Knitscene and knit.purl.

Posted by Julia on October 13, 2014

We’ve been getting so many new magazines this month, I can hardly keep up!

First up, Knitscene, always a hot commodity here at the shop. This issue has lots of familiar yarns inside, from Shibui Cima to Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift.

I also spotted Shetland Spindrift in the latest issue of knit.purl, which used to be called knit.wear–another favorite magazine around here.

This issue of knit.purl is full of the wearable modern shapes and interesting knits that knit.wear was known for.

Come by the shop to browse the latest publications; we hope you find inspiration here!

Triangle Yarn Crawl.

Posted by Julia on October 9, 2014

The Triangle Yarn Crawl is a self-guided tour of local yarn shops, where knitters and crocheters get together and hop from one shop to the next, shopping, entering raffles, and seeing the full breadth of available fibers. They happen twice a year, and the time has come again: the Autumn 2014 crawl is coming up this weekend on October 11th and 12th!

Each local yarn shop has something special to offer, and we’re no exception: all 14 of our in-stock Mirasol yarns will be 25% off during the yarn crawl!

Mirasol yarns come in a wide range of weights and fiber combinations, from sport weight up to bulky, from organic cotton to luxurious alpaca and silk.

There’s a bag of goodies at each of the participating shops, a raffle prize full of yarn, patterns, and more.

Triangle Yarn Crawl sponsors like Cascade, Berroco, and Lantern Moon generously donated yarns and a needle case for the event, and we’ve tucked something special in the bag, too: 3 skeins of Shibui Pebble, and a copy of “Mix No. 32,” just in time to cast on and join the Shibui Fall Knit-A-Long on Ravelry!

We’re lucky to live in such a fiber-friendly part of the world, with so many choices available to us, and the Triangle Yarn Crawl is a great time to see all of those choices. Come see us as you’re crawling along!

A reminder: all sales are final on sale items; there can be no exchanges, no returns, nor will we special order. Discount applies only to in-store purchases. Thanks!

Shibui Mix Party.

Posted by Julia on October 7, 2014

On Sunday, we hosted a Shibui Mix Party.

In preparation for the event, I’d moved all our Shibui yarns into the spotlight, towards the center of the room, where we all gathered around to admire them and plan projects.

We tried on garments from the Monochrome Trunk Show, then plotted color and yarn combinations.

Mix Party attendees sampled all five of the Shibui yarns that we now carry, including the newest, Maai.

In between sips of mimosas and bites of bagels, knitters and crocheters worked up swatches in all manner of Shibui yarns and yarn combinations, sharing pattern ideas as they stitched. I passed around a few new swatches Amy and I knit for the shop, showing what happens when Maai is combined with other Shibui yarns.

It was a delightful morning, spent chatting and laughing with a great group of people, enjoying each other’s company as much as the yarns. If you’re sorry to have missed the Mix Party, get in touch with us–we’re happy to email you a heads-up when the next one is scheduled. In the meantime, come by the shop to see all things Shibui!

Hello, Maai.

Posted by Julia on October 5, 2014

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of Shibui’s latest yarn, Maai.

Maai is a dk weight blend of alpaca and merino, soft and lofty due to its chainette construction. This yarn has tremendous elasticity, making it a pleasure to work with and surely a pleasure to wear.

Shibui’s yarns are designed to be mixed together, held two or three strands at a time to create bespoke yarn blends. For that reason, they’re dyed in closely matching colorways.

We’re delighted to add Maai to our selection of Shibui yarns, which have become favorites over the past year. I can’t wait to see how Maai behaves when knit together with Silk Cloud, Cima, Pebble, or Linen!

Maai is happy to be knit just as it is, however; Anne made this sample scarf using a single strand of Maai and the result is absolutely decadent. The pattern, “M.1,” is free when you buy Maai for the project; 3 skeins makes a scarf this size. Check out our “Inspiring Stitches” board on Pinterest for more ways to use Maai!

A photograph can’t do this yarn justice; you must come in and touch. See you at the shop!

Shibui Monochrome Trunk Show.

Posted by Julia on September 28, 2014

Yesterday, we were surprised and delighted to receive the Shibui Monochrome Trunk Show a few days early. Why wait? We put them right up on the wall, after petting them a bit.

The Monochrome Collection features designs by Kirsten Johnstone, all of which are knit with multiple strands of yarn at a time. There are many fun and useful things about trunk shows, like being able to play a bit of dress-up and try garments on for size, but one of the best aspects of a Shibui trunk show is seeing these yarn combinations in person.

It can be hard enough to imagine how a single yarn will behave as knitted fabric; throw two different colors or fibers into the mix and it can be a real leap of faith. That’s where our shop samples and swatches are most helpful–ah, this is how Cima and Silk Cloud work up together–and whole garments are even more illuminating.

Come by the shop before October 14th to see the Shibui Monochrome Trunk Show for yourself: try on the garments, browse the patterns, and plan your next project.

See you there!

Interweave Knits Gifts.

Posted by Julia on September 10, 2014

The latest Gifts issue from Interweave Knits is here, which means it’s time to start planning holiday gift-knitting if you haven’t already.

This issue of Gifts is packed full of projects, and a wide variety at that. Knitted ornaments, cold-weather accessories and garments for children and adults, cozies for smartphones, tablets, and wine bottles… look to this issue for all kinds of gift-knitting inspiration.

I spotted some of our favorite yarns in this issue, too: here’s a cowl in Fibre Company Acadia, and a cozy scarf in Shibui Pebble.

Come by the shop to snag a copy of Interweave Knits Gifts and plan your holiday gift-knitting, whatever form it takes!

New from Shibui.

Posted by Julia on August 28, 2014

The newest colors and patterns from Shibui have arrived at the shop!

Their newest colorways are “Blueprint,” “Fog,” “Pollen,” and “Trail,” and we now have them in Cima, Pebble, and Silk Cloud.

We also got a new shade in Linen, a yarn that has been warmly embraced by knitters and crocheters alike since we first got it back in May.

We’re also excited to have two new pattern collections from Shibui, their Fall/Winter 2014 Mix Collection and the Monochrome Collection. The Mix patterns combine multiple Shibui yarns to create unique color and fiber blends.

I’m particularly excited about a few of the Monochrome patterns, and even more excited to announce that we’re hosting a Shibui Monochrome Trunk Show from October 1st – 14th!

Intrigued by Shibui yarns? Sign up for our upcoming Shibui Mix Party to sample five Shibui yarns. It’s a great opportunity to swatch and experiment with yarn combinations before you invest in a project’s worth of yarn. Come by the shop to peruse the latest patterns and check out the new colors, too. See you there!

Summer show and tell.

Posted by Julia on August 24, 2014

It’s time again for show-and-tell! Here are a few of the projects we’ve seen at the shop so far this summer. Summer knitting means something different to every knitter. Some folks put down their needles and hooks all summer long, but others stitch summer garments, sweaters for fall, smaller pieces that travel well, lightweight lace shawls, and more.

Here’s Ruth in her “Mix No. 19,” a color-blocked tunic knit with two strands of Shibui Silk Cloud held together throughout. In black and dark gray, this lustrous, fuzzy yarn makes an elegant garment.

Jorah came by the shop recently with show and tell: a pair of cabled socks he knit with some String Theory Bluestocking in “Java,” a rich brown colorway.

Betty recently completed this “Sonetto Shawl” with Isager Alpaca 2.

Our sample “Sonetto” is made in two colors, but one solid color makes an equally beautiful shawl, especially in such a soft and delightful yarn.

I recently finished my “Sonora,” a Courtney Kelley pattern featured in our recent Fibre Company Summer Sweaters Trunk Show. I used Berroco Maya, and knit a size that gave me about 3″ of negative ease instead of the 2″ of positive ease that the pattern suggests. As a result, it fits me snugly instead of loosely, exactly what I had in mind.

Last weekend, Amy brought in her “Baby Surprise Jacket” knit in Malabrigo Arroyo, a sample for her upcoming class on Elizabeth Zimmermann’s classic pattern. Come by the shop to see it for yourself, and act quickly if you’d like to take one of the last remaining spaces in the class!

Molly has been knitting sweaters for all her grandchildren this summer. Here’s a pair for her granddaughters, modified from a Debbie Bliss pattern so that they could be knit in the round instead of in pieces. She used a variety of DK weight superwash yarns from Sublime and Debbie Bliss, letting her girls choose the colors. I love the results!

Thanks to everyone who starts and completes their projects at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! We feel so lucky to be part of your creative process.

Show and tell: colorwork and more.

Posted by Julia on July 23, 2014

It’s time for more show and tell! Here are some finished pieces that began their lives as HYS yarns.

Emily has gone crazy for stranded colorwork, and brought in two amazing projects to show us this past week. Above is her “Tracery” vest, from last year’s Unofficial Harry Potter Knits, knit in Plymouth Happy Feet.

The stained-glass look of this garment is achieved by using colorful variegated yarn against solid black, a neat effect.

Emily’s next colorwork project was the “Sweetheart Bag,” a pattern from the Fall 2012 issue of Jane Austen Knits. The yarn is one of our favorites, Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, a fingering weight shetland wool that is perfectly suited to stranded colorwork like this.

Anne has also been busy with a colorwork project; here is a tam she recently knit for her mother from Mary Rowe’s book, Knitting Tams: Charted Fair Isle Designs.

Worked in three shades of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, this tam came together quickly, thanks to the addictive quality of stranded color patterns. It was off Anne’s needles and on Phyllis’s head in no time.

Judy came in wearing her “Ship to Shore” shawl, knit with one skein of Shibui Linen.

Knit into a loose openwork pattern, Linen is cool to the touch and drapes elegantly, making a lightweight summer accessory that is sure to get a lot of wear.

Margie wore a new shawl in this week, too–here she is in her “Nymphalidea,” a free shawl pattern that’s been catching many a knitter’s eye this summer.

“Nymphalidea” sets a self-striping yarn against a solid in an asymmetric shawl. Margie chose Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball as her self-striping yarn and Fibre Company Meadow as her solid, a surprising choice that works perfectly.

Thanks to the knitters, crocheters, and other fiber artists who start their projects at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, and who share their work with us! We’re lucky to be surrounded by inspiring stitches every day.

KnitScene.

Posted by Julia on July 16, 2014

We’ve just received another new magazine: KnitScene’s Fall 2014 issue is here!

This issue focuses on texture patterns, tweeds, and scarves of all kinds–the cozy stuff of Fall knitting.

Familiar yarns always catch my attention as I’m flipping through a new magazine. Hey there, Savannah, Shetland Spindrift, and Pebble.

A stack of knitting and crochet magazines makes fun, inspiring summer reading. Come by the shop during July to get them at 15% off thanks to our Annual Inventory Sale!