Tag Archives: single ply

Hello, Kelbourne Woolens Cricket!

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Kelbourne Woolens is the source of some of our most popular yarns, beloved for the variety of high quality fibers they produce and the accessible price. Their latest is here at our shop – meet Cricket!

Kelbourne Woolens Cricket:

  • fingering weight
  • single ply
  • tweed
  • 100% merino wool
  • 415 yards/100g
  • $24 each

Cricket is a lighter weight version of KW’s popular Lucky Tweed, and comes in all the same colors.

Like Lucky Tweed, Cricket is manufactured in Donegal, Ireland, for an authentic tweed look and soft hand.

A few months ago, the folks at Kelbourne Woolens sent us a small ball of Cricket for swatching. I was the lucky knitter who got that job, and gave it a go in simple stockinette, first on a US 4, and then on a US 6 with a strand of Isager Silk Mohair in a contrasting color.

We’re expecting a Cricket pattern collection from Kelbourne Woolens early in the new year, but in the meantime, here are some pattern ideas that are a good fit for this new yarn!

For a single strand of Cricket:

For Cricket held together with Silk Mohair:

Look for Kelbourne Woolens Cricket in the fingering weight section here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! We’re open from 11am – 5:30pm, Tuesdays – Saturdays; masks required for entry.

Back in stock: Malabrigo Washted.

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We’re delighted to have a fresh supply of Malabrigo Washted!

Malabrigo Washted:

  • worsted weight
  • single ply
  • hand-dyed
  • 100% superwash merino
  • 210 yards/100g
  • $15.95 each

Washted is a worsted weight, superwash merino, with 210 yards on each 100 gram skein, and it’s hand-dyed in rich variegated colors. It’s a lot like Malabrigo’s popular Rios yarn, except that Washted is single ply where Rios is plied.

The downside of single ply yarn is often discussed here at the shop, namely, that single ply yarns are the first to pill. The upside, however, is that the super soft merino wool is even softer in a single ply. This makes Washted ideal for accessories that don’t see a lot of abrasion, like shawls, cowls, and hats. Here are a few pattern ideas:

Look for Malabrigo Washted in the worsted weight section here at our shop, or order online for local pickup or shipping!

Hello, Lady Dye Yarns!

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We are over the moon – Lady Dye Yarns are now in stock here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop!

LDY owner Diane Ivey is an indie dyer based in Boston, MA. As one of the cofounders of the emPower People project, she’s as well known for her vibrant colorways as she is for her craftivism.

Our first LDY order arrived this week, bursting with lively shades of Superwash Fingering, along with a surprise that we’re tucking away for members of our HYS Hat Club in the upcoming Quarter 2.

Lady Dye Superwash Fingering:

  • fingering weight
  • single ply
  • hand-dyed in semisolid and variegated colorways
  • 100% superwash merino wool
  • 425 yards/100g
  • $32 each

Lady Dye Superwash Fingering has a merino softness and single-ply texture comparable to Malabrigo Mechita, but the color palette has its own personality – the semisolid shades are clear and bright, and the variegated colorways are unique.

What to make with these stunning skeins? Here are some patterns designed for Lady Dye Superwash Fingering – check them out for inspiration and to see how this yarn looks when knit and crocheted!

As I photographed this yarn, I found myself instinctively creating color trios from solid and variegated shades that seemed to speak to one another. Below are some three-color pattern ideas, in case any of these combinations speak to you:

Head to our online order form to get some Lady Dye Superwash Fingering of your very own! Available for local pickup or shipping, as we remain closed to walk-in visits.

Washted + Rios + Nightshift!

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Our recent Malabrigo Rios restock has us thinking about Andrea Mowry’s “Nightshift” again, that popular slip stitch shawl that still seems to be on everyone’s needles. We’ve seen several knitters make it using Rios and Washted, another Malabrigo yarn.

Malabrigo Washted:

  • worsted weight
  • single ply
  • hand-dyed
  • 100% superwash merino
  • 210 yards/100g
  • $16 each

Flashback to Pam’s “Nightshift” in progress – look closely and you can see she’s used both plied and single ply yarns.

The combination of plied Rios and single ply Washted makes for intriguing texture along with exciting color – here are a couple of ideas!

Order online if one of these colorways sparks your curiosity, or if you’d like to see a special combination just for you! We’re happy to help you plan your next project, and can ship your order or hold it here at the shop for local pickup.

Sale Spotlight: Noro Silk Garden Lite.

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Everything in our shop is 15% off during July, our Annual Inventory Sale! All month, I’ll be shining a spotlight on the yarns we have in stock – today, let’s look at Noro Silk Garden Lite!

Noro Silk Garden Lite:

  • DK weight
  • single ply, self-striping
  • 45% mohair, 45% silk, 10% wool
  • 136 yards/50 grams
  • $12 each

Silk Garden Lite is a DK weight yarn that slowly changes from one color to the next several yards at a time, so that whatever you’re knitting or crocheting with it comes out striped. This bias-knit “Argosy” scarf that hangs in our shop shows this well.

Scrolling through Ravelry, I saw that over 300 knitters had used Silk Garden Lite for Jared Flood’s “Noro Striped Scarf,” though the now-classic pattern calls for a heavier yarn.

For “Noro Striped Scarf,” pick two different colors of Silk Garden Lite, two balls each. Not only do the yarns make stripes, but the scarf itself is striped, for a simple knit with big visual impact.

Order online for local pickup or shipping via USPS Priority Mail!

 

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

New colors in Briggs & Little Sport.

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This unassuming brown paper package hides the bold colors within – four new shades of Briggs & Little Sport!

Briggs & Little Sport is a delightfully affordable single ply wool from Canada, boasting 430 yards on each 4 oz skein.

Its rustic texture means it’s not especially soft to the touch, but it has a sticky quality to it, making it perfectly suited to felting and stranded colorwork knitting. Once knit, the stitches cling to each other, which is handy for steeking, since it takes some serious pulling and stretching for the cut stitches to unravel.

What to knit with Briggs & Little Sport? A Ravelry search showed that knitters are using this yarn for all kinds of colorwork projects. Consider Jennifer Steingass’s “Darkwater,” Ysolda Teague’s “Threipmuir,” Carrie Bostick-Hoge’s “Branches & Buds Pullover,” or Erica Smith’s “Coronal” and “Anstruther” hats. If colorwork isn’t your thing, check out Erica Smith’s “Diode” and “Catenary Sport” hats.

Look for Briggs & Little Sport in the sport weight section here at our shop!

Hello, Malabrigo Quinteto.

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This week brought another enormous Malabrigo order to our shop, two heavy boxes bursting with vivid hand-dyed color. It was packed primarily with bags of Rios, Sock, and Washted, but we snuck in a little something new, too. Meet Quinteto!

Quinteto is a pack of five speckled colors in Mechita, Malabrigo’s fingering weight, single ply, superwash merino.

Each colorway is named for an instrument: Piano, Double Bass, Cello, Viola, and Violin, and the colors fade harmoniously from skein to skein, from light blue to fuschia, then purple, then burgundy flecked with black.

What to do with 2100 yards of soft, speckled fingering weight yarn? Joji Locatelli’s “Fading Point” is a good fit, as is Stephen West’s “Dotted Rays,” and Andrea Mowry’s “So Faded” or “So Faded Pint Sized.”

Look for Malabrigo Quinteto in our fingering weight section here at the shop!

Hello, Malabrigo Washted.

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A brand new yarn from Malabrigo has arrived! Meet Washted.

Washted is a worsted weight, superwash merino, with 210 yards on each 100 gram skein, and it’s hand-dyed in rich variegated colors. It’s a lot like Malabrigo’s popular Rios yarn, except that Washted is single ply where Rios is plied.

The downside of single ply yarn is often discussed here at the shop, namely, that single ply yarns are the first to pill. The upside, however, is that the super soft merino wool is even softer in a single ply.

This makes Washted ideal for accessories that don’t see a lot of abrasion, like cowls, hats, and shawls. Looking through projects on Ravelry, I saw knitters using Washted for Nina Machlin Dayton’s “Civetta Cowl,” Lucia Ruiz de Aguirre’s “Patricia hat,” and Andrea Mowry’s “Nightshift” shawl, but there are so many inspiring worsted weight patterns out there – check out our “Worsted weight” Pinterest board for starters.

Look for Malabrigo Washted in the worsted weight section here at our shop, just above the Rios cubby!

Hello, Dovestone Natural Chunky.

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Another exciting new yarn has arrived to entice us: meet Dovestone Natural Chunky!

Dovestone Natural Chunky is the latest from Baa Ram Ewe, a small yarn company out of Yorkshire. Their noble aim is to revitalize the textile industry in their region by sourcing and spinning their yarns entirely in the UK.

Dovestone Natural Chunky is made of the same good stuff as Dovestone DK and Dovestone Natural Aran: 50% bluefaced leicester, 25% masham, and 25% wensleydale wools, spun into a soft and fuzzy single ply. It’s delightfully wooly, quick to knit at a suggested gauge of 3.5 stitches per inch, and comes in 5 undyed colors, the natural shades of the sheep.

There’s a beautiful new book to go with it, too – Learn to Knit at Home, by Alison Moreton.

Aimed at new knitters, it covers the basic stitches and techniques, then offers a variety of beginner-friendly patterns for accessories, home goods, and even a few garments, all knit with Dovestone Natural Aran and Chunky.

Learn to Knit at Home is a reminder of how very beautiful simple knits and purls can be. It would make such an excellent gift for an aspiring knitter, along with a few balls of Dovestone yarn to work with!

Come by the shop to see what’s new from Baa Ram Ewe, and to peruse their other yarns, as well. See you there!

Hello, Shibui Birch.

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Our newest fall yarn is here! Meet Shibui Birch.

Birch is a single ply 100% extrafine merino wool yarn, soft as cashmere, dyed in 14 of Shibui’s signature colorways.

Each 50 gram skein boasts 262 yards, an especially large number for a sport weight. With a suggested gauge of 26-28 stitches over 4 inches, Birch is on the lighter end of sport weight, and would probably work well in many patterns calling for fingering weight yarns, too.

Anne has just cast on with Birch, and spends her quiet moments at the shop knitting “Icon,” a stockinette wrap decorated with short-row colorblocks. She’s using the colors Mineral, Velvet, and Ivory, a high contrast combination for a striking geometric motif.

I had “Icon” in mind as I unpacked Birch upon its arrival, arranging the colors this way and that, seeking pleasing trios.

The pattern for “Icon” is free when you purchase Shibui Birch from our shop for the project, but it’s not the only design Shibui’s Shellie Anderson has dreamt up for this new yarn. Come by the shop to see the whole Fall/Winter 2017 pattern collection, and expect a preview here on the blog this coming week!

See you at the shop!