Back in stock: Berroco Modern Cotton.

Posted by Julia on February 18, 2017

Berroco Modern Cotton is a staple around here, an economical, machine-washable blend of cotton and rayon in that versatile gauge, worsted weight. It was time for a restock and restock we did, filling our Modern Cotton bins and brightening up our selection.

Modern Cotton is perfect for warm-weather knit and crochet projects, or year-round for those allergic to wool.

It’s also well-suited to blanket making, and to that end, knitters, consider “Chevron Baby Blanket,” “Saurey,” “Hydrangea,” or “Super Easy Crib Blanket.” Crocheters, try “Ripple Blanket,” “Vintage Crocheted Throw & Afghan,” “Oh, the Places You’ll Go Baby Blanket,” or “Crochet Super Easy Baby Blanket.”

Look for more pattern ideas on our Worsted weight Pinterest board, and come by the shop to see the yarn itself and plan your next project!

Shibui Sample of the Month: Stanza.

Posted by Julia on February 7, 2017

February is here, and with it, a new Shibui Sample of the Month! We offer a 10% discount on Shibui yarn purchased for our featured sample til the end of the month.

This month’s featured sample is “Stanza,” by Shellie Anderson, a stylishly simple cowl knit with 2 skeins of Shibui Drift.

Drift is a worsted weight blend of 85% extra fine merino wool and 15% cashmere, and it’s as soft as its fiber content suggests. It’s just the kind of yarn you’d want wrapped around your neck in a cozy cowl.

The pattern is free when you purchase Shibui Drift from us, and we’re offering a 10% discount on Drift purchased for this project til the end of the month. Come by the shop to start a “Stanza” of your own before February 28th!

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

Hello, Brooklyn Tweed Shelter.

Posted by Julia on January 14, 2017

Brooklyn Tweed yarns are now available at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! We’re starting with Shelter, Loft, and Arbor, and introducing each one on the blog this week. Today, meet Shelter.

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter is a worsted weight, woolen-spun Targhee-Columbia wool, sourced, dyed, and spun entirely in the USA. Woolen-spun yarns are lofty and somewhat delicate, and because of the air trapped between their jumbled fibers, they are also especially warm for their weight. Clara Parkes has written at length about this, in her Knitter’s Book of Wool as well as in her glowing review of Shelter.

We have all 40 colors of Shelter in stock, an outstanding palette of 37 heathers and 3 marls. These shades are created by dyeing the fiber in 16 vibrant solids, then blending them, two or three at a time, into intricate heathers.

In the marled colorways, each ply is a different shade.

Shelter is amenable to a range of gauges, in part because it’s woolen-spun, and is happy to expand or contract based on the needle size used. Give your finished piece a soapy bath, and you’ll find that the yarn blooms into a cohesive, somewhat fuzzy fabric.

The Brooklyn Tweed archives are bursting with tempting patterns for Shelter, the first yarn they developed, and a browse through those patterns show that the yarn is well suited to all manner of techniques, from cables and texture to lace and colorwork. Here are some of the Shelter patterns I’ve admired over the years, that I can’t wait to take another look at now that this exciting yarn is easily within reach:

“Cascades,” by Michele Wang, a cabled and textured pullover
“Furrow Cowl,” from Jared Flood’s Woolens, an oversized textured cowl
“Sundottir,” by Dianna Walla, a colorwork yoke pullover
“Wheaten,” by Anne Hanson, a lace and cable scarf, wrap, or blanket
“Adara,” by Michele Wang, a colorwork turtleneck
“Bray Cap,” by Jared Flood, a lace and cable beanie
“Svalbard,” by Bristol Ivy, a textured open front cardigan
“Grettir,” by Jared Flood, a colorwork yoke pullover

All of these Brooklyn Tweed patterns (and so many more!) are available as Ravelry In-Store Pattern Sales, where you purchase the pattern here at the shop and a digital copy is saved in your email and/or Ravelry pattern library. We’ll print a copy for you, too, so you can head right home and cast on. Check out our Worsted weight Pinterest board for a few more pattern ideas!

Look for Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in the worsted weight section here at the shop. See you there!

Shibui Sample of the Month: Breton Cowl colorways.

Posted by Julia on November 18, 2016

Our November Shibui Sample of the Month is on display at the shop til November 30th, and we’re offering the Shibui yarns for this project at 10% off throughout the month!

This particular “Breton Cowl” is knit with a relatively high-contrast combination of colors, namely Drift in “Graphite” and Silk Cloud in “Suit.” There’s an argument to be made that high-contrast colorways are better suited to this pattern than subtle ones, and here are a few such colorways.

Above: Drift in “Tar” and Silk Cloud in “Apple.” Below: Drift in “Velvet” and Silk Cloud in “Raspberry.”

Ginny recently brought her finished “Breton Cowl” in for show-and-tell, and it’s this very combination that she used. I love the bright pop of “Raspberry” against the deeply saturated “Velvet.”

For those who favor subtlety, here are a couple of low-contrast color combinations that I find just as exciting.

Above: Drift in “Suit” and Silk Cloud in “Blueprint.” Below: Drift in “Pollen” and Silk Cloud in “Mineral.”

Come by the shop to create your own “Breton Cowl” color combination, and get the Shibui yarns for this project at 10% off during November!

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

Shibui Sample of the Month: Breton Cowl.

Posted by Julia on November 9, 2016

November is here, and with it, a new Shibui Sample of the Month! We offer a 10% discount on Shibui yarns purchased for our featured sample til the end of the month.

Our current Shibui Sample of the Month is the “Breton Cowl,” by Antonia Shankland, from Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide No. 1: Stripes.

This luxurious cowl is knit with thick garter stitch stripes of smooth Shibui Drift, punctuated by stockinette welts in fuzzy Silk Cloud.

We’re offering a 10% discount on Drift and Silk Cloud purchased for this project til the end of the month, so come by the shop to see it before November 30th!

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

Hello, Shibui Drift.

Posted by Julia on September 14, 2016

Meet Shibui’s newest yarn, Drift!

Drift is a worsted weight blend of 85% extra fine merino wool and 15% cashmere, and it’s just as soft as its fiber content suggests.

Drift knits up between 4.5 and 5 stitches per inch on a US 8, a heavier gauge than we’re used to seeing from Shibui.

Like all of their yarns, Drift is designed to be mixed with other Shibui yarns for interesting effects: add a strand of Silk Cloud for a fuzzy halo, for example.

The Fall/Winter 2016 pattern collection, by Shellie Anderson, makes good use of Drift, as well as familiar Shibui yarns like Staccato, Cima, Dune, Maai, and Pebble. These garments continue in the Shibui tradition of modern, wearable pieces, designed with elegant simplicity but great attention to detail.

Come by the shop to meet Drift and see patterns from the new collection!

New colors in Cumbria Worsted.

Posted by Julia on May 27, 2016

Fibre Company just added four fresh new shades to Cumbria Worsted!

Cumbria Worsted is composed of 60% merino wool, 30% masham wool, and 10% mohair. The soft white merino is blended with the dark gray masham, creating a natural heathered base color over which all the other colorways are dyed.

How to use Cumbria Worsted? Look for worsted weight patterns where stitch definition and structure are important; think cables, texture patterns, hardy sweaters and heirloom blankets or shawls.

Consider Hannah Fettig’s “Coastal Pullover,” Courtney Kelley’s “Seascale” gansey, Kate Gagnon Osborn’s “Clawthorpe” pullover, “Rockcliffe” scarf and “Seathwaite” hat, and Alana Dakos’ “Four Seasons” shawl, to start with. Keep digging, and you’ll likely end up with a long wishlist of patterns perfectly suited to this yarn. Let us know what you find!

Cumbria Worsted has only been around since August of 2015, but already feels like a staple in our worsted weight section. It’s even spawned a finer weight, the dreamy Cumbria Fingering. I’ve had the pleasure of knitting with both Cumbria yarns, and I’m eager to return to this smooth and sturdy yarn for future projects.

Come by the shop to see the new Cumbria Worsted colors and plan your next project!

Bristol Ivy Collection Trunk Show!

Posted by Julia on March 9, 2016

Another Fibre Company Trunk Show has arrived at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop! From now til March 20th, 2016, we’ll have the Bristol Ivy Collection on display.

All six of these sweaters were designed by Bristol Ivy for Fibre Company Cumbria yarns, three in Cumbria Worsted and three in Cumbria Fingering. Both yarns are composed of merino and masham wools with a bit of mohair, and while plenty soft, they are also quite sturdy.

These designs appear simple at first glance, mainly smooth stockinette trimmed with tidy ribbing, but each one has a clever detail or surprising design element–a bit of lace at the shoulder, a mesh panel at the back, and so on.

Don’t hesitate to ask us to take these sweaters off the wall for a closer look! They’re here to be admired up close and personal, tried on for shape and size. Though we don’t keep print copies of these patterns in stock, they are all available as Ravelry In-Store Pattern Sales, where we print a copy for you and a digital copy is stored in your email and Ravelry pattern library.

Come by the shop before March 20th, 2016, to see the Bristol Ivy Collection Trunk Show. We’re offering a 10% discount on Fibre Company Cumbria yarns during the Trunk Show, so come by soon to plan your next project!

A reminder: discount applies to in-stock Cumbria Worsted and Fingering as well as prepaid Cumbria Worsted and Fingering special orders. All sales are final on discounted yarn; there can be no returns or exchanges. Thanks!

Cumbria Collection Trunk Show!

Posted by Julia on February 10, 2016

Our first Trunk Show of 2016 has arrived, and we’ve decorated our walls with the Kelbourne Woolens Cumbria Collection, featuring garments knit in Fibre Company Cumbria Worsted.

These designs are inspired by the knitting tradition of the British Isles, from ganseys to stranded colorwork to cables.

The Cumbria Collection features a variety of sweaters and accessories that look fun and interesting to knit and comfortable to wear.

Knit in a hearty worsted weight blend of 60% merino wool, 30% masham wool, and 10% mohair, these garments should weather regular wear, maintaining their shape for years to come.

Come by the shop before February 21st, 2016, to admire, try on for size, and get a tangible sense of how this yarn behaves in a variety of knitted fabrics. We’re offering a 10% discount on Fibre Company Cumbria during the Trunk Show, so come by soon to plan your next project!

A reminder: discount applies to in-stock Cumbria Worsted as well as prepaid Cumbria Worsted special orders. All sales are final on discounted yarn; there can be no returns or exchanges. Thanks!

Back in stock: Berroco Modern Cotton.

Posted by Julia on January 30, 2016

Earlier this week, a particularly large box arrived from Berroco, filled with over 40 pounds of Modern Cotton. Since its debut in Spring 2014, Modern Cotton has become a staple here at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop, so we picked up some of the newest colors and replenished our supply of old favorites. We now have an impressive 25 colors on our shelves!

Modern Cotton is a worsted weight blend of 60% cotton and 40% rayon, perfect for warm-weather knit and crochet projects, or year-round for those allergic to wool.

Modern Cotton is soft in the hand, machine-washable, and affordable, to boot. All of those qualities make it well-suited to blanket-making. Knitters, consider “Chevron Baby Blanket,” “Saurey,” “Hydrangea,” or “Super Easy Crib Blanket.” Crocheters, try “Ripple Blanket,” “Vintage Crocheted Throw & Afghan,” “Oh, the Places You’ll Go Baby Blanket,” or “Crochet Super Easy Baby Blanket.”

Beyond blankets, Modern Cotton will do well in any pattern calling for worsted weight yarn where the drape of plant fibers is welcome. For adult garments, check out Berroco Modern Cotton Women, a collection of patterns by Amy Christoffers featuring sweaters and accessories knit in Modern Cotton. Don’t miss “Watson,” “Carioca,” “Sanpoku,” and “Admit,” free patterns from Berroco for three cardigans and a tank, respectively. Follow us on Pinterest for even more worsted weight pattern ideas!

Look for Berroco Modern Cotton in the worsted weight section here at the shop. See you there!