Tag Archives: swans island

Hello, Swans Island Organic Washable.

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For three years now, we have visited the Swans Island booth at TNNA to place orders for their exceptionally soft merino yarns which are hand-dyed in Maine. Many of our knitters have made sweaters, shawls, hats, and mitts with these yarns, then come back for more, telling us how nicely they behave on and off the needles. When we arrived at market this year to find that Swans Island had created a machine-washable yarn, we knew we had to have it.

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Swans Island have made this dk weight yarn machine-washable using a new-to-the-US process called Ecowash®, which coats the yarn with an organic compound rather than stripping the scales from the fiber. This helps to prevent felting and gives the Swans Island Organic Washable a softer hand than many other superwash wools.

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I knit a little baby vest for the shop using a few skeins we picked up at market,  thinking how perfectly suited this yarn is to heirloom baby knits: buttery soft, minimally processed, organic, yet still machine-washable. I alternated skeins to keep this subtly semi-solid shade from pooling, and I’m glad I did; one skein was slightly darker than the other, and working back and forth between the two balls of yarn was a painless way to blend them.

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The pattern is “Cabled Vest,” from Susie Haumann’s All You Knit is Love, a collection of knits for babies ages 0-18 months. The pattern calls for two Isager yarns held together, but the gauge is 5.25 stitches per inch, which is perfectly achievable using a single strand of dk weight yarn.

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Besides baby things, Swans Island Organic Washable is perfect for adult garments as well as accessories. Its round shape and plump, springy quality give it excellent stitch definition for cables and other texture patterns. One 140 yard skein is plenty for a pair of Welting Fantastic Mitts, and another two will make a matching cowl. A Ravelry search sorting by gauge, looking only at patterns calling for dk weight yarns, kept me daydreaming for longer than I’d like to admit, scrolling through patterns for sweaters, shawls, and socks.

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Look for the Swans Island Organic Washable yarn in the second room of the shop, sharing the spotlight with Alchemy and Smooshy with Cashmere. It’s an exciting time to visit the shop, as there seem to be new yarns arriving every week. See you there!

Kira K Designs and Ravelry In-Store Pattern Sales.

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Yesterday’s blog post was all about the latest Kira K patterns we’ve stocked at the shop. Kira Dulaney is a prolific designer of both knit and crochet garments, however, and we wanted our knitters and crocheters to be able to see her whole collection. Kira, like many designers, has made her patterns available as Ravelry In-Store Pattern Sales. This means that you can buy them at the shop, have us print a copy for you, and also know that a digital copy is saved in your Ravelry pattern library or sent to your email.

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We now have a Kira K Designs binder at the shop with sample copies of all her patterns, so you can take a closer look at them before you decide to buy. If you find one you like in the sample pattern binder, just let us know and we’ll do a Ravelry In-Store Pattern Sale so you can have a print and digital copy of your own.

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Flipping through this varied collection of knit and crochet patterns, I noticed some familiar yarns put to good use. This cardigan is made in Cascade Ultra Pima, a dk weight mercerized cotton with a lovely sheen.

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This textured hat is made in Swans Island Organic Merino Worsted, a great way to use a skein of this special yarn.

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Many knitters have admired the Gemini tee hanging in the shop that’s made in Katia Linen–here’s another summery top made in the same yarn, a dk weight blend of cotton and linen.

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There are so many more Kira K patterns tucked into this binder: skirts, hats, gloves and mitts, scarves and cowls, sweaters and jackets and children’s garments. Be sure to take a look next time you’re in the shop, you may find your next project there!

Kira K Designs, for crocheters and knitters alike.

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We were first acquainted with designer Kira Dulaney at last year’s TNNA, when we found her booth alongside Sincere Sheep, offering patterns for Sincere Sheep Equity Sport. This year we visited her booth again, remembering that she offered as many crochet patterns as knitting patterns, and filled up on both. We’ve seen a resurgence of interest in crochet of late, with more and more of our knitters becoming “bilingual,” including myself. Thumbing through the patterns as I unpacked them last week, I kept thinking of yarns that would pair well with each one.

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This crocheted shawl was even more beautiful in person than in the photo, and would be lovely made up in Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere.

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This openwork crocheted scarf or wrap calls for sport weight yarn, immediately bringing two of our favorite sport weight yarns to mind: String Theory Selku and Malabrigo Arroyo.

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Both the above and below crocheted hats call for fingering weight yarn, so there are plenty of tempting choices. String Theory Bluestocking, Ultra Alpaca Fine, Swans Island Organic Merino Fingering, Mountain Colors Bearfoot… I could play this game all day.

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Look for all of these patterns in the Crochet Patterns binder by the front window!

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We got a few new Kira K patterns for knitting, too. This one also calls for fingering weight, so all of the yarns I’ve mentioned would be great choices for this cabled hat, along with Malabrigo Sock, Isager Highland, and Titus.

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This knit cowl and mitt set calls for worsted to aran weight yarn, and the silvery purple/gray color it’s shown in made me think of these shades in Ultra Alpaca and Lustra.

Inspired by Kira K Designs? There are plenty more beyond these; all of Kira Dulaney’s designs are available as Ravelry In-Store Pattern Sales. More on that in tomorrow’s blog post. Come by the shop to see these newest yarns and patterns, and pair them up for your next project!

A new color from Swans Island.

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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!

Show and tell: blanket, shawl, and sweater.

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The last three show and tell photos I’ve collected at the shop have been large-scale projects, long haul knits whose completion is cause for excitement. That excitement made its way to the shop to be shared with us, and now I’ll pass it along to you.

Betsy has been working on a lace patterned blanket in Jitterbug for some time now; it’s warmed her knees as she knit it. Now it is complete–a feat in this colorful fingering weight yarn.

Ever since our Hanne Falkenberg trunk show, Frances has been knitting away on her Promenade, a shawl kit designed by Falkenberg. At times, she had hundreds of stitches on her needle, more than one circular alone could hold. You can see why she’s thrilled to be done with this incredible piece; it’s a real accomplishment.

Margaretta brought a completed sweater in for show and tell, a New Zealand Pullover made in Swans Island Organic Merino Fingering. The pattern is from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knit One, Knit All, a collection of designs that make clever use of garter stitch. The New Zealand Pullover is no exception, a simple sweater full of smart details: short row shaping, underarm gussets, phony seams, etc.

Thanks to all for the impressive show and tell!

Swans Island Trunk Show.

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The Swans Island Trunk Show is here!

For the next couple of weeks, we have sweaters, accessories, a baby blanket, and the incredible Swans Island Coat on loan from Swans Island.

Most of these are made in their Organic Merino Worsted, and some in Organic Merino Fingering. Both yarns make soft fabric that drapes beautifully, with excellent stitch definition. We also have new patterns to give you even more ideas of how to use this special yarn.

Come by the shop to see these beautiful garments while they’re here, and to see how the Swans Island yarns behave when knitted up. See you at the shop!

An abundance of show and tell: part one.

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There’s been so much incredible showing and telling going on at the shop in the past few weeks, enough that it can’t all fit into one blog post. Here’s the first of two installments.

Mary has been cranking out hats in the Swans Island Organic Merino Worsted.

It’s been great to see how these colorways look in a finished garment after months of admiring them in the skein. I was also glad to see that these hats were blocked, allowing the yarn to blossom a bit, and creating a more cohesive fabric. The Swans Island yarn is such cuddly stuff!

Mara came in during the Triangle Yarn Crawl with not one, but two finished pieces to share. Here, she models a sweater made in the sadly discontinued Mission Falls 1824 Wool. The pattern is Tubey, a cleverly-constructed pullover in aran weight yarn–and a free pattern, to boot.

Mara also shared these pretty mitts, a gift for her mother. The pattern is Leafy Fingerless Gloves, available as a free download on Ravelry.

Michelle was knitting at the shop the other day when she finished her Stasis Pullover, made in the much-admired Isager Alpaca 2. I happened to be wearing my recently-completed Stasis, and a photo-op was born. What a difference the yarn makes, in spite of the identical patterning. Michelle’s Stasis came out soft and cuddly in Alpaca 2, and mine came out sturdy and slightly more fitted in Jamieson & Smith 2-ply Jumper Weight. Our two sweaters are the same, but very different, with each of us getting exactly what we wanted out of them. I can’t wait to see Anne’s Stasis, in Schulana Lambswool!

Thanks, everyone, for the amazing show and tell, and keep your eye on the blog for part two!

KnitScene and Jane Austen Knits.

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Two new magazines came in this week: KnitScene and Jane Austen Knits, both of which are full of patterns for sweaters and accessories–plenty to keep your needles busy this fall and winter.

I was pleased to see that KnitScene profiles one of our favorites in this issue: Swans Island, a small company in Maine that produces organic, naturally dyed merino yarns.

For one way to make use of Swans Island’s Organic Merino Fingering, look no further than Jane Austen Knits.

(If that pattern doesn’t appeal, let me pull out our binder of Swans Island patterns for you–there are so many good ways to use this yarn!)

Come by the shop to get the newest fall and winter issues of your favorite knitting and crochet magazines, where you’ll find them on the teacart and the magazine rack. See you there!

Indigo.

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Sincere Sheep and Swans Island are two yarn companies we’re thrilled to support, and one of the many reasons is that they both use all natural dyes. This means that their colors are created with minerals, plants, and insects rather than synthetic, petroleum-derived dyes. The bold blue colors have been some of the most popular in both Sincere Sheep and Swans Island yarns, and they all come from natural indigo, a plant-based colorant. Indigo can also be used to create deep purples and steely grays.

Natural indigo has a tendency to rub off, one which you may have already experienced in a pair of blue jeans. A knitter working with an indigo-dyed yarn will likely have blue fingers after a while, but it washes off easily and won’t stain your hands. The color comes off on wooden needles, as well, so metal needles are a good idea if the notion of blue-tipped bamboo needles troubles you.

Once the garment is complete, Swans Island recommends giving it a good soak with a gentle fiber cleanser like Eucalan, along with a rinse afterward, until the water runs clear. After that, the indigo should not rub off onto your neck as you wear your scarf, or onto your clothes. I recently washed a swatch of indigo-dyed yarn, and can attest that while it gave off a dark blue color in its water bath, the color of the yarn itself did not fade.

This little swatch was made with Sincere Sheep Luminous, a dk weight blend of Polwarth wool and Tussah silk. The yarn is a deep, brilliant blue called “Anja,” an indigo-based colorway. (You may have seen that little swatch before, in fact; it’s on the left in this picture of all our TNNA swatches.) Now that three yarns from Sincere Sheep have made the Hillsborough Yarn Shop their home, I thought I’d pull that swatch out and block it, so it could live with the Luminous yarn as a small sample. I was thrilled with how well-behaved the yarn was in its swatch and its bath, how readily it shows off cables, lace, stockinette, and all else. Yarns like these are worth blue-tinted fingertips; anticipate the rub-off and these indigo-based colorways will delight you.

(If you’re interested in the process of dyeing with natural materials, you can read more about it on the Swans Island website.)

New colors in Swans Island Organic Merino Fingering.

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Recently, when we reordered a few sold-out colors in Swans Island’s buttery soft, naturally dyed, organically processed fingering weight merino wool, we couldn’t help but notice a few colors we’d never stocked before. Why don’t we have this yellow?, we asked each other. We should really have a darker green, don’t you think? And what about that new, limited-edition color for Fall? The delicious-sounding one? Oh yes: Sugar Maple.

So, we ordered a few new colors along with the old favorites, bringing our total number of available colors to a sweet 16. We just couldn’t help ourselves.

Come by the shop to see this expanded selection of Swans Island Organic Merino Fingering, and think about all the incredible one-, two-, or three-color shawls out there calling for fingering weight yarn. Multnomah, Rockefeller, Color Affection, I’m looking at you. Or you could make an entire sweater out of it–I did, and I couldn’t be happier.

See you at the shop!