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Guess who’s coming to Natural Stitches? Franklin Habit, AKA The Panopticon, AKA Dolores’ alter ego, founder of the Fibertarian Party, collector of talking yarn, lace knitter extraordinaire & author of It Itches: A Stash of Knitting Cartoons will be joining us at Natural Stitches on February 28th and March 1st. Starting at 4:30 on the 28th (a Saturday), Franklin will be signing copies of his book, chatting with customers, and all around just being fabulous. Then on Sunday he’ll be teaching a class titled Introduction to the History, Methods, and Styles of Lace Knitting on Sunday, March 1st at 11am. Franklin frequently posts about his lace knitting on his blog, but if you haven’t seen any of his work, here are some examples. As Franklin describes his class: In this three-hour session, learn the basic principles and techniques of knitting's grandest tradition. Subjects to be covered include beginnings and endings, chart reading, lifelines, nupps and other fancy maneuvers, edgings, dealing with mistakes, blocking finished work, and more. Students will also learn about the great national traditions of knitted lace and what makes them unique. Class size is limited to 20. Participants should be familiar with the basic moves of casting on, knitting and purling. Everyone is invited to join us on Saturday for the signing; books will be available for purchase at the shop. The class on Sunday is limited in size; pre-registration is required. The fee for the class is $40. Payment is required at time of registration and is non-refundable. Sign-ups begin February 2nd at 10AM. Class materials (a list will be provided upon registration) are extra and can be purchased at Natural Stitches. We’re also using Franklin’s event as an opportunity for community service. On Saturday we will be collecting money and hand-knitted items (baby blankets, baby hats, hats, mittens, & scarves) for the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh. Every $5 donation will be entered into a drawing for two skeins of Panopticon sock yarn from Lorna’s Laces or a free copy of Franklin’s book. Every hand knitted item will earn two entries. We look forward to seeing you at this exciting weekend! Look for more details to come in the next few weeks. (Times are subject to change.)

So what else is new? New spring yarns are arriving every day: Berroco - Comfort Chunky Berroco - Pure Pima Cascade - Alpaca Lace (okay, not spring, but new and gorgeous) Kraemer - Saucon Sock Louet - Euroflax Linen Rowan - Calmer Rowan - Lenpur Linen More books than you can shake a stick at, including the newest Rowan Magazine, an adorable children’s book from Rowan Purelife (look for Melissa to start knitting chickens and cows with large udders), and Interweave’s French Girl Knits (Ooh la la, look for Carla’s review in our February newsletter!)

Man Sweater Slog-A-Long By Anna Most fiber artists have heard of “The Boyfriend Curse,” the superstition that as soon as one knits a sweater for one’s boyfriend, the boyfriend will suddenly end the relationship. The tale of the curse is so pervasive that Judith Durant chose to title her book of patterns for men Never Knit Your Man a Sweater Unless You’ve Got the Ring. However, some of us are 1) safely married or otherwise partnered, 2) not superstitious, or 3) ahem, actually male knitters who wish to knit for ourselves *. We just want to knit a beautiful and functional garment but might be daunted about how to get started. It has been our experience that men eschew decoration of any kind on their handknits, perhaps out of fear that anything remotely textured or colored may be mistaken by the casual observer as a Bill Cosby sweater. We consider it a great triumph that Melissa’s husband agreed to go far outside of his comfort zone with a two-tone stripe on his navy blue sweater. It turns out that a lot of men don’t want stripes or cables, and forget colorwork! For the greatest success, we recommend the old adage of keeping it simple. A quick search of Ravelry reveals that three out of the top five sweaters for men are from the classic Elizabeth Zimmermann book Knitting Without Tears: the Seamless Hybrid (modeled at right by Melissa’s husband), the Seamless Yoke Sweater, and the Seamless Raglan Sweater. The #1 sweater on Ravelry is Jared Flood’s Cobblestone Sweater from the Fall 2007 issue Interweave Knits, a design inspired by EZ’s construction methods. Notice a pattern here? Plain, unadorned sweaters in workhorse yarns will almost always guarantee that the wearer will be happy with the finished product. Cascade 220 is always a winner, if you won’t be washing the sweater that often. Try Cascade 220 Superwash or Lamb’s Pride Superwash for easy care. Need a chunky weight? Take a look at Cascade Eco Wool, which comes in natural colors that men will like or Cascade 128, both of which are terrific values. Want to make the sweater a little more upscale? Consider Alpaca with a Twist's Highlander, a merino-alpaca blend that makes wonderfully thick and warm fabric. While simple sweaters will always be a classic, this, unfortunately, can make for some really boring knitting. Our friend blogger PAKnit/Wit refers to her seamless hybrids as “blobs” and “tubes.” However, Melissa found the experience of knitting a mindless stockinette sweater in the round to be exactly what she needed to relieve the stress of her busy holidays. I’ve started knitting my husband’s Cobblestone Sweater as part of my in-shop knitting. Lisabee, a frequent customer, has made her husband’s Cobblestone her Idol-A-Long sweater and knits furiously on it whenever American Idol is on. We invite you to challenge yourself in 2009 and complete a man’s sweater. Let us know how you’re doing! *(something these pattern books never seem to acknowledge, but that’s a rant for another day)

Melissa Explains Knitted Hems This is an article about hems, but more importantly, it’s about a way to learn things as knitters. Even those of us who work in a yarn shop are always picking up tips, new techniques and better ways of doing things. This is the way we hone our craft. This is the story of how I learned how to do hems. First off, what is a hem? Being a person of short stature, I simply look at the bottom of every pair of jeans and jacket I own to find out. A hem is taking the edge of a garment, making a crease, and folding a portion of the fabric up under the garment to make a stable and smooth edge. I love the way hems look on knitted garments. I’m not a fan of ribbing at the bottom of my sweaters, not a fan of rolled edges. Then I saw a hemmed sweater on someone’s blog, saw that you could do a hem in a contrasting color, just like that sweater I loved at the GAP so much -- I was so totally hooked. Then I learned thatyou could do colorwork in the hem to add a special message or the person’s name, I just that was the coolest thing in the world. But how to do it? First attempt: Malabrigo Sweater about a year ago. This one was knit from the top down, so when I reached the length that I wanted, I worked a purl row (that makes the “crease”) then knit for a short period of time, about an inch. Here comes the decision making time on any hem. What to do at the lower edge? At this point in my hem-making career, I did the ignorant, unlearned thing, which is usually what I do if I’m winging it on a first attempt. I bound-off like I normally would and tacked down the edge with some spare yarn. I don’t know if you can tell from the picture, but the sewn down section is much tighter than the rest of the hem, so it flares out…a lot. Grumble grumble. Second attempt: My husband’s Seamless Hybrid sweater from Christmas. I worked Elizabeth Zimmermann’s directions exactly, including her instructions for a hem. This one is worked from the bottom up, and then you pick up stitches all around the cast-on edge, work that purl row for the crease, knit down for your hem. At this point, I would have bound off, but the venerable EZ says in all caps: DO NOT BIND OFF. Ahh, if only I’d KNOWN! Instead of tacking down a bound-off edge, tack down live stitches. Bound-off edges are a slightly smaller circumference than a row of live stitches. Tacking down live stitches means no flare in the hem. So there I sat in the shop one day, meticulously sewing down my live stitches, praying that I didn’t drop one, trying desperately to line up stitch for stitch so that the bottom of the hem wouldn’t twist and slide off center. As I cursed EZ’s name (I know, Anna gasped too when she heard) knowing that this way was better, but infinitely harder, in comes Joyce, one of our loyal customers. When I told her I was struggling with a hem, she said, “Did you use a provisional cast-on?” “What?” “A provisional cast-on.” “How does that work?” 1. Work a provisional cast-on when you start the sweater. 2. Knit up the desired length of the hem, about an inch 3. Open up the provisional cast-on and put those live stitches onto a second needle of the same size. Work a purl row, and then knit the same desired length of the hem. 4. Fold the fabric along the purl row, and hold the two needles together as in a three needle bind-off. 5. As in a three needle bind-off, insert the right-hand needle knitwise into the first stitch on the front needle then knitwise into the first stitch on the back needle. 6. Wrap the yarn as if to knit these two stitches together. 7. Repeat all the way along the circumference of the sweater and continue knitting your sweater as normal. While I haven’t had a chance to try out Joyce’s method yet, it strikes me as an elegantly simple technique for a sweater hem. No tacking anything down, no tedious hours spent with a darning needle. I can’t wait to try it on my next hemmed sweater. I’m extraordinarily lucky. I work in a yarn shop where new tips and tricks walk in every day. Many of you have thanked me and complimented me on the tip for decreasing a sock toe way back in September. That was another one that I was fortunate enough to glean from sitting with other knitters and sharing information. Any time you feel like stopping in to sit and knit a spell, the couch is always open. Who knows what we’ll learn from each other?

Book Review: Knit One Below by Elise Duvekot By CarlaK As an experienced knitter, it excites me most when I come across a new technique or a new twist on an old one. In Knit One Below that is exactly what I found. Based on the brioche stitch technique, Elise Duvekot has come up with a remarkable collection of techniques and patterns. I have found information about brioche stitch in pattern dictionaries and on the internet but usually just how to do the stitches -- no patterns to go with the technique. Here, we get instructions and patterns, too. Knit One Below starts out with a clearly written “How To” section explaining in words and diagrams how to accomplish the basic technique. It then proceeds to let you in on the secrets of changing things up in small ways for a big difference in your finished product. Yarn choices, selvage edges, cast-ons, bind-offs, and more are covered completely. Ribbing, cables, intarsia, and short rows are just a few of the things you can incorporate using this technique. And the best thing? You work with multiple colors at one time, but you are never knitting with (or holding on to) more than one strand at a time! And try to figure this one out: you work horizontally while creating vertical stripes! Then we move on to the patterns. Ohhhhhh! The patterns!!! [Ed. We pause here while Carla collects herself.] Thirty-six stylish, fun, and totally wearable patterns for vests, sweaters, scarves, and shawls lead you through everything you read about in the “How To” section. It’s easy to adapt and modify the patterns; changing colors and adjusting methods slightly make huge changes in the fabric that you will love. I agree with the author when she suggests that you first try the Reversible Vest pattern to get used to the technique. (The pattern for this vest was also published in the winter 2008 issue of Knitter’s Magazine.) I started out with the Checkmark Scarf, and while I did get it done, I think it would have been much easier for me if I had first done the Reversible Vest project that has less shaping involved. Oh my! I forgot to mention that the fabric you create using this technique is reversible. You get two very different fabrics that both look great. This is one book you need to have in your library. It’s totally fun to “Knit One Below!”

Thank You! We have been overwhelmed by the positive feedback about our newsletter and our rebooted blog. We are committed to providing original, interesting, and informative content for our wonderful customers, and we love to hear from you. Because of your response, we are already hard at work developing new classes and ideas for our Holidays in July Extravaganza. Is there anything else you’d like to see, questions you’d like to be answered, or techniques you’d like to learn? Let us know by emailing us at newsletter@natural.stitches.com or posting on our blog at http://naturalstitches.com/kniton/.

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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