Tag Archives: shawls

More show and tell.

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Here are two more finished projects whose lives began as yarn from the Hillsborough Yarn Shop.

Kathy brought in her completed Wingspan made with a single skein of Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball, a self-striping fingering-weight yarn. Like Anne’s Wingspan made in Kauni, the color changes in the Zauberball highlight the unusual construction of this shawlette.

Carrie Anne brought in a cowl she made that used just one skein of the luscious, soft-as-cashmere Malabrigo Finito. It’s always great to see what the yarn becomes when it grows up into a finished piece, and to see projects that make the most of a single skein. Thanks for the show and tell, ladies!

Another garter stitch shawl.

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If you’ve been to the shop in the past couple of weeks, you’ve likely seen me with a little ball of lace-weight purple yarn and a pair of bamboo needles. I’m working on a sample for the shop, a simple garter stitch shawl in the style of the Alpaca 1 shawl, which has become a favorite free HYS pattern.

My purple lace-weight is a slightly textured cotton from Habu, a yarn that got some attention on the blog last year.

To add interest to this triangular shawl, I’ve added big, thick stripes by holding a strand of white Habu cotton together with the purple. This creates an interesting marled color, and a slightly different texture, as well, though the stitches remain blissfully simple. All I have to remember to do is increase one stitch at the beginning of every row, and then knit, and watch as it slowly grows. The fabric is soft, stretchy, and tremendously lightweight; perfect summertime knitting.

If you’d like to see and feel this feather-light piece, come by the shop, where you can get a garter stitch shawl started for yourself in single or double strands of cotton or any other lace-weight yarn that strikes your fancy. See you at the shop!

Show and tell.

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Last week, I had a couple of opportunities to pull out my camera and document incredible finished knits. I can’t tell you how exciting it is for Anne and I to see our knitters’ and crocheters’ completed projects; there’s something very special about seeing that promise-filled yarn grown up into a finished garment.

On Thursday, Catherine came in with her completed Alpaca 2 Stole, and Anne’s mother, Phyllis, modeled it for the camera.

On Friday, Celine came in with her Hitchhiker made in Colinette Jitterbug, a fabulously springy merino sock yarn. As this shawlette nicely demonstrates, sock yarns have many uses besides socks.

Keep the show and tell coming! See you (and your finished projects) at the shop.

Be Sweet shawl kits.

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Many a visitor to the shop has been wooed by the Be Sweet shawl kits. The sample shawl and scarf that hang by the kits are feather-light and translucent, but made of a textured mohair yarn in thick, bold stripes–qualities that seem to contradict one another, and thus, entrance. It’s simplicity, too, is appealing, for after all, it’s just garter stitch.

Each kit comes with a pattern and five 25 gram balls of the lace-weight Be Sweet Extra Fine Mohair yarn, enough to make one striped shawl or two striped scarves. They’re neatly tucked into a Hillsborough Yarn Shop notions pouch, making them an ideal gift for a knitter.

This past week, many missing colorways were replenished, filling the basket with tempting options, making it harder to decide which one you’ll take home. Come by the shop to see them all.

Wearwithall.

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A new book, recommended by a friend, has arrived at the shop.

Wearwithall is a collection of patterns by the people at The Yarnery, a yarn shop in Saint Paul, MN. The book has a nice range of projects, including hats, socks, sweaters for babies and children as well as adults, and an eye-catching striped stole.

This stole, designed by Theresa Gaffey, is made from the exquisite Isager Alpaca 2 yarn, a fingering weight blend of wool and alpaca. It’s construction is simple, letting the brightest colors from the muted Isager palette do the talking.

Take a closer look at Wearwithall next time you’re in the shop. Be sure to visit the Alpaca 2 as well, and as you do, just imagine curling up in a cozy Alpaca 2 stole. Hard to resist, no?

Works in progress, works completed.

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Anne and I are never without a shop-sample-to-be, it seems. All our new yarns need swatching, and lately we’ve been making whole projects instead of the usual 4″x4″ swatch, the better to show off the yarn. Here’s what we’re up to lately.

We recently got a new yarn from Araucania for the spring: Lontue, a 50/50 blend of cotton and linen. It’s interesting stuff: variegated in color, thick-and-thin in texture, and very fine, but with a suggested gauge of 5 stitches per inch.

I tried it in a drop-stitch scarf, which I really cannot recommend this yarn for–boy, did it look messy! While I was ripping that out, Anne suggested trying a seed stitch. Only a few rows in, it was clear that the pattern would be completely obscured by the yarn’s color and texture. I settled on garter stitch, so that the yarn could shine, and it’s been going well since then. I’m at work on a simple garter stitch shawl, in the style of the Isager Alpaca 1 shawl.

Meanwhile, Anne has completed her Wingspan in Kauni Effektgarn, and it now hangs proudly on the wall at the shop. It’s mesmerizing, especially in person, and another great example of what a good Eucalan soak can do for what seem to be scratchy wools. How the Kauni softened with that wash!

Come by the shop and see it for yourself.

Heritage Fiber Publications.

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This week, we added some new single patterns to the pattern binders.

Heritage Fiber Publications offers a wide range of patterns, from shawls and scarves to hats and socks.

Don’t forget to check the pattern binders as well as the bookshelves and magazine racks when you’re looking for a new project–there are tons of single patterns tucked away there. Dig in.

Hello, Rialto Lace.

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When the Spring/Summer issue of Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine arrived last month, we noticed that several of the patterns called for a brand new Debbie Bliss yarn: Rialto Lace. Debbie Bliss’s Rialto line of yarns are all composed of springy 100% superwash merino wool, and we’ve had great luck at the shop with three weights: Rialto Aran, Rialto DK, and Rialto 4-ply, which I’ve used for many pairs of socks and one crazy sweater. The Rialto yarns are soft to the touch, wear well, wash easily, and have beautiful stitch definition. The mere existence of a lace-weight Rialto yarn meant that we had to have it at the shop, and so, of course, Anne ordered it.

This week, Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace arrived, and with it, a Rialto Lace booklet, which shows the yarn made up in sweaters as well as shawls. 

Take a peek at this new yarn and browse through the book for inspiration. You can find them both on the teacart.

Works in progress: short row edition.

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This month, perhaps more than most, Anne’s desk at the shop has often been crowded by multiple works in progress. She has (ahem) a small handful of projects started, many of which will grow up to be shop samples, showing off particular yarns in patterns for which they are particularly well-suited. At the moment, I have only one project going at the shop, but more at home, lest you think I’m gloating. The impulse to cast on with an exciting new yarn is strong, and succumb to it we do. Here are two of the latest works in progress you’re likely to catch us stitching on in quiet moments at the shop.

Anne is working on a shawl with the wooly, self-striping Kauni yarn, knowing that Nancy’s Wiggle Wrap is not a permanent installation in the shop. When the Wiggle Wrap leaves us, we’ll need something that shows what Kauni can do, and this shawl will do that very well.

The pattern is Wingspan, available as a free download on Ravelry, and it is an excellent example of just one of the many shapes that can be accomplished using short rows.

Myself, I’m at work on a ruffle scarf, another pattern full of short rows, albeit much shorter short rows. These rows are sometimes only 4 stitches long, short enough that I taught myself to knit backwards to save time on turning the needles around between short rows. If the pattern looks familiar, that’s because we already have one ruffle scarf hanging in the shop, which I wrote about on the blog last May. That one was made with two yarns held together, and because of this, it’s fuzzy, dense, and warm. With Spring on its way, and Cascade’s Ultra Pima yarn unswatched, we thought a thinner cotton ruffle scarf was in order.

That’s what we’re up to, or part of what we’re up to, at any rate. What are you working on lately?

Interweave Knits.

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The Spring 2012 issue of Interweave Knits is here!

Flipping through this new issue, I saw many familiar yarns in action. The bulky Cascade Eco Wool was put to good use in this textured vest.

Here’s a little shawl made from Tahki Coast, and a vest from the ever-popular Malabrigo Rios.

Another Tahki yarn makes an appearance in this lace-edged hoodie: Tahki Cotton Classic, a worsted-weight mercerized cotton.

You can find this issue of Interweave Knits on the teacart, surrounded by all the latest books and magazines, and if any of these yarns move you, you can find them at the shop as well. See you soon!