You've probably seen "Hey Jude," the adorable green sweater on display at Natural Stitches. I asked Amanda Kretchun, the designer of this gem, to talk about her design process. Amanda is a Systems Administrator at BNY Mellon, a wife, and mother of two-year-old Eleni. How did you learn to knit? I was first introduced to knitting while on vacation. I was eight years old, and really enjoyed spending time at the adjacent camp visiting with a woman who was likely my grandmother's age. We would chat and she would keep busy with some craft. After returning home, I was very interested in learning. Thankfully my paternal grandmother also knit and she showed me the basics. My first project was a pair of leg warmers for my Cabbage Patch Kid: two garter stitch rectangles seamed together to form a tube. My next, and last, project was a blue rectangle. I don't have any idea what it was supposed to be, but I folded it in half and used it as a Barbie sleeping bag! Many years passed and my pair of aluminum needles remained unused, but lovingly tucked into the back of my sock drawer. Then I got married. After adding a dog to our family, and coming up with what seemed like an endless project wish list for our new house, my husband told me I needed a hobby. Some ladies on a message board I frequented had started a knitting club, and I had needles. Why not give it a try? So I bought some terrible acrylic yarn from JoAnne's and grabbed a "how to knit" pamphlet and sat quietly by myself trying to remember what my grandma had once taught me. I knit a ribbed scarf with that yarn. It was a disaster, but I did end up joining that knitting group, which was a great decision. Not only did it improve my knitting but I met some great friends too! What inspired you to knit and design Hey Jude? What challenges (if any) did you face? I knit Hey Jude first for a friend who was expecting last spring. I had three friends due around the same time, all very knit worthy friends. I decided to knit a "Placket Sweater" from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for the two babies with earlier due dates. I was pleased with the outcome, but knitting the same pattern again was not appealing to me. So I used the some design features of Jared Flood's "Cobblestone Pullover" and measurements similar to the "Placket Sweater" for size and made it up as I went along. The original was knit from the bottom up, and I ran into all kinds of issues with the garter stitch going from being knit in the round to being knit flat. I hadn't taken any notes and didn't really consider writing up a pattern until after a friend encouraged me to write the pattern and promised to test knit it for me. So I asked for the sweater back from my friend (as a knitter herself she understood) and figured out what I had done and thought of ways to make it better and easier to explain. I wrote the pattern to be knit from the top down, which eliminated a lot of the troubles I had with the prototype. Pattern writing is challenging! It makes me appreciate well written patterns even more! Who are your biggest influences? What do you look at for inspiration? Knitters on Ravelry. Ravelry. Seriously though, what a brilliant idea Ravelry is. Anytime I am starting something new, I go there to see how other knitters' projects have turned out. How the pattern changes based on fiber and color selection. Being able to search patterns to see if something exists to meet my vision or not is pretty great too. But I do have my favorite knitters. I am a huge Jared Flood fan. His patterns and projects just really appeal to me. I love Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's sense of humor about knitting and how she shares her failures and successes. She wrote something about frogging a project, and how it is better to have yarn than an ugly hat. I always think of that when I have to come to terms with ripping out a big project. And of course, Elizabeth Zimmermann, for helping me to be brave about my knitting! Have you designed anything else? Do you plan on designing more in the future? Yes, I have designed a few other items. While "Hey Jude" was my first written pattern, my first design was an Aran throw for a family friend whose spouse had passed. The Aran pattern was based on the traditional Aran design for their Irish last name, and the process really helped me to honor his memory. Then we adopted our second dog and I thought he could use a little Steelers pride. I knit him a black and gold sweater with the Steelers logo done with intarsia on the back. While I never wrote up the sweater pattern I did add the chart for the logo to my Ravelry store as a free download. More recently, I have knit myself a striped vest, complete with steeks, and a new winter hat for my daughter. I hope to write up the hat pattern soon! I believe design will continue to be part of my knitting process. I really enjoy making something exactly as I imagined! Eleni models a hat designed by her mother. This photograph is courtesy of Jennifer of Seedlings Photography. Jennifer is also a knitter and a Natural Stitches customer! I heard a rumor that you are a monogamous knitter. Could you explain what that's all about to those of us who cast on for projects willy-nilly? I am, primarily, a monogamous knitter. I like to work on one item at a time from start to finish. There is something about unfinished projects that stresses me out. It makes me feel like I am behind on my work, that there is maybe too much to finish. Plus I find by focusing my attention on a single project I end up with finished items more quickly. Yes, there are exceptions. If some project is not portable, I will cast on something small for my daily commute to work. Or if I am in a project rut I will throw in something small to spice things up. And there is the baby exception, of course. I will put a project on pause to knit for an expectant friend. But really I am a one project gal at heart! Do you want to knit Hey Jude? Our sample is knitted from Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, modeled here by three year old Henry. This pattern is easily "downsized" or "upsized" with a different yarn. The pattern is for sale at Natural Stitches or through Ravelry.

What’s New Himalaya Yarn Duke Silk, a 100% silk, worsted weight yarn Zauberball! Fun to say and fun to knit, we have new colors in sock plus the brand new Zauberball Laceweight. Hairpin lace looms! You asked and we got them! A big restock of Berocco Vintage, the acrylic blend that is so good, it's won over our yarn snobs Anna and Yvonne New markdowns on yarn, including Xie, a bamboo laceweight at 40% off. And coming soon, new colors of Pagewood Alyeska and Denali, new colors of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, and a huge Malabrigo shipment.

How to Help in Haiti One of our customers, Kelly Parker, is organizing Hats for Haitians, and Natural Stitches will serve as the drop-off point for any hats you may wish to donate for the relief effort. Kelly can be contacted at ABAFASI@gmail.com with any questions you may have. We will share more details as we get them. Also remember that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot, is encouraging support of Doctors without Borders.

Picking Up Dropped Stitches By Carla We all drop stitches now and then and most of the time, you don't have to rip back your work to fix them. These errant runaways can usually be shepherded back into the fold without too much effort. This is the first of a two-part article about dropped stitches in stockinette stitch and garter stitch. For clarity, I need to explain that I don't say right and wrong sides when I talk about your work. I talk about public and non-public (or private) sides. The public side is the side the public sees when you have the garment on, and the private side is the side the public does not see because it is against your skin. It's a much clearer designation, as you don't get messed up with right and left and right and wrong. The first thing you do when you discover a dropped stitch is get something into it so it doesn't drop any further. Always remember it is a loop of yarn, so if you get something in it there is no chance it can drop any further. Use a safety pin, split ring stitch marker, a cable needle, a stitch holder, or even just a simple piece of scrap yarn through it. I've seen many things used in emergencies but one that is common is an unbent paperclip. Be inventive. Use what you have at hand. Just get SOMETHING through that loop. Now you breathe. Deeply. A few times. This is not the end of the world. You now want to get into position to pick up your stitch. Following your stitch pattern, work across the stitches on your needles until you are directly above the dropped stitch. Now you need to determine what type of stitch you have dropped. Are you on the public (or right) side of your work working in stockinette stitch? Then you need to pick up a knit stitch. This one is super easy. Keeping the public side of your work toward you get out a crochet hook (smaller than your work would require, please) or a Handy Tool (available at Natural Stitches). Locate the loop you have marked with something through it and put it on your hook. Take out whatever you had holding the stitch in place. Once you have the stitch on the hook you will see a series of ladders above it. All you have to do is pick up those ladders one at a time and draw them through the stitch on the hook. Click on the picture for a VERY large picture Make sure you keep the ladders in the order they were worked, and you won't have any unsightly pulls. If the drop was a long way back, you will notice that the ladders you have to work with get very short as you get closer to the knitting needles. Sometimes you really have to work hard to get them looped in, but you can do it. And those stitches will borrow yarn from those around them to even out your tension. When you have looped in all the ladders and are back at the level of the needle, simply slip that stitch onto your left needle being sure it is not twisted then knit or purl on. You have picked up your dropped stitch. Now let's pick up a purl stitch. If you have taken any of my beginner classes, you will have heard me say that the purl stitch is the exact opposite of the knit stitch and the knit stitch is the exact opposite of the knit stitch. When you create a knit stitch on one side of the work you are creating a purl stitch on the other side of the work and vice versa. To pick up a purl stitch is almost as easy as picking up a knit stitch. I am assuming you already have the stitch snagged and have something in it to keep it from running away and are looking at the non-public (or wrong side or purl) side of your work. Click on the picture for a VERY large picture Now you are ready to begin. Put your crochet hook into the stitch and remove the marker. Turn your work so the public side of the work is toward you. Maneuver your hook through the work from the purl side to the knit side, bringing the dropped stitch with it. You can let go of the stitch long enough to bring the hook around to the other side and put it back on the hook there. Just keep a hold of the base of the stitch so it doesn't go anywhere. Click on the picture for a VERY large picture Guess what. You are ready to latch up your ladders the same way that you did for the public side. Sounds crazy, right? But think about what I said above about the knit and purl being the reverse of each other. Then it will make sense. Just follow the directions for picking up the knit stitch and you will be fine. Just remember that when you are ready to continue your work you must turn your work to the private (or wrong) side to continue knitting. You've done it! Next time we'll talk about how to pick up a stitch in garter stitch.

From the entire staff of Natural Stitches, we wish you happy knits, creative crochets and splendid spinnings. And, as always, if there's anything we can do to help, just let us know!

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