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Important Happenings Natural Stitches will be closed for Inventory, October 11, 12, and 13th.

Pre-Inventory Clearance Sale  Announcing the biggest sale ever at Natural Stitches! From October 3 - 9, 2009 Come help us get ready to count everything in the shop by making sure there is less for us to count! Every Cotton/Cotton Blend yarn is 25% off! Every Sale yarn is an extra 10% off! EVERY other yarn is 10% off (yes, this means every yarn we have!)! ALL Books, Patterns and Magazines are 10% (or more) off! All needles are 10% off! Orphaned yarns are an extra 10% off! EVERYTHING ELSE in the shop is at least 10% off! All sales are final, absolutely no returns or exchanges. Sale good on in-stock merchandise only. Sale prices do not apply to special orders, holds, or layaways. Sale items may not be placed on hold during this sale. Excludes yarn in the Last Chance Bin. Winding services will be limited during this sale.

Scraptastic Now that we’ve caught our breaths from the Summer of Socks and Lace contest, we’re left wondering what the heck to do with all these scraps of sock yarn lying around the house. In our current economy, it’s particularly important to use up what we have. We’ve put together a list of ideas to help you get started. All links are for free patterns! Be Ambitious Start a long-term project that you can add to over the next few months or even years. Here are some blanket ideas: The Traveler’s Life Afghan from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s The Yarn Harlot Casts Off Zig and Zag Pram Blanket Shelly Kang’s Sock Yarn Blankie Log cabin! Mason-Dixon Knitting gives us the basic tools and turns us loose to go nuts. Be Fashion-Forward with Accessories Make a cell phone cozy. Need flip-flop socks for next summer? Check out this pretty little headband. Be Whimsical Combine the scraps in unexpected ways to make Dobby’s Socks from Charmed Knits Stripe self patterning scraps in the Kicking Bag for Babies Carla suggests knitting or crocheting tiny sweaters and hanging them up on clotheslines for holiday decorations Franklin’s Pence Jug A pincushion in the shape of a hedgehog! We’re looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

What’s New Last February, I asked the staff what their favorite workhorse yarns were. Recently, I asked what new or new-to-them yarns they’re enjoying. Here are their answers. Carla: I love, love, love the Berroco Vintage Wool. Great hand, super colors (have you seen the heathers?), and price is right. It knits like a dream. Ask me to see the wrap I am making out of it. Yummy! And I love the new colors of the Marble Worsted. I did a baby sweater in the new sandstone colorway because I just had to knit something with it. (I actually wrote to the company asking them to bring Sandstone out in the chunky weight.) I'm also lusting over the Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky. Talk about soft. It's too good to be true! Melissa: It's not "new," but it's a new discovery of mine. Over vacation I started a sweater out of Rowan Calmer and find that I absolutely love it! If you're afraid to work with cotton because of pain in your joints or chafing of your hands, try this guy. It's incredibly stretchy and gives a wide range of gauges. Before now, I've only used it on a size 8 or even a 9 (and that was a long time ago), but this sweater is knit on a 5's and so far is WONDERFULLY squooshy. It also doesn't have the heft or drag-you-down feeling that a lot of other cottons can get. Monica: I've been really liking working with the Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. It’s great for my blanket squares, and really nice and soft for stuffed animals.

Notions about Notions By Yvonne I’ve been having some notions about some of our notions, and want to feature a few each month to let people know what we have available because, quite frankly, once you’ve become overwhelmed by the yarn fumes, you may not be able to actually focus on the notions wall. The Scarf Fold-Up from Nancy’s Knit Knacks is a great tool for wrangling those lengths of scarves that you’ll be knitting as winter approaches. From the package: “The Scarf Fold-up is used to control the length of your scarf as it is being knitted. Simply wrap your scarf around the Scarf fold-up and then stretch the braided elastic around your knitting to hold it in place. Continue to knit while the Scarf Fold-up sits on your lap.” Speaking of wrangling, how about wrangling all of those DPNs, crochet hooks, or straight knitting needles you’ve got lounging around, tossed into a drawer here or coffee cup there? Add a bit of style to your décor by putting the needles into a Bamboo Needle Holder from our friends at ChiaGoo. These are made from actual sections of Moso bamboo, with laser engraving. Each is approximately 4” in diameter, 6” tall, and easily holds up to 20 pairs of needles. Finally, for our spinning friends, we have hand carders (regular and “mini”) from Ashford Handicrafts of New Zealand. We have a full range of spinning tools, so come check them out! Next time you’re in the shop, take a moment to check out these handy notions (as well as the host of others that we have)!

Yarn Review: Zauberball Sock By frequent customer Tiffany I recently knit a pair of socks using the Zauberball yarn in the rainbow colorway. I found the colorway intriguing because, as so many of my knitting friends know, I only work in bright colors. The colors are bright and nicely saturated and when knit creates lovely broad stripes of color. Zauberball is put up in what is called a euro-ball, which sometimes doesn’t retain its shape as well as other kinds of skeins, so I re-wound it on the ballwinder. Then I decided to knit two socks at a time on one circular needle (the magic loop method), so I had to wind the yarn into 2 separate balls…thus totaling the number of times I wound the yarn to four. This didn’t seem to harm the yarn in any way. However, because Zauberball is a single-ply, tinking it can be difficult. As I was working the socks I began noticing how beautifully the yarn knit up, regardless of its tinkability. I also began to notice that the yarn is not as tightly spun in some areas. This, however, did not affect the end product. The socks turned out beautifully. They are fraternal twins more than identical as the colorways ended up chasing up one leg and down the other. All in all, I’d use Zauberball again. The colorways are just too fantastic to pass up. The socks turned out to be fairly soft, and the yarn gives a nice stitch definition. Details: 100 grams, 460 yards, suggested needle size 0-1 US (2mm-3mm)

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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