here at the shop and function as a kind of interactive color card.

We can’t keep all 200+ colors in stock, so we keep the Jamieson’s color card on hand to give you a sense of all that’s available for special order.

While the regular color card is a thing of beauty, and very useful indeed, one gets a better sense of any given color when one can see more of it. You may love that heathered green when you see just a little sliver of it, but find that en masse, it’s just a little too yellow for you. The mini-skeins are small, but they’re still bigger than the snippets on the color card, so when you’re picking out a color that we don’t have in stock, ask for the mini-skeins and get a bigger picture before you place your order.

The other nice thing about the mini-skeins is that you can move them around, line up the five colors you need for your colorwork tam or striped vest and see how they look together.

Here’s an example from Kate Davies’ Colours of Shetland, a book I often flip through, daydreaming about sweaters like this “Ursula Cardigan.” First I pulled a set of mini-skeins that resemble what’s shown in the pattern, just to see how they relate to one another. From there, I began playing with alternate colorways, making a couple with a gradient-like trio of contrast colors, and many more that my camera didn’t capture.

This is a very fun game to play, indeed. Next time you’re planning a colorful project in Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, let us pull out the mini-skeins so you can play, too!