Tag Archives: woolen-spun

Brooklyn Tweed + Chroma.

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Jacqueline Cieslak’s latest pattern, “Chroma,” immediately caught my eye, with its bold color blocking and cute pockets.

“Chroma,” by Jacqueline Cieslak, knit with Brooklyn Tweed Shelter. Photo © Jacqueline Cieslak.

I was pleased to see that “Chroma” is knit with none other than Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, one of my favorite sweater yarns. In Cieslak’s words, Shelter “has a soft and squishy but slightly rustic hand, and knits up into incredibly light garments with beautiful structure, stitch definition, and minimal drape.” Couldn’t agree more!

With two- and four-color options, “Chroma” is a blank canvas for color play. High contrast, low contrast, complementary colors, shades from the same color family – they all work!

Brooklyn Tweed Tones is another great option for “Chroma” – it’s lofty like Shelter, but has 3 plies for a slightly smoother texture. Brooklyn Tweed recently expanded the Tones (and Tones Light!) palette with 3 new color pairs: Acer, Icicle, and Deco, each of which comes in lighter Overtone and darker Undertone shades.

Here are a few more “Chroma” combinations in Tones!

Look for Brooklyn Tweed Shelter and Tones in the worsted weight section here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, along with many other “Chroma” possibilities!

What to knit with BT Tones Light?

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Brooklyn Tweed’s new yarn, Tones Light, is already turning heads here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. What to knit with this colorful stuff? Here are some ideas!

Jared Flood designed two new patterns especially for this yarn, “Shadow Stripe Pullover” and “All Ways Hat.”

“Shadow Stripe Pullover,” by Jared Flood, photo © Brooklyn Tweed

“All Ways Hat,” by Jared Flood, photo © Brooklyn Tweed

Because Tones Light can easily substitute for Loft or Peerie, there’s a world of patterns to choose from; here are some ideas from both the Brooklyn Tweed pattern archive and independent designers!

Garments:

“The Weekender Light,” by Andrea Mowry – reverse stockinette pullover with slip stitch detail

“Bract,” by Sarah Shephard – colorwork yoke pullover with triangle motif

“Stasis,” by Leila Raven – colorwork yoke pullover with geometric motif

“Birkin,” by Caitlin Hunter – colorwork yoke pullover with floral motif

“Hello From My Colors Crop,” by Jessie Maed – short sleeved pullover with all over stranded colorwork

“Berenice,” by Julie Hoover – lace and cable pullover

“Culm,” by Fiona Alice – textured dolman-sleeved pullover

“Woodblock,” by Emily Greene – textured short-sleeved pullover

“Wool & Honey,” by Andrea Mowry – honeycomb cable yoke pullover

Accessories:

“Skipp,” by Jared Flood – brioche hat

“Seeds,” by Jared Flood – colorwork hat

“Ensata Scarf & Cowl,” by Amy van de Laar – lace and ribbing

“Nysa,” by Jared Flood – garter stitch and eyelet shawl

“SSP (slip stitch party) shawl,” by Isabell Kraemer – six color slip stitch shawl

“Lunae,” by Natasja Hornby – two color slip stitch shawl

I’m the lucky knitter with the assignment of making a shop sample in Tones Light, and all of these vibrant colors had me thinking of Stephen West. I picked “Painting Parallelograms” from Painting Shawls, a slip stitch scarf whose shape and texture intrigued me. I picked three shades of Tones Light for the contrast colors, and a speckled skein of Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Sock for the main – here’s a peek at my progress so far.

Look for BT Tones Light in the fingering weight section here at HYS – see you at the shop!

Shelter + Color Story.

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Brooklyn Tweed’s vibrant new shades in Shelter have us itching for colorwork, and Tif Neilan’s new “Color Story” sweater looks like the perfect project!

“Color Story,” by Tif Neilan, photo © Tif Neilan

This five color, top down, short sleeved pullover encourages playful, intuitive color combinations. Neilan has selected a light neutral background color and four shades dark enough to contrast against it – here’s a similar palette in Brooklyn Tweed Shelter.

I had fun putting together a few more “Color Story” colorways, sticking with a light background color, but varying the value of the contrast colors a bit.

Between the solid and heathered shades, Shelter now comes in over 45 colors, so there’s lots to choose from – look for Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in the worsted weight section here at our shop, along with Tones, Ranch 02, and much more! We’re open from 11-5:30, Tuesdays-Saturdays; masks required for entry.

Hello, Brooklyn Tweed Tones Light!

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We’re excited to announce that Brooklyn Tweed’s new yarn is here: meet Tones Light!

Brooklyn Tweed Tones Light:

  • fingering weight
  • woolen-spun
  • 2 ply
  • overdyed
  • 100% Columbia wool
  • 225 yards/50g
  • $16.75 each

A lighter weight version of BT Tones, Tones Light brings vibrant overdyed color to our fingering weight section.

At first glance, Tones Light bears a striking resemblance to its neighbor, Loft – both are fingering weight and woolen spun, with the same suggested gauge. There’s one key difference, however, that make Tones Light an exciting new addition to Brooklyn Tweed’s domestically-sourced, breed-specific lineup: color!

Tones Light is overdyed in vibrant, playful colors, starting with two baseline shades of undyed natural gray. The lighter shade is the overtone, and the darker shade is the undertone, and each of them has been dipped in 11 new colorways, creating tone pairs.

Look for Brooklyn Tweed Tones Light in the fingering weight section here at our shop! We are open between 11am – 5:30pm, Tuesdays – Saturdays; masks are required for entry. You can still order online for local pickup or shipping, as well.

New colors in Brooklyn Tweed Shelter!

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We’re excited to have 12 new shades of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter here at our shop!

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter:

  • worsted weight
  • woolen-spun, 2 ply
  • 100% Targhee-Columbia wool
  • 140 yards/50 g
  • $16.50 each

Shelter is Brooklyn Tweed’s first yarn, and one of the most well-loved – a worsted weight, woolen-spun Targhee-Columbia wool, sourced, dyed, and spun entirely in the USA. So far, all the colors have been created by dyeing the fiber in 16 vibrant solids, then blending them, two or three at a time, into intricate heathers. This new batch of colors is skein-dyed, inspired by nature and designed to enhance and play well with the existing Shelter palette.

What to knit with Brooklyn Tweed Shelter? Here are some of our favorite patterns for this versatile yarn!

Garments:

Accessories:

While BT works to get their classic heathered colorways back into production after a mill closure, we’re happy to have these new colors to brighten our Shelter selection! Look for Shelter in the worsted weight section here at our shop – we’re open from 11am – 5:30pm, Tuesdays – Saturdays.

Hello, Brooklyn Tweed Tones!

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We’re excited to announce that Brooklyn Tweed’s new yarn is here: meet Tones!

Brooklyn Tweed Tones:

  • worsted weight
  • woolen-spun
  • 3 ply
  • overdyed
  • 100% Columbia wool
  • 140 yards/50g
  • $13.75 each

At first glance, Tones bears a striking resemblance to Shelter – both are worsted weight and woolen spun, with the same yardage, weight, suggested gauge, and price. There are a few key differences, however, that make Tones an exciting new addition to Brooklyn Tweed’s domestically-sourced, breed-specific lineup; the first is color!

Tones is overdyed in vibrant, playful colors, starting with two baseline shades of undyed natural gray. The lighter shade is the overtone, and the darker shade is the undertone, and each of them has been dipped in 11 new colorways, creating tone pairs.

Another difference between Tones and Shelter is the number of plies. Shelter is a 2 ply, which has a slightly more rustic appearance, and Tones is a 3 ply, which is more round and smooth for outstanding stitch definition. Cables and other texture patterns show nicely in Shelter, to be sure, but they really pop in Tones!

I’m the lucky knitter in charge of knitting a sample for the shop in Tones, and I picked Jared Flood’s now classic “Turn a Square” hat. Wanting to showcase the slight difference between overtone and undertone, I picked Nimbus for both main and contrast color – a low-contrast combination that appeals to my eye.

I’m loving the springy, woolly feel of Tones, and already planning a sweater for myself, naturally – perhaps a second “Docklight,” a sweater I knit for myself seven years ago and still reach for as soon as the temperature drops.

Look for Brooklyn Tweed Tones in the worsted weight section here at our shop! We are now open for drop-in shopping between 11am – 5:30pm, Tuesdays – Saturdays; you can still order online for local pickup or shipping, as well.

Shelter + First Colorwork Cowl.

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BT by Brooklyn Tweed is a collection of short, accessible knitting patterns designed for learning new skills. The latest in this series is “First Colorwork Cowl,” by Jared Flood, knit with the worsted weight, woolen spun Shelter.

“First Colorwork Cowl” is shown here in 3 colors, but Flood has come up with 4- and 5-color options, too! We’ve put together bundles for this pattern in BT’s color combinations along with a few of our own.

 

 

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter: worsted weight, 100% Targhee-Columbia wool, 140 yards/50 g; $16.50 each

3-color options (4 skeins): $66

4-color options (5 skeins): $82.50

5-color options (6 skeins): $99

 

 

 

The “First Colorwork Cowl” pattern is free when you purchase at least 4 skeins of Shelter from us; it includes a link to a companion PDF with information on knitting the cowl with 4 or 5 colors.

 

If any of these color combinations grabs you, order online for local pickup or shipping! We’re also happy to help put together a custom colorway just for you – just let us know what shades you love. You can see them all on the Brooklyn Tweed website, and know that we have almost every one here on our shelves, even some of the retired shades.

Shelter + Otte.

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Brooklyn Tweed’s latest pattern collection is Form + Expression, five garments and accessories united by the theme of self-expression through color and texture.

Of this group, “Otte” leapt out at me, as colorwork pullovers often do. Knit with worsted weight, woolen-spun Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, Jared Flood’s unisex design invites playful color combinations.

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter: worsted weight, 100% Targhee-Columbia wool, 140 yards/50 g; $16.50 each. Sweater uses 9-22 skeins, depending upon size.

Below is the color combination shown in the pattern photo, with Amaranth as the main color and Tartan, Fossil, and Iceberg as contrast colors 1-3.

With this colorway in mind, and with inspiration from “Otte” projects on Ravelry, I came up with some more combinations – let’s take a look!

If any of these color combinations grabs you, order online for local pickup or shipping! We’re also happy to help put together a custom colorway just for you – just let us know what shades you love! You can see them all on the Brooklyn Tweed website, and know that we have almost every one here on our shelves, even some of the retired shades.

Hello, Brooklyn Tweed Dapple!

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We’re excited to announce the arrival of Brooklyn Tweed’s newest yarn, Dapple!

Dapple is a 2ply woolen-spun blend of 60% merino wool and 40% organic cotton, a DK weight yarn with softness and bounce. Each 50 gram skein has 165 yards, and costs $15.25.

Dapple is tonally dyed, meaning skeins in the same colorway differ from one another even in the same dye lot. Some are lighter, some are darker, some almost look marled! This isn’t immediately apparent when looking at one skein of Dapple at a time, so I’ve laid out big groups of each colorway to give a better sense of the variety.

It’s a refreshing new look from Brooklyn Tweed, and one that invites new ways of playing with color. Bold stripes and colorwork come immediately to mind, but don’t shy away from using Dapple in a single-color garment; you can arrange the skeins in a gradient from light to dark, or arrange them randomly by value and alternate skeins for a more blended effect.

Like all Brooklyn Tweed yarns, Dapple is sourced, spun, and dyed in the US, an effort to produce beautiful yarn sustainably and ethically.

Part of that ethical production is acknowledging that cotton is a fiber with a fraught history in America, one whose impact is still felt. Cotton production is rooted in the displacement of indigenous communities, the exploitation of the labor of enslaved Black people, and the devastation of land through overproduction.

In contrast, Dapple’s cotton comes from members of the Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative, who maintain safe labor practices for their employees while farming in a sustainable manner. It is as important to invest in this work as it is to learn about this history, and Brooklyn Tweed is doing both and inviting us to join them. Going forward, they are donating a portion of Dapple’s proceeds to the National Black Farmers Association, and are sharing a series of videos and essays on textiles and race as they introduce Dapple.

What to make with Dapple? This new yarn has launched with patterns from Jared Flood: “Ginn,” a raglan pullover, and “Urtia,” a half brioche hat. Stay tuned for more pattern ideas, and to see what’s on our needles – we’ve found so many exciting projects for Dapple!

Order Dapple online for local pickup or USPS Priority Mail Shipping – thanks again for your support and understanding during our temporary closure!

Though we’re in the midst of our Annual Inventory Sale, Dapple will not be discounted during this time. Thanks for understanding!

Back in stock: Tukuwool Fingering.

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We recently restocked Tukuwool Fingering, a Finnish yarn that has become a favorite around here in the few short years we’ve carried it.

Tukuwool Fingering is a woolen-spun, fingering weight blend of Finnsheep and Finnsheep-Texel wool, sourced and produced entirely in Finland. It’s a little toothy, but soft enough for next-to-skin wear, depending upon one’s preferences; a springy and resilient yarn.

I knit two “Bousta Beanies” with this yarn and fell in love with it along the way. Unpacking this recent order of Tukuwool, I contemplated trios of color with the “Bousta Beanie” in mind; here are a few I came up with.

  

Order Tukuwool Fingering online from the Hillsborough Yarn Shop – we’re happy to help put together a special colorway just for you!