Tag Archives: the fibre company

Hello, Fibre Co. Arranmore Light.

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We’re excited to announce that the newest yarn from Fibre Company is here: meet Arranmore Light!

A thinner version of the popular Arranmore, Arranmore Light is a DK weight tweed, composed of 80% merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% silk. Both Arranmore yarns are spun in a mill that traces its roots to the tweed industry of 19th century County Donegal in Ireland.

Like any classic tweed, Arranmore Light is dotted with flecks of fiber in contrasting colors, and like any Fibre Company yarn, its colorways and fiber content have been thoughtfully fashioned.

Where Arranmore was lofty for its bulky gauge, Arranmore Light has drape for all-seasons garments and precision for cable and colorwork accessories.

Anne knit one such accessory with sample skeins acquired in advance of our order, thanks to Kelbourne Woolens, our US distributor of Fibre Company yarns.

“Candy Darling” is a hat and mitten set in high contrast colors, with stripes in all directions and playful geometric motifs. It’s part of the Kelbourne Woolens Pop Collection for Arranmore Light, inspired by fashion, music, and youth culture of the 1960’s. The Fibre Company themselves have come out with a new pattern collection: Fell Garth II. Look there for more sweaters knit with Arranmore Light and other Fibre Company yarns, and yet more pattern inspiration on our “DK weight” Pinterest board!

Come by the shop to plan your next project, and head straight for the DK weight section to admire Arranmore Light. See you there!

Show and tell: lace.

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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!

Hello, Rib Magazine.

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Yes, we’re really starting to feel like a bookstore – another new magazine has landed here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! Meet Rib, a magazine for men who knit and those who knit for them.

There are far more knitting patterns published with women in mind than men, which is a real shame. Rib is working to change that, and fills its pages with patterns and articles of interest to male knitters, who so rarely see themselves reflected in craft magazines.

The theme of this issue is Navigate, which conjures sailing and guernseys, among other things, and the patterns and articles within interpret that theme in a variety of ways.

The cabled pullover on the cover is made with one of our favorites, Fibre Company Cumbria Fingering – a perfect yarn for showing off stitch patterns, especially in such a dark color. I spotted two projects for Brooklyn Tweed yarns, which always seem to catch my eye; the brioche scarf above is made with the DK weight Arbor, and the two-tone sweater below, with the worsted weight Shelter.

Look for Rib on the teacart here at the shop, amidst piles of exciting new publications for all kinds of knitters!

Pom Pom Quarterly: Summer 2017.

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The Summer 2017 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly is here again! Our first batch of these beauties sold out the day they arrived, so we are happy to have another bundle on the teacart here at the shop.

This is their 5th anniversary issue, a real milestone for a relatively young print publication. To celebrate, they’ve put together a big special issue with two different covers to choose from, full of celebratory designs with party-themed names.

Above is Linda Dubec’s festive “Bash” hat, knit with Fibre Company Cumbria Fingering, a soft and sturdy blend of merino, masham, and mohair. Below is Julia Farwell-Clay’s “Ceilidh,” an oversized, pocketed pullover knit with Brooklyn Tweed Shelter.

Rachel Coopey contributes the “Festoon” socks below, a delightfully textured pair knit with none other than CoopKnits Socks Yeah!, Coopey’s signature sock yarn.

Look for Pom Pom Quarterly on the teacart here at the shop, where the latest books and magazines mingle. See you there!

Triangle Yarn Crawl.

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The Triangle Yarn Crawl is a self-guided tour of local yarn shops, where yarn-lovers get together and hop from one shop to the next, shopping, entering raffles, and seeing the full breadth of available fibers. They happen just once a year, and the time has come again: the Spring 2017 crawl is coming up this weekend on April 22nd and 23rd! 

Each local yarn shop has something special to offer, and we’re no exception: we have two Trunk Shows on display, one from Baa Ram Ewe and one from The Fibre Company. Each show features four garments in the newest yarns from those companies, Dovestone Natural Aran and Luma, respectively, and we’re offering a 10% discount on those yarns during the show. We’re putting another of our favorite yarns on an even deeper discount this weekend… follow us on Instagram for more about that later in the week!

One exciting new feature of the TYC this year is that every shop is presenting a new free pattern especially for the Yarn Crawl. Each of the eight participating shops in the Triangle has something unique to offer our local fiber-loving community, and I expect their patterns will reflect that. Ours is a moebius cowl Rosi designed using one of our favorite yarns, Shibui Staccato. Don’t miss seeing the sample when you’re here this weekend!

There’s a bag of goodies at each of the participating shops, a raffle prize full of yarn, patterns, and more. Some of its contents are donated by TYC sponsors like Berroco, Cascade, Malabrigo, Mountain Colors, and Classic Elite, and others come from our own collection here at the shop.

Some of our prizes include a project bag, skein of Knightsbridge, and measuring tape from Kelbourne Woolens, a pack of Cormo Fingering mini-skeins from Sincere Sheep, and a Lilly Brush for removing pills. It’s all packed up in one of our sturdy canvas Hillsborough Yarn Shop totes, along with a few other surprises!

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! 

Luma Collection Trunk Show!

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Delighted to report that our Fibre Company Trunk Show arrived a little early – come by the shop to see the Luma Collection!

The Luma Collection is comprised of four lightweight garments knit with the Fibre Company’s newest yarn, Luma.

Luma is a smooth DK weight blend of 50% merino wool, 25% organic cotton, 15% linen, and 10% silk. This balanced combination of elastic animal fiber and cool plant fiber is ideal for year-round wear, especially in our warm North Carolina climate.

The “Stone Point” poncho has been the most popular of this collection since its release in February; Amy is planning a class on the subject for folks interested in learning about lace and making a beautiful poncho along the way. We have just a few spaces left, so sign up now if this is a class you’d like to attend!

We’ll have the Luma Collection on display here at the shop until April 23rd, and are offering a 10% discount on Luma during that time. Hurry in to try these garments on for size and get a tangible sense of how this yarn knits up in lace, cables, stockinette, and other texture patterns.

See you at the shop!

A reminder: all sales are final on discounted yarn. There can be no returns or exchanges, nor special orders–the discount applies only to what we currently have in stock. Thanks! 

Knitscene.

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The Summer 2017 issue of Knitscene has arrived!

This issue features lively warm-weather garments and accessories: tanks and tees, shawls and cowls, even a pair of knit shorts. This striped “Crossover Tank” is shown in Cascade Ultra Pima, a machine-washable dk weight cotton.

“Joni’s Lacy Cowl” calls for one of our favorite spring and summer yarns, Fibre Company Meadow, a lace weight blend of merino, llama, silk, and linen. This pattern was recently featured on the Kelbourne Woolens blog; head in that direction to read more about it.

Look for Knitscene on the teacart here at the shop, which is crowded with exciting new books and magazines!

 

 

knit.wear.

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The Spring/Summer 2017 issue of knit.wear is here!

This stylish magazine from Interweave is notably garment-oriented, a publication with more sweater patterns than accessories.

So many of our favorite yarns are represented in this issue – Fibre Company Acadia and Arranmore, Brooklyn Tweed Loft, Shibui Twig, and more.

Come by the shop to pick up a copy of knit.wear, and browse our latest acquisitions while you’re at it. We hope you find inspiration here!

Show and tell: Brooklyn Tweed, part 2.

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Earlier in the week, I shared a few of the many Brooklyn Tweed works-in-progress that began life as yarns on our shelves. I can’t wait to see them all grown up and completed, just like this next group of garments.

Nancy knit this “Pei” cowl by Michele Wang with just one skein of Brooklyn Tweed Loft, using the color “Birdbook,” a mossy green. She kindly left it with us to display for awhile, so look for it next time you’re here at the shop!

Katherine used Brooklyn Tweed Arbor in “Hammock” and Fibre Company Acadia in “Blueberry” together to knit these “Gimmers” by Ann Kingstone. Technically this is a work-in-progress, as the second mitt is still underway, but I couldn’t resist photographing this stunning bit of colorwork, even before blocking.

I knit this “Banff” hat by tincanknits in three sittings, loving every stitch of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, plotting a sweater with it already. The yarn is soft and light, feeling somehow spongey or doughy in the hand, and strange as that description may sound, it’s such a satisfying fiber to work with, I can scarcely recommend it highly enough! I chose the colors “Snowbound” and “Long Johns,” an evocative combination.

Katherine knit this “Bradway” shawl, by Shannon Cook, using three shades of Shelter: “Fossil,” “Truffle Hunt,” and “Almanac.”

Her upcoming class on the subject still has a couple of openings; sign up now if you’d like to claim one!

Thanks to all the knitters, crocheters, weavers, and other fiber artists who begin their projects with a trip to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, and thanks to those who bring them back to show us the finished product!

Vogue Knitting.

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The latest issue of Vogue Knitting is here! Let’s take a peek.

Themes of this issue include cables, marled yarn, and Canada.

Holding two strands of yarn together as you knit opens up color-blending possibilities that really change the look of the yarn at hand. Case in point: the marled hoodie above is knit with Fibre Company Knightsbridge, which has never looked so painterly as it does here.

Many Canadian knitwear designers and yarn companies are featured in this issue, including Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Lucy Neatby.

Look for this issue of Vogue Knitting on the teacart, surrounded by the latest books and magazines. See you at the shop!