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Invalid Knitting By Melissa You’ll notice that the newsletter is a little dependent on customer content this time around. The reason is simple: We’ve all been feeling too under the weather to write these past few weeks. Nearly all of us have spent a few days out of the shop with some bug so that we won’t infect you, our wonderful customers. My personal experience was a three day bout with the stomach flu last week. So to help the staff (and perhaps some of you) cope, here is a brief list of things to do when you’re feeling too ill or weak to pick up the needles. If you can still see straight, read knitting books. I recommend Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitting Around for its wonderful biological digressions as well as The Knitter’s Almanac. Written in more of a prose style, you can really get a sense of EZ’s sense of humor, and you’ll learn the origins of your February Lady Sweater. If you’re thinking, "If I could focus my eyes, I’d be knitting not reading!" then pull out the back issues of your favorite knitting magazine or have someone get out a stack of your more picture-oriented books. I think I leafed through French Girl Knits a half a dozen times last week. Got a laptop? Prop up your legs to make a nice platform and cruise Ravelry. Fill up that queue, get involved in the boards, see what your friends are up to -- have you found the "Friend Activity" tab in the "Friends" window? A revelation! Just be careful you don’t say anything that can’t be taken back. You could be delirious, you know. Being on the couch with no energy to lift your arms is a great time to catch up on your podcasts. My Stash & Burn queue is clear now, thank you very much! If all you can manage is television, knitting inspiration is everywhere. This week, I noticed that the little girl in Cinderella Man wears a TON of cute garter stitch cardigans! And the boys all have great caps and scarves. I would also recommend The Water Horse, On a Clear Day, Chariots of Fire, The Queen or any other movie set in Scotland or England for inspiration. Movies set in the 30’s and 40’s (but not filmed then for some reason) also have great potential for fly-by knitting sightings. Finally, if your problem is that you can knit, just not on anything hard, find yourself a basic hat pattern (try this one), get a ball of soft wool, and knit yourself a "sick hat." You’d be surprised how much it helps keep away the chills of a fever. Added bonus: tell your family it’s your sick hat and from then on, whenever you’re wearing it, they’ll know to steer clear! (Grad/college students, this also works with "finals hats," "comps hats," and "thesis hats.") Now, feed that cold, starve that fever, and get back on your feet!

What’s New? What do Barack Obama, FlyLady, the Yarn Harlot, and Natural Stitches have in common? We’re all on Twitter! Natural Stitches has entered the era of Web 2.0 by joining this micro-blogging network. Find us here at http://twitter.com/NaturalStitches. We hope that Twitter will help us keep in touch with our customers and let you know quickly and easily what’s going on with us here at the shop. Speaking of the internet, have you been reading our blog? It’s at www.naturalstitches.com/kniton - add us to your blog reader of choice or bookmark it and drop in from time to time. Here are some highlights: Melissa gives up casting on for Lent Charissa’s son Levi models his wardrobe handknit by the staff The staff peeks in their project bags Anna and Melissa offer ideas for charity knitting with links for free patterns for blankets, hats, and all kinds of children’s garments. New Inventory Arriving Daily! We have new colors of Tahki Cotton Classic and Superior cashmere. Want ideas for these yarns? We have a new crochet booklet featuring the gorgeous Superior cashmere, plus new Tahki booklets for Tahki Sierra and Tahki Cotton Classic. Four new colors of Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton for Spring, including, finally a good Steeler-y gold Opal’s latest color series, Opal Memory Wisdom Poems Sock Yarn - we’re particularly psyched about this one as it’s all the stripey goodness of Noro but in a superwash wool and nylon blend The latest Lorna’s Laces Color Commentary Colorway, Clara’s Garden, a pale pink and yellow named for Clara Parkes, author of The Knitter’s Book of Yarn (reviewed below!) New colors of Sidar Snuggly and a new booklet called “Ooh la la!” to go with it. You asked for a ribbon yarn and we heard you! Venezia from Tahki Stacey Charles has arrived in several solids and multicolors. Palma, a gorgeous semi-solid, worsted weight, organic cotton

Yarn Review: Pagewood Farms Denali and Yukon By Tiffany Fleet, Frequent Customer Pagewood Farm Yukon and Denali sock yarns are some of the best sock yarns that I have ever had the joy of using. My first experience with Pagewood was with their Denali sock yarn and the Lacy Mock Cable sock pattern from Ravelry. The rainbow colorway, which is mostly pink with flecks of green, blue, and yellow, turned out to be absolutely beautiful with little to no pooling. Denali was a joy to knit with, no knots or straw to be found. It also creates a stunning fabric once it has been knit. The socks are warm, soft, and squishy. In fact, I was knitting the socks at the shop one day and Martha came over and took the finished sock from me so she could experience the awesomeness of Pagewood Denali that had been knit up. She then passed it around to the rest of the knitters in the circle. They were all very impressed with the final product. Pagewood’s Yukon was my second experience. It also knits up into a lovely fabric. The sock (second sock syndrome) was done in the Circle Socks pattern from Ravelry. The yarn knit up beautifully and was totally appropriate for the pattern. I think that the Denali would also have worked nicely for the pattern, but the Yukon, which is slightly thinner than the Denali, really shows off the pattern work. There were no knots or straw in this skein either and the colorway, Really Red, is absolutely gorgeous. If you are looking for a nice warm sock that is soft to the touch and squishy in texture I highly recommend the Denali, a merino(80) and nylon(20) mix. The Yukon, a merino(70), bamboo(20), nylon(10) mix, is also a fabulous sock yarn that produces a slightly lighter weight sock. Pagewood Farm produces excellent products with excellent colorways. I can’t wait for the next shipment to arrive at Natural Stitches. Editor’s Note: Pagewood called and said a new order of Denali and Aleyska (the cashmere blend) is shipping this week! Yay! Pagewood Farms is a small hand-dyer in California, so if you are looking for products made by independent crafters in the United States, Pagewood is definitely for you. Plus, they are really nice people and we are thrilled to carry their yarns.

Book Review: The Knitter’s Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes By Amy Maceyko, Frequent Customer Editor’s Note: It is almost Fiber Festival Season! For the next few issues, we’ll be sharing articles, reviews, tips, and tricks for making the most out of your field trips. Hearing Clara Parkes interviewed on a knitting podcast was enough to convince me that her book should be on my knitting book wish list. After Christmas I had the chance to add The Knitter’s Book of Yarn - The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Using and Enjoying Yarn to my library and I’m so happy I did. It is a great reference book for any knitter, crocheter, spinner, or dyer. The only reason that you shouldn’t have this book in your library, too, is if you never substitute a different yarn than what the pattern calls for or if you have no affinity for yarn whatsoever. Ms. Parkes does a wonderful job of providing lots and lots of information about fiber types, fiber properties, how yarn is spun and plied, and how you should expect your yarn to behave. The book is written in such a way that it is pleasant to read from cover to cover (that’s what I did), but it is also broken down in such a way that it can serve as a great reference book to come back to again and again. Were you unable to resist a wool-soy blend but you have no idea how soy behaves in a yarn? Have you ever wondered what exactly rayon is or why cashmere is so soft and expensive? Did you find an all-over cabled sweater pattern that you absolutely must make, but you aren’t sure what yarn would be a good substitute? Are you headed to your first fiber festival and you wonder what you should look for in the “straight from the farm” options? All of these questions are answered in this book, and the clear layout of the book from fiber descriptions to how to care for your finished object will make it easy to find the information you seek when you don’t have time to read from cover to cover. And I haven’t even told you about the patterns yet! Not only are they beautiful and mainly classic in design, but in each case a description is provided to explain why the chosen yarn is appropriate. In addition, there is information to help guide the knitter to make yarn substitutions in each pattern direction, giving the suggested yarn characteristics and the yardage needed. Also, the patterns are grouped by yarn construction - single ply, two-ply, three-ply, textured, brushed, etc. So if you have a yarn you want to find a pattern for, you just need to determine the yarn’s construction and you have a whole chapter of patterns at your fingertips. I can’t recommend this book highly enough as a reference book for anyone who loves working with yarn and a great, informative pattern book for knitters.

Spotlight on Classes: Intro to Lace Crochet Or Lace ain’t just for knitters By Charissa Not only is my Intro to Lace Crochet one of my most popular classes right now, it’s also quite easily one of my favorites to teach. I know what you’re thinking, "I’m not good enough to tackle lace," or "Lace is just so tiny." I have good news for you! Lace doesn’t have to be hard and it doesn’t have to be done with laceweight yarn and a toothpick-thin hook (although if you see me doing lace, that’s likely what you’ll see- I’m a glutton for punishment). If you can chain, double crochet and count, you can handle the Intro to Lace Crochet Project! The pattern we use is very versatile and can be done on weight yarn from laceweight all the way up to bulky (although I recommend worsted at the heaviest for the actual class).The shawl we work on is a simple three row repeat that you’ll easily be able to work on by yourself once you get home. The shawl has a lovely shaping that drapes perfectly over the shoulders. The staff loves it so much that the sample is often seen being worn around the shop by various employees. You can see the laceweight sample of this project near the front of the store (provided it’s not in use at the time). And here’s a picture of one of my regular students, Jennifer, with her finished shawl. The next sessions of this class will be on: Monday, April 27, 6:30-8:30 or Monday, May 11 6:30-8:30 Call 412-441-4410 or stop by the shop to register!   From the Sickly Staff of Natural Stitches, we send our undying gratitude to our Customer Contributors. If you have anything you’d like to contribute, we’d love to hear from you! Please email us at newsletter@naturalstitches.com

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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