A big HUGE thank-you to everyone who participated in our Summer of Socks & Lace contest! You guys really made our summer interesting and full of amazing projects. There was Margot's Shetland lace shawl made out of Lacey Lamb (color: paprika) that Teri said she would have absconded with, if only it were in one of her colors. There was Robin, who didn't care that she was in the running to win -- she was just so proud of her first socks that she wanted them counted. We saw crocheted socks (not slippers – socks!), and crocheted lace baby blankets.

All together, we had 12 participants in the lace category and 9 in the socks. We had epic battles for first place in socks, and lace competitors we thought would never lose the lead, only to fall to someone who had bought their yarn here…making all the difference. (Oh c'mon. I'm the manager. I have to get a plug in somewhere!)

If you turned in a project by August 16th, you have a prize waiting for you behind the counter. Next time you come in, just let us know you want your gift. I'll be sending out an email to those folks as a reminder in a day or two.

Finally, we'd like to congratulate our winners.

Diane L. won our lace competition with a whopping 6700 yds of yarn overs! She also had the most projects submitted with 6. Let that boggle your mind for a bit: 6 whole lace projects, over 1000 yds per project in 3 months. Her strategy: mix cables (that take up a lot of yarn) in with the lace, making every project count.

2nd place in lace goes to Margot G. with 5390, all in one project. That makes her shawl the largest single item entered. Congratulations, Margot, for finishing before school started, and for making it into the shop before we closed on Labor Day! Five minutes to 9, on her bike!

In the sock competition, our winner is Sarah L., who deserves a medal of honor for sheer perseverance. With 16 pairs of socks and 8238 yards (remember – this is over 3 months!), we were just blown away by her. Every once in awhile, she's stop in at the shop and say, “Can I stop knitting socks yet? How far am I ahead? Can I take a break yet?” But there was always someone on her tail, either Rachael A. or Sarah R. Ironically, Sarah L. said she still has the drive to knit socks. Now there's a woman obsessed.

Second place in socks goes to Sarah R. with 4672 in 12 projects. Sarah R. was honestly my pick to win. Seriously, she'd be on my Knitting Fantasy League Team. (Oh, how the world would be different if we had one of THOSE!) You should see her knit socks. Speed. Demon. But in the end, it was her effort at destashing that was her downfall – a lot of older yarn from before we even opened. But her stash is lighter now, making me insanely jealous.

Largest single sock project goes to Rachael A. who came in with some socks for her husband, knit on Natural Stitches yarn, for a total of 1006 yards. Oy. And it was pretty bland yarn, if I recall. Way to endure, Rachael!

Did you beat me? Probably. I managed 3 pairs of socks, (one that had been on the needles for almost a year) for 1740 yards. However, I got distracted by other shiny knitting and other shiny yarn. Total still in the sock yarn drawer: enough yarn for 48 pairs. Nuts.

You guys made our summer interesting and amazing, with at least one “ooh” or “ahh” or “wooooow” every week. Thank you so much! If you have any ideas for a contest next summer, or would like to submit pictures of your entered projects, drop us an email at shop@naturalstitches.com

Stay tuned for what's coming up this fall.

{Even though the contest has ended, feel free to bring in ANY finished project. We love seeing what the yarn you buy grows up to be. Trust me, we WILL appreciate your hard work and effort! -Martha}

For a while now, I’ve been apologetic about the projects I choose to do; typically, crocheted V-stitch queen-sized afghans in a red tone; knitted seed stitch scarves in blues. I am (by my terms) a lazy stitcher. Lace is lovely, but my brain works differently enough that its seems harder for me to do than the average person.

Complex stitch patterns are not always the best choice with some yarns and the KISS philosophy can be truly effective. One of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received about my work was about a fingering weight V-stitch afghan that’s taken 10 years for me to do. My stitch work was so even; someone thought it was machine made. Touching base with my lazy stitcher comment; I may stick to a simple style, but I’m tenacious!

My current afghan uses a simple stitch pattern and adds another dimension of my skills, color work. The flow and balance of the reds, the flash of orange periodically saying hello become more important when the eye isn’t drawn to the intricacies of a pattern. As another wonderful compliment, someone had wanted me to make a granny square afghan in blues, saw this one and was willing to take it off my hands!

So what am I trying to say to you, the reader? Its time to take pride in the things YOU do well. Beginner or Advanced knitter, one doesn’t need to feel pressured by complex yarn work. Simple can translate into elegant style.

Mongolian Cashmere is not a yarn I'd normally knit with. It's not that I have a problem with “luxury” yarns or think that cashmere is not for me, it's just that I tend to gravitate toward “workhorse” yarns like Cascade 220 or Regia sock yarns. I have a rock climbing husband, three kids ranging in age from 2-18, a boxer and two cats in the house. Practicality and durability are generally what I'm going for in a yarn (house, car, furniture, you get the point). That said, when I found myself faced with a scary, high risk, unpredictable pregnancy (yep, another- I'm a glutton for punishment), my super amazing friends/co-workers were inspired by a conversation I'd had with Carla about making the “kickassinest baby blanket ever” (am I allowed to say “kickassinest” in the newsletter?) They surprised me by stopping over at my house one day with 1000 yards of Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere 4-ply in a fantastic “Robin Egg” blue.

After much Ravelry searching for the perfect pattern and forcing myself to first finish a sweater that had been in the works for 3 years for my husband, I happily cast on “Serenity” by Laura Wilson-Martos. This cashmere must simply be one of the most perfect yarns ever spun. It's almost hard to knit with, because of the overwhelming desire to simply nap on a pile of it instead of actually using it. I don't know that I've felt anything softer in my life. The yarn just drips off the needles like butter and knits up pretty quickly for its weight (DK- I worked it on size US5's) as a result. One of my concerns about a soft, fluffy cashmere was that it might not show off the stitches as nicely as other yarns, but I was very wrong. It showed off the strong cable and lace pattern of the blanket spectacularly. In any yarn I've tried/reviewed in my life, I've found something to complain about. I feel like I'm not really paying attention if I can't find something, anything to warn potential purchasers of. The only thing I can think of in this case is that it's not even remotely machine washable. But let's face it. . . hand washing is really a joy when it comes to a yarn like this- it's just another excuse to handle it.

That said, this is not a yarn I'll be making my 2 year old sweaters from, and no matter how much my 8 year old begs, I'm not buying her any to knit with. But seeing as I'm stuck here on bed rest cooking a new baby that is an absolute miracle, I think we deserve a yarn like this. So the next time you deserve a real treat and a whole lot of stress relief and pampering, make a beeline directly for the Mongolian Cashmere. You will not be disappointed. And I'm pretty sure you'll feel an great deal better about everything afterward.

We’ve spent the summer working our way down a sock, giving you tips and tricks to make your socks more comfy and easier to knit. In our last installment, shall we focus on the toes?

Decreases

One of the trickiest things about the toe of a sock, for me, is figuring out when I do a K2tog and when I do a SSK. Pairing these two decreases together causes the toe of the sock to slant in at the perfect angle. The key is learning (and remembering!) which decrease slants in which direction.
Behold the toe of my sock!

I started writing this long and wordy explanation of how K2tog’s, even though you find them on the left side, they slant to the right, and SSK’s are on the right, even though they slant to the left, and all you have to remember is that left slants right and right slants left and (in the words of Austin Powers) -- “Oh dear, I’ve gone cross-eyed.” For me, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Please bear with my attempts at using Microsoft Paint. I just need to draw some arrows.

Does that help? You’ll notice that the diagonal line at the center of the big 2 in K2tog goes in the exact direction as that decrease does. AND, the diagonal line at the center of the S’s in SSK goes in the exact direction as THAT decrease does. So if you see me working out a sock and doing funny motions with my hands, I’m simply reminding myself which way a 2 slants and which way an S slants. And then I’ve figured out my decreases.

Kitchener tips:
(Because one mind-numbing tip ain’t enough.)

Everybody seems to find kitchener stitch (or grafting) a bit fiddly, tricky, hard to remember exactly what you do when and to what stitch. I’ve never had that problem. (Slap me the next time you see me at the store.) I’ve found a great way of remembering what to do and when.

When you look at your toe stitches, dangling from those two needles, you’ve got two sides, the side that’s facing you (They look like KNIT stitches. I’d know their tell-tale “v” anywhere.), and the side that’s facing away from you (See how the stitches look like PURL stitches? It’s nothing but a row of bumps).

Keep that in mind when you’re doing kitchener stitch.

The first stitch on the needle, the stitch that always gets dropped off, you’ll perform the stitch that you see. In other words, when you’re working on the front needle, for that first stitch, you’ll always insert that darning needle as if you’re going to knit then drop-off. Then the second stitch – you always do the opposite. So if you insert as if to knit then drop-off for the first stitch, for the second stitch, you’re going to insert as if to purl and leave on.

When you’re working on the back needle, all the stitches look like purl stitches. So that first stitch, you’ll insert the darning needle as if you’re going to purl and drop it off. Again, with the second stitch, you DO THE OPPOSITE: Knit and leave on.

So follow your knitting. Like a computer, it knows what you’re doing better than you do!

• First Needle: Do what you see FIRST, then for the second stitch, do the opposite.
• Second Needle: Do what you see FIRST, then for the second stitch, do the opposite.

And finally, don’t worry about getting the tension of your kitchener stitch perfect on the first try. Carla has a great tip for tightening it up after you’re all done. But you’ll have to ask HER to publish that.

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