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Wonderful comment from a student:

Carla, I finished my BSJ successfully! I even picked up the stitches on my own:) Results are in my blog: http://michellelancet.blogspot.com
Thanks for your great class and helping me learn to speak Elizabeth! I’ve taken many knitting classes and you’ve been the best teacher so far!
I have so much more confidence now. More sweaters here I come!
Have a good one,
Michelle

New at Natural Stitches

As spring is a time of change outdoors, it’s also a time of change at Natural Stitches.  Here are some of the changes that you’ll see around the shop.

New Faces –

• There’s Anna, whom some of you may recognize from her days at Pittsburgh Knit & Bead.  We look forward to exploiting utilizing Anna’s vast knitting knowledge around the shop on Mondays.  
• We also welcome Heather, a Pittsburgher at heart returning to the area from central Illinois.  Heather will be joining us Monday nights and Saturdays.  Watch her spin for 5 minutes, you’ll be signing up for Carol’s spindle class before you leave (that’s what happened to Melissa)! 
  
• Finally, we asked Jamie to come and aid us with reaching the high spots on the Cascade Wall.  Actually, Jamie brings more than just height.  Her energy and vitality really brighten up the shop on Sundays and Thursdays.

New Features – So many to mention! 

• We’re happy to announce that we are officially an XRX / Knitter’s Magazine Sox Hot Spot! 
  In order to get this designation, a shop has to dedicate itself to selling at least one of seven brands of sock yarn.  Being the sock lover that she is, Martha decided to go for three!! (Regia, Skacel, and SWTC/Tofutsies if you’re wondering.)  What does this mean for you?  An incredible selection of yarns and a chance to enter the Think Outside the Sox design contest.  Top prize is $6,000!  If you’re the next CookieA, stop in the shop for yarn and check out the rules and an entry form. 
• After five months, we’ve finally decided to start a few sale bins.  Melissa can’t believe Martha gave in.  She thinks she must have slipped and hit her head on something.  But make sure you take advantage before Martha comes to her senses!  Check back by the book section for several brands we’ve decided to feature.  The orphan bin is looking pretty healthy too, thanks to a recent shipment from Cascade. 
  
• Finally, we’ve been saving up our yarn clippings all winter so that the birds can line their nests with more than just scratchy twigs.  They’ll start building their nests in a couple of weeks, so make sure you grab a handful from the jar by the ball winder on your way out.  Spread the joy of Malabrigo to our feathered friends!

• A new hand-dyed sock yarn called Yummy which certainly lives up to its name (Melissa has claimed the turquoise, brown & orange while Anna went for the burgundies) {And it's 100% superwash wool so it's not really a sock yarn, but it sure is pretty -Martha}
• Several gorgeous new textured cottons including Soleil, a natural cotton with a little jet of color here and there, worsted and chunky kettle-dyed varieties from Punta del Este….so soft
• Six or so new colors of Cottonwood, an organic cotton from Universal Yarns
• A superwash sport weight Baby Merino, exactly as wonderful as it sounds.

In addition to the Crystal Palace Trunk Show (only around until the 22nd!), there are several new garments floating around the shop.  If you’ve been wondering what a yarn is going to look like knitted up, have a second look.  Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille, Tahki Sierra & Punta del Este Mericash are just a few that deserve special notice.  (By the way, if you’re having a rough day, just stick your hand into a bin of the Mericash.  I defy you not to feel better.)  Not to mention several new mock-ups for Charissa’s crochet classes.  Check out the necklace at the front of the shop!

Lots of new things for spring!  So much, in fact, I encourage you to print out the newsletter and use it as a road map.  “Now where was that new cotton she mentioned?”  And, as always, if you need any help, just ask.

Merino 5: $6.90 for 110yds

I was first drawn to Merino 5 because the shop sample not only provided a wonderful splash of variegated color ("Seascape"), but felt
completely unlike any other wool yarn I'd ever handled. In many ways it feels more like a cotton than a wool to me -- cool and smooth to the touch, rather than soft and fluffy. However it has a wonderful elastic springiness that I've never experienced from any cotton.

The secret of this yarn seems to be the way it is spun and plied. When I pull apart the ends, I find that it is actually 7 strands of 2-ply fine-weight yarn spun together into a single strand of worsted-weight yarn. The resulting yarn has a very heavy twist to it, but shows no tendency to split, unravel, or otherwise cause problems. In short, it's just plain fun to knit with.

Given its weight and lack of nylon reinforcement, the shop doesn't classify this as a sock yarn. However, the manufacture recommends it for socks, and even provides a sock pattern designed for it.

I've done two pairs of socks out of them and had a great time knitting and wearing them. Only time will tell how durable they will be. The first pair of socks, in "Midnight Oasis" had some excellent areas of pooling, and makes a brassy colorful statement. The second pair, in "black pearls" is just the opposite; very restrained in subtly contrasting shades of gray, with spots of black that exhibit just a tiny bit of pooling. These have attracted a great
many positive comments would be a nicely restrained fashion statement for the more conservative men in your life.

Tofutsies: $16 for 465yds

When I first discovered SWTC’s Tofutsies, I fell in love with it. Fiber content: 50% Superwash Wool, 25% SOYSILK brand fiber, 22.5% Cotton, and 2.5% Chitin (made from shrimp and crab shells!).

Wait, what was that? Shrimp and crab shells in my yarn! Huh? How do they do that? More importantly…Why??? Turns out it’s naturally anti-bacterial. This is a great idea for socks.

I decided to cast on for socks and soon discovered that, for me and the way I knit, this was basically a cotton sock yarn. What does that mean? Sigh... It means I have to use teeny tiny little 000 needles. (Yeah, that’s 3 zeros!). So I ripped them out and bemoaned the fact I would never be able to use this wondrous yarn for socks.

When Natural Stitches became a Sox Hot Spot, Tofutsies was there at the top of the list. So I brought in a lot of colors that made me want to try knitting socks out of it again. Then SWTC released a sweater pattern that is free when you buy 5 skeins of Tofutsies. The Tofu Tee uses 5 colors and as you work the sweater from side to side you hold two strands together and gradually shift the colors. And it’s fast! I started barely a week ago and I’m over half finished. Now, lest you think all I do all day is knit, remember, I own Natural Stitches. This means I am the one who has to keep it running, pay the bills, order new yarns, deal with all the little and big problems that come up every day, and in general if I get 30 minutes a day to knit it’s a good day. So this is indeed a fast knit.

So, when you stop in, take a look at the pattern we have hanging with the Tofutsies and see if it’s for you. And for just 5 skeins of yarn, it can be yours! When it’s done, I hope to post pictures on the blog. And maybe I’ll even take the picture when I’m wearing it. (I’m a bit camera shy.)

This just in from Melissa!!!

Thanks to Charissa for this hot tip:  Many of you have commented on the Swallowtail Shawl at the front of the shop.  (The purple one made out of Malabrigo laceweight.)  We were saddened to hear that Interweave had sold all of their back issues of the magazine that had this pattern.  Luckily, the readers of Knitting Daily named the Swallowtail Shawl one of their favorite 5 patterns from Interweave!  Knitting Daily then took all of those patterns and has them in a FREE, VERY LIMITED TIME ONLY, PDF!!!  Sign-in or sign-up for www.knittingdaily.com and download your copy.  Hurry, though.  It goes away the night of May 14th, probably around 8 to 10PM, but I’m not good at figuring out time zones.  Ask my parents about the 3 AM phone call from Scotland.  Then again, don’t ask.

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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