Shibui Sample of the Month: Torrent.

Posted by Julia on May 3, 2019

May is here, and with it, a new Shibui Sample of the Month! We offer a 10% discount on Shibui yarn purchased for our featured sample until the end of the month.

This month’s sample is “Torrent,” a textured triangular shawlette knit on the bias. The pattern is available for free when you buy Shibui Rain here at our shop.

It’s made with two skeins of Shibui Rain, a DK weight mercerized cotton unlike any mercerized cotton we’ve seen. Its silky lustre and chainette construction set it apart from more traditional plied cottons, adding a bit of elasticity where plant fibers typically have none.

Come by the shop to before May 26th to try on “Torrent” and get Shibui Rain at 10% off to make one of your own!

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

Hello, Cascade Ultra Pima Fine.

Posted by Julia on May 16, 2015

A new yarn has arrived at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop just in time for warm weather knitting and crochet! Meet Cascade Ultra Pima Fine.

We’ve kept Cascade Ultra Pima in stock for a few years now, a lustrous, machine-washable, mercerized cotton in a wide range of saturated colors. Ultra Pima is DK weight, and fittingly, Ultra Pima Fine is a lighter weight version of the same good stuff.

Each 50 gram skein of Ultra Pima Fine is about 136 yards long, and knits up at about 6 or 6.5 stitches per inch on a US #3 or #4 needle. Anne has been knitting a washcloth with Ultra Pima Fine as a shop sample, and reports that it’s well-behaved on the needles, not splitting as some cotton yarns do.

Washcloths aren’t all it’s good for, of course; easy-care cotton is a great fiber for knitting or crocheting baby and children’s things, warm weather garments for all ages, and market bags, to name a few. If you’re searching for Ultra Pima Fine patterns, start at the Cascade website, and from there, search Ravelry for sport weight patterns.

Look for Cascade Ultra Pima Fine in the sport weight section here at the shop!

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!