Throwdown: Summer of Socks and Lace III IT IS ON! Once again, start winding your laceweight, polishing your Addi Turbos, and making an inventory of your sock yarn. We’re kicking off our Third Annual Summer of Socks and Lace contest, beginning NOW until Labor Day (September 6, 2010). Who can use the most sock yarn? Who can knit or crochet the most yardage of lace? Who wants to win a $50 gift card from Natural Stitches? How does this work? Starting NOW, stop by the shop to fill out your entry form. We’ll ask you to sign A Solemn Vow that all of the projects you enter will be completed between now and September 6. When you complete a lace or sock project, bring it in to the shop and we will use our Very Accurate System (designed by a PhD and Professor of Mathematics, so we figure he knows what he’s doing) to determine the total yardage of your project. We will need your ball band to determine the yardage, so please bring that with you. We will record your yardage in our book. The person with the greatest total yardage at the end of the summer in each of the categories will win a $50 gift card from Natural Stitches and the praise and adulation of all his or her peers. And now: the rules, answers to commonly asked questions, and other fine-print kinds of things: You may enter any or all of the categories, but each project can only count once. You may use ANY yarn from your stash (because goodness knows we all have lots of stash), no matter where you got it, but yarn from Natural Stitches (and again, your ball band is critical) will earn double yardage. That means that your shawl that originally took up 300 yards of Malabrigo Sock, for example, will be recorded as 600 yards! Woo hoo! Yes, of course, crocheted lace and socks are eligible. What is lace? We’re using the Elizabeth Zimmermann definition: lace is a series of yarn-overs with accompanying decreases used to make holes. Our apologies to handspinners (yet again), but we still can’t figure out a way to accurately calculate yardage without making our heads explode. However, we have some surprises in store for you this summer that we hope will make up for it. For the sake of fairness, we cannot calculate mixed-ply projects accurately. Please stick to one kind of yarn per project. Past winners are eligible to enter. Can’t decide which category to enter? Torn between wanting to knit a whack of socks and longing to work on your Ten Shawls in 2010? We have a new category: Double Threat! This separate category is for those of you who want to knit both kinds of projects this summer. We are so excited! For those of you who would like to learn how to make socks and lace, we have a variety of classes this summer to meet your needs. We’re looking forward to seeing what unfolds.

What's New BUMP IT! No, we aren’t wearing those infomercial things in our hair. A “bump” is when Martha does a price adjustment, putting new yarns on clearance and marking yarns already on sale down to an even lower price. Now at 20% off: ALL O-Wool yarns (we’re sad to report that O-Wool went out of business), Harry Potter Opal, Kid Silk Haze, Tahki's Cotton Classic, Panda Silk DK, Shokay and Orient Yak yarn, and Lacey Lamb. We received a big shipment of our favorite Nebraska yarns from Brown Sheep. We’re pleased to carry Brown Sheep Legacy Lace, a superwash wool and nylon laceweight yarn. This yarn is amazingly economical at $6.20 for 430 yards. We can’t resist yarn-y accessories and gadgets. From HiyaHiya, we have new extra cords for the interchangeable sets. We have these nifty stitch marker sets that come in dumpling bags – so cute! We have Puppy Snips, which are these terrific teeny tiny scissors that you can stick in your bag. We also received the Count Ten Plus from Boye, which is this “so simple it’s awesome” device that instantly shows your gauge. Read Carla’s review of the Count Ten on our blog. New from Lorna’s Laces, the latest in their Color Commentary Series is Ysolda Red from Ysolda Teague. You can read about the dying process here. Want more Natural Stitches? You can find us on our blog, on Ravelry, Facebook, and Twitter.

Special Workshop: Knitting Lace Triangles By David Do you want to know the secret to winning this year’s Summer of Socks and Lace? Knit lace triangles! Lace triangles are easy, fun and quick to knit. Additionally, they make perfect gifts for those who like something different than a rectangular scarf. Wait! Are you are hesitant to work through a lace triangle from cast on to bind off? Or, have you happily knit lace triangles designed by others but are ready to venture into your own creativity and become a designer? If you answered yes to either question, then you must participate in the Lace Triangle Workshop being offered on June 5th at 1:00 and expand your knitting comfort zone. Focusing on the construction of a top-down lace triangle, the workshop will guide you through yarn and needle choices, various cast-ons, developing (and reading) the lace charts, and bind offs and blocking. We will also discuss ways to improve and advance your lace knitting skills, especially tips on how to fix and prevent those annoying mistakes! This workshop is geared toward knitters who have experience in or an understanding of the basic principles of lace. Since this workshop will only be offered once this summer, stop in or call Natural Stitches at 412-441-4410 soon to secure your place! Do you know David? David taught a series of steeking workshops this spring here at Natural Stitches. Last year, he won our Summer of Socks and Lace contest. Here are some examples of his exquisite work. Lace Shawls knit by David (Click a picture to see a bigger photo) Shetland Shawl Moor Shawl Haruni Shawl

Gardening and Knitting: A Comparison One day, whilst sitting, knitting and chatting in the Natural Stitches living room, Yvonne and Anna discussed gardening. We were pleased to discover that both like the end result but don’t like all the work, having suffered from childhood trauma involving snakes, digging potatoes and picking rocks -- but I digress. During the chat, the following similarities were discovered: Both knitting and gardening offer the satisfaction of working with your hands. Both require you to nurture the project from seedling (casting on) to completed product. Both have trials and tribulations (weeds, missing a yarn over). Both are perfectly acceptable to be done either as solitary activities or with family and friends. Both produce items that could be kept for one’s self or thrust upon unwitting friends (zucchini, anyone? How about a fun fur scarf?). One may experience a sense of loss when the end product doesn’t turn out as expected (radishes too hot, sweater doesn’t fit, deer ate the squash blossoms). What are your thoughts?

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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