Tag Archives: shawls

Shibui Sample of the Month: Dynamic Trio.

Posted by on

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 til the end of the month.

This month’s sample is “Dynamic Trio,” by Joji Locatelli, an asymmetric triangular shawl in three colors, decorated with chevrons and garter stitch stripes.

This “Dynamic Trio” was knit with Shibui Lunar held double throughout. Lunar is a lace weight blend of merino and silk, soft and lustrous for an elegant fabric.

Come by the shop to before May 31st to see “Dynamic Trio” and get Shibui Lunar 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!

Back in stock: Vivacious 4ply.

Posted by on

Last week brought an enormous shipment from Fyberspates, bursting with bags and bags of Vivacious 4ply.

Vivacious 4ply is a high twist, superwash merino wool in fingering weight. Each 100 gram skein has 399 yards, enough for a pair of socks or mitts, a hat, scarf, or shawlette.

We restocked all the colors we’ve ever had and added a few new ones, too.

Tom recently knit this “Wuthering Heights MKAL” shawl with two skeins of Vivacious 4ply in a beautiful high-contrast color combination.

Lately we’re seeing many knitters reach for this yarn to knit larger shawls and wraps. The robust and ever-growing palette of colors lends itself particularly to gradient-making, or fades – think Andrea Mowry’s “Find Your Fade,” or Joji Locatelli’s recent “Fading Point.” Here are a few color combinations with the latter pattern in mind.

Colors shown, left to right: 602, 617, 615, 626, 625.

Colors shown, left to right: 609, 607, 608, 606, 626.

Colors shown, left to right: 624, 610, 628, 609, 607.

Colors shown, left to right: 611, 618, 600, 620, 628.

Check our “Fingering weight” board on Pinterest for more pattern ideas, and look for Vivacious 4ply here at the shop!

Local Yarn Store Day.

Posted by on

We’re looking forward to the first ever Local Yarn Store Day, this Saturday, April 21st!

LYS Day is about celebrating brick-and-mortar yarn shops and appreciating all that they offer. Here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, we are proud of our selection of high quality yarns, books and tools, our talented teachers, and our customer service. Our mission is and has always been to provide knitters and other fiber artists with quality materials and help connect them with the knowledge they need to make things they’re proud of.

Two of our favorite yarn companies have created special patterns for LYS Day that are only available through local shops. “Ewe So Summer” is knit with Ewe Ewe’s sport weight washable merino, Ewe So Sporty, and features a colorful slip stitch pattern.

Kelbourne Woolens has partnered with designer Laura Nelkin for “Adventura,” a choose-your-own-adventure shawl knit with Andorra, a sport weight blend of merino wool and mohair.

Come by the Hillsborough Yarn Shop this Saturday to pick up one or both of these patterns and a few skeins of yarn to make them – we love nothing more than helping you plan your next project!

Thanks for supporting local yarn shops like ours, we are so grateful for the community that sustains us!

Show and tell: colorwork accessories.

Posted by on

Time for another round of show and tell! Colorful knitting projects are popular around here – I had enough colorwork hats to fill a recent blog post, and now I’m back with other colorwork accessories.

Is a stuffed chicken an accessory? Whatever category it belongs in, Amy’s “Fancy Hen” is adorable, and beautifully knit. In preparation for a class on the subject earlier this year, she knit this charming chicken with Baa Ram Ewe Dovestone DK, a yarn well-suited to stranded colorwork.

Ellen knit these intricate colorwork mittens with Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift. The pattern is from Jorid Linvik’s Big Book of Knitted Mittens, a great resource if colorwork mittens are your cup of tea. A cute pair of mittens is a great starting place for learning and practicing stranded knitting, just like a hat or any small accessory.

Here’s Margie in her “Fresco Crescent” shawl, by Kieran Foley. This shawl is an impressive combination of knitting techniques from lace and stranded knitting to intarsia, stripes, and beading.

She used Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift in a big palette of neutrals, reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows, working these colors intuitively into the piece as she went, rather than planning it all out ahead of the knitting.

Gwen’s “Hudson” shawl, by Shannon Cook, is a simpler design of stripes and lace, but no less striking. Gwen’s color choice in Ewe Ewe Baa Baa Bulky is particularly eye-catching; she knit it to wear to a spring wedding and finished just in the nick of time.

Karin knit not one, but two pairs of Rachel Coopey’s “Alfrick” socks, using Coopey’s own CoopKnits Socks Yeah! yarn for both projects.

Thanks as always to the talented knitters who shared their work here today, and to everyone who starts their projects with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. I’ve got even more colorwork show-and-tell in store for the coming weeks – stay tuned!

Shibui Sample of the Month: Comfort Zone.

Posted by on

April 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 til the end of the month.

This month’s sample is “Comfort Zone,” by Elizabeth Smith, a striped garter stitch wrap with a ribbed edge.

“Comfort Zone” is knit with four shades of Shibui Drift, a worsted weight blend of 85% extra fine merino wool and 15% cashmere.

Come by the shop to before April 29th to see “Comfort Zone” and get Shibui Drift 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!

The Andorra Collection.

Posted by on

This week, we welcomed Kelbourne Woolens’ very first yarn, Andorra. It came with a small pattern collection that hints at the tremendous possibility in these skeins.

Sport weight is one of my favorites, resting between the lighter fingering weight and the heavier DK weight. It seems to strike a balance to me: fine enough to be intricate, heavy enough not to be intimidating.

Knit it at a tighter gauge and you have a fabric that is cohesive enough to be cozy without being heavy.

Knit it more loosely, and you’ll create lightweight, draping fabric perfect for breezy tops or shawls.

The Andorra Collection covers so much in just six patterns: rich texture, tidy cables, classic lace, and Bohus-inspired colorwork. Courtney Kelley’s “Jenny” pullover is what Anne cast on for recently, the start of which we shared in our January newsletter and the last blog post introducing Andorra.

While we don’t have print copies of these patterns yet, they are available on Ravelry and as Ravelry In-Store Pattern Sales here at the shop.

Look for Andorra itself in our sport weight section. See you there!

Brooklyn Tweed Vale Trunk Show!

Posted by on

We are delighted to announce that a new trunk show from Brooklyn Tweed is here to spend a couple of weeks at our shop. Come by before August 20th to see the Vale Collection!

The Vale Collection features five garments: four popular lace patterns from the Brooklyn Tweed archives that have been revised for Vale, and one brand new design from Jared Flood.

The old favorites are “Girasole,” “Rock Island,” “Bridgewater,” and “Lucca,” classic lace shawls in a variety of shapes. “Gully” is the newest pattern, a brioche cowl that takes just one skein of Vale.

Seeing this collection in person is a treat, and really highlights the quality of the yarn. Vale is a lace weight Rambouillet wool, with 450 yards on each 50 gram skein. It’s worsted-spun for a smooth yarn with sharp stitch definition, one that’s spectacularly bouncy in the skein and in the knitted fabric.

These exquisite pieces are on display here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop until August 20th, and while they’re here, we’re offering 10% off purchases of Brooklyn Tweed Vale. Hurry in to see the show and soak up some lace knitting inspiration!

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

Show and tell: stripes.

Posted by on

Time for another round of show and tell! Today’s projects all feature stripes, whether high-contrast or low, many-colored or few.

Here’s a low-contrast example, Nancy’s “Straw Into Gold” shawl. This elegant piece was made with three different Alchemy yarns, all of which were dyed the same color, so the stripes are subtle, showing the textural differences between each yarn.

Michele’s first-ever sweater, on the other hand, is a high-contrast combination of black and white. The pattern is “#11 Rugby Stripes Pullover,” from Vogue Knitting Magazine, and Michele knit hers with Elsebeth Lavold Calm Wool while attending Marsha’s Start Your First Sweater or Vest class here at the shop.

Michele is a relatively new knitter, but it’s clear she’s taken to it. By any standards, this is a successful sweater: the fit is good, her tension is even, and the stripes line up perfectly on each piece. For a first sweater, it’s doubly impressive. Well done, Michele!

Here’s Tom with his finished “Kauni Color Wave Shawl,” knit with Kauni Effektgarn. Not only is the shawl itself striped, the yarn is self-striping, too; Tom paired a rainbow skein with one in shades of black, white, and gray. The effect is striking, stripes on stripes.

Above is Jodi’s granny stripe blanket-in-progress, crocheted with Berroco Ultra Wool. When she brought it in to show us a few weeks ago, Anne and I were blown away, not only by its impressive size, but also by Jodi’s color sense. It’s not easy to put 20 colors in a perfectly balanced yet seemingly random arrangement. It takes thought and skill and a little bit of guts, all of which are on display in this outrageously beautiful piece.

Many thanks to the knitters and crocheters who shared their stripes with us today, and to everyone who starts their project with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. We are inspired by your stitches and can’t wait to see what you come up with next!

Show and tell: lace.

Posted by on

We always love to see what you’re making with HYS yarns, and I love to take photos of your finished pieces to share here on the blog. Sifting through the many delightful show-and-tell photos I’ve accumulated, I noticed a group of projects with a technique in common: lace.

Margaretta has a fondness for lace-knitting, and has completed two lace shawls recently. The one above is “Arlington,” by Emily Ross, knit with Shibui Staccato.

The pattern is easy to modify for the stockinette-to-lace ratio of your choosing, and Margaretta opted for a lace-heavy version, with stunning results.

Above is Margaretta’s most recent finished piece, “Your Ice Cream Shawl,” knit with the new and exciting Brooklyn Tweed Vale.

Two of our teachers have been working with lace, too. Below is Amy’s “Stone Point” poncho, knit with the Fibre Company’s new yarn, Luma. She’s in the midst of teaching a class on the subject, so we expect to see more “Stone Point” ponchos in the coming months, knit by her students! In the meantime, look for this one on display here at the shop.

Robin has a lace class coming up this fall, featuring Lisa Hannes’ “Laurelie,” a two-color shawl with lace and mosaic motifs.

Her “Laurelie” is made with Plymouth Happy Feet and Isager Merilin, a marriage of two yarns alike in gauge, but different in fiber content. They play well together in the finished piece; look for it on the wall here at the shop, and head to our Classes page to sign up for the class!

Itching to start a lace project of your own? Brooklyn Tweed is hosting a Summer of Lace Knit-Along, and their blog is full of helpful hints and project ideas. I know some of you are participating, and look forward to seeing your finished pieces!

Thanks to the knitters who shared their work on the blog today. We love seeing what you’re working on, and can’t wait to see what you come up with next. See you at the shop!

Show and tell: Bradway shawls.

Posted by on

Earlier in the year, Katherine taught a class here at the shop on Shannon Cook’s “Bradway,” a striped triangular shawl knit with three shades of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter. Her sample has been hanging at the shop ever since, a striking combination of “Truffle Hunt,” “Fossil,” and “Almanac.”

It’s always fun to see the variety of color combinations that come out of a class, and this was no exception. So far, three of Katherine’s students have brought their finished shawls back for show-and-tell, which I’m delighted to share here on the blog. If you follow us on Instagram, you may have already seen close-ups of these.

Gwen chose “Postcard,” “Fossil,” and “Thistle” for her shawl, above.

Barbara chose “Blanket Fort,” “Foothills,” and “Plume” for her shawl, above.

Loretta chose “Almanac,” “Snowbound,” and “Faded Quilt” for her shawl, above.

Thanks to Katherine’s students for sharing their work; we look forward to seeing other “Bradway” shawls that are still in progress, and those that these projects may inspire!