Color Affection.

Posted by Julia on June 28, 2013

On the drive back from TNNA, I finished knitting Color Affection, a shawl made in three shades of Titus.

Many of you have probably run into this pattern before. Maybe you’ve made one yourself, or one of your friends has made one, or maybe you’ve perused the 9,300+ Color Affections on Ravelry. It’s an asymmetric, crescent-shaped shawl in lace or fingering weight yarn, knit all in garter stitch stripes. Increases and short rows create the curvy shape, and much of the pleasure of knitting it is in seeing how the colors play together.

Titus, a fingering weight blend of Wensleydale and Bluefaced Leicester wools and British Alpaca, is fuzzy and creates a gently draping fabric at this loose gauge, a perfect match for Color Affection. The pattern, written by designer Veera Valimaki, calls for 385 yards of each color; each skein of Titus has only 350 yards, but I decided to try it with one skein of each anyway, and cross my fingers that I had enough to complete the shawl as written. Luckily, I finished with yarn to spare.

At the shop, you’ll find this Color Affection hanging on the wall below Wingspan. Come by to try it on for size, admire Titus, and plan a Color Affection of your own. If there’s not a color combination in Titus that wins your affection, consider Isager Alpaca 2, Swans Island Organic Merino Fingering, or Sincere Sheep Equity Fingering. See you at the shop!

Titus Shades.

Posted by Julia on May 27, 2013

Titus, a fingering weight yarn from British company Baa Ram Ewe, has been a hit since it first arrived at the shop in December. At that time, it came in only one color, an oatmealy tan the natural shade of the alpaca, Wensleydale, and Bluefaced Leicester wool it’s made of. A few months later, Titus Light and Dark became available, two new natural shades. On Friday, we were delighted to receive Baa Ram Ewe’s latest creation, a shipment of eight brand new colors: Titus Shades.

Each color is inspired by and named for some aspect of the Yorkshire landscape or culture: a deep, warm orange is called Parkin, a ginger and black treacle cake; a cool, pale blue is named Aire for the river that flows through Yorkshire’s traditional woollen district; a glistening white is called White Rose, for the flower on the Yorkshire flag.

These new shades fill out the Titus palette quite nicely, expanding the range of neutral colors beyond even those initial three.

A lovely knitter we know, Margaretta, has been working on a Color Affection shawl in the three original shades of Titus; here’s a sliver of her shawl-in-progress, still on the needles.

I thought of Color Affection as I was photographing the new Titus Shades, and couldn’t keep myself from arranging them into groups of three that I thought would make nice Color Affection combinations.

When Anne gave me the enviable task of creating a shop sample with Titus Shades, we brainstormed for a long time. Would stripes or stranded colorwork be the best way to show off these new colors? What kind of garment should it be? We finally decided on a lacy, striped cowl, and I got as far as casting on for that cowl when Margaretta came in to see Titus Shades with her Color-Affection-to-be in hand. At that slightly open gauge, Titus posseses the “drape and softness of a sleeping cat,” to borrow a phrase from Clara Parkes. Anne and I agreed that I really ought to be knitting Color Affection, and I ripped out my cast-on to begin again. I’m now a handful of rows into it, enjoying every stitch.

Come by the shop to see Titus in all its glorious hues, and to pick a color combination of your own. There are so many wonderful two- and three-color shawls that call for fingering weight yarn, and Titus is a perfect candidate. See you at the shop!

Shawls and seamless knitting: two new books.

Posted by Julia on May 20, 2013

Last week, we received two brand new books from Interweave: The Art of Seamless Knitting and Free Spirit Shawls.

The Art of Seamless Knitting, by Simona Merchant-Dest and Faina Goberstein, offers patterns, techniques, and tips for creating garments without seams.

Many knitters love knitting sweaters seamlessly from the top down or bottom up, and this book shows how to bring more intricate patterning to garments like those.

Along with plenty of good-looking seamless sweater patterns, this book offers guidance on how to include cable, lace, and texture patterns in seamless garments.

Lisa Shroyer’s Free Spirit Shawls has all kinds of shawl patterns in many shapes and gauges. Paging through it, I saw a few familiar yarns put to good use. Here’s a simple triangular shawl that shows off the delightful stripes in Schoppel-Wolle’s Zauberball yarn.

This 2-color kerchief makes the most of high-contrast colorways in Claudia Handpainted Yarns’ fingering weight merino yarn.

This cozy shawl is shaped with short rows, and knit with good old Berroco Ultra Alpaca, a worsted weight blend of wool and alpaca.

Come by the shop to check out these and other new books. See you there!

Hello, Yarn Hollow.

Posted by Julia on February 15, 2013

We are delighted to announce that we now carry Photograph, a yarn from Yarn Hollow.

Yarn Hollow is a yarn company that has grown from one dyer in her garage to a three-person hand-dyeing operation out of Grandville, Michigan. Yarn Hollow has a variety of yarn bases and a palette of colorways that can be applied to any base yarn. Back in June, at TNNA, we got a kit for the Range Wrap featuring Yarn Hollow’s Photograph, a worsted weight yarn made of 100% bluefaced leicester wool. Initially, it was the Jul closures used to fasten the Range wrap that caught our eye. Then we got our hands on the yarn, and it was clear that Photograph had to have a home at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. The bluefaced leicester drapes beautifully, but maintains a good deal of springiness, with some fuzziness and lustre to boot.

The Range Wrap is an asymmetrical shawl of sorts, made of two triangles that meet at a point, making a shape almost like a pair of wings. It’s simple to knit, and can be worn in a variety of ways with the help of Jul’s French Curve closures or Floral Pedestal Button closures.

We now have Range Wrap kits in four colorways (the colorway of our sample, and the three shown below), each of which comes with the pattern and an HYS zip case. We left the closures out of the kit so you could choose your own, and we also got a few extra patterns in case you want to pick different colors or yarn for your Range Wrap.

We also got three colors of Photograph in greater quantities outside the kits, for those of you who want to use this yarn in other projects, like accessories or sweaters.

Come by the shop to see Yarn Hollow’s Photograph, and to admire and try on the Range Wrap. We hope you love this yarn as much as we do!

Volt.

Posted by Julia on January 7, 2013

Next time you come by the shop, keep an eye out for a new knit sample: a completed Volt shawl, lent to us by Nancy, who just finished teaching a class on the subject.

Volt is a chevron-striped shawl framed by attached i-cord. The pattern is from Grace Anna Farrow’s collection, The Fine Line, which is sadly out of print (but still available as an ebook!). The pattern calls for Isager Spinni, a lace weight single ply wool which creates a lightweight but sturdy fabric. Having already worked with Spinni, Nancy wanted to make her Volt in another Isager yarn, the ever popular Alpaca 2. A fingering weight blend of alpaca and merino, Alpaca 2 makes for a slightly heavier shawl with fabulous drape and indulgent softness.

Look for it hanging by the sofa, and consider Volt when you’re seeking an unusual knit shawl pattern. The Fine Line is full of them, all making great use of the Isager color palette. See you at the shop!

A new color from Swans Island.

Posted by Julia on December 15, 2012

Last month’s Swans Island Trunk Show inspired many knitters to create garments with Swans Island’s organic merino wool yarns, which put quite a dent in our supply of the stuff. Last week, we placed an order of Swans Island Organic Merino Fingering in some of the most-loved colorways to replenish our stash: Fig, Winterberry, Oatmeal, Beetroot, Early Thyme, and several other deliciously-named colors. We also got the last bag of Sugar Maple, a limited edition color for Fall, and a first bag of this winter’s Limited Edition Dyer’s Choice: Reindeer Moss.

Reindeer Moss is a lovely, muted sage, which puts it somewhere between Early Thyme and Tarragon in terms of color value.

We also restocked the patterns that were most popular during the Trunk Show, some of which call for Swans Island Worsted, and some of which call for the Fingering.

Come by the shop to see Reindeer Moss in person, and give the Swans Island yarns a good squeeze. See you there!

Quaking Aspen shawl.

Posted by Julia on November 26, 2012

I wrote a few days ago about a new yarn in the shop, the Fibre Company’s Acadia, and mentioned a shawl in the making with said yarn. I’m back now to report that the Quaking Aspen shawl is blocked and sitting happily in a basket at the shop with Acadia. Have a look.

The Quaking Aspen shawl is knit from the top down, with a garter stitch body, stripes, and a lace border. The Acadia, a dk weight blend of alpaca, merino wool, and silk, was very well-behaved in blocking, and drapes beautifully.

It’s available as a free download from the Fibre Company, so get yourself a copy of the pattern and then come by the shop to pair colors.

See you at the shop!

Socks and shawls: show and tell.

Posted by Julia on August 23, 2012

I’ve collected a lot of good pictures for show and tell over the past week or two, and they divided themselves nicely into two categories: socks and shawls. Let’s begin with socks.

Above, Sharon models her first completed pair of socks, made in a self-patterning sock yarn that miraculously lined up perfectly to make a matching pair.

Jessica has also recently finished her first pair of socks–the hot pink pair, in Malabrigo Sock yarn–and has started several others, for her mother and sister. Jessica and Sharon are both graduates of Marion’s class on Magic Loop Socks from the Toe Up. There are still spaces in the upcoming session, so if you’re looking to get started knitting socks on one long circular needle, check your schedule and sign up now!

A couple of weeks ago, Rosa came in with some friends and sat working quietly on this exquisite colorwork shawl. She’s knitting it in the round, and plans to steek it–cut it open–so that it will lie flat in a large triangular shape. These crayon-bright colors look particularly stunning against a plain black background. I can’t wait to see the finished project!

Speaking of finished projects, here’s Rebecca’s Color Affection shawl in Isager Plant Fibre yarn, which drapes beautifully at this gauge. As a lover of neutral colors, I particularly like this color combination, and the gradation of light to dark from the top of the shawl to the bottom edge.

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your incredible creations with us!

An Isager shipment. Part 1.

Posted by Julia on August 11, 2012

As I’ve written here before, Theresa Gaffey’s Stole from the book Wearwithall has been a popular project at the shop lately. Gaffey’s design is beautiful in its simplicity, allowing knitters to relax and let the exquisite yarn do the talking.

The yarn is Isager Alpaca 2, a fingering weight blend of merino wool and alpaca. Only two weeks into our inventory sale, we were completely sold out of Wearwithall and very nearly sold out of Alpaca 2. I’m happy to announce that both are now back in stock. To all who were interested in making the Stole your next project: come and get it!

You can find Wearwithall and Isager Alpaca 2 in the Fingering Weight section of the shop in the second room. See you there!

Another round of show and tell.

Posted by Julia on August 4, 2012

It was another great week for show and tell at the shop. So many knitters and crocheters came in with finished projects to share.

Petra came in wearing a hand-knit top and shrug, proving that it is indeed possible to wear hand-knit garments in even the hottest weather when lightweight plant fiber yarns are used. A beautiful ensemble!

Laura brought in a finished Faraway, So Close shawl to show off, fresh from Katherine’s class on the same project. Laura’s shawl is made with Malabrigo Silky Merino and edged with Louisa Harding Grace Silk & Wool, both of which are dk weight single ply yarns with great luster and drape.

Anne had some show and tell this week, too. She made this cute wool soaker for her new granddaughter, Willa, who is pictured wearing a Boston Whaler Hat in Ella Rae Bamboo & Silk yarn. (The hat has been such a hit that Anne has already taught two classes on it, and we’ve scheduled a third to begin Sunday, August 12th–read more about the Boston Whaler Baby Hat class and register on our website!) For the soaker, Anne used Briggs & Little Sport yarn, with a strand of pink and a strand of white held together.

Thanks for sharing your completed projects with us! It’s such fun to see what everyone’s stitching. See you at the shop.