* 4 tablespoons butter or margarine (divided)
* 1 tablespoon salad oil
* 1 flank steak (about 1 ½ lbs.)

Sauce

* 3 tablespoons dry vermouth or dry white wine
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* ¼ teasoon Worcestershire
* 1 ½ tablespoons capers, drained well

* Watercress (optional)

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter with the oil in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat. Place meat in pan and cook, uncovered, until meat is browned on both sides but still pink in center when slashed (5-6 minutes total.)

Transfer meat to a carving board and cover loosely to keep warm. Over low heat, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in pan drippings. Mix in vermouth, mustard, Worcestershire and capers; stir briskly to blend. Cut meat across the grain into thin slanting slices. Spoon sauce over meat. Garnish with watercress, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Martha’s notes:

I always make twice the sauce as we love it. I do NOT increase the butter however. I’ve also found it usually takes a lot longer to cook, and since it spatters a lot, use a shield, but not a lid – that just boils the meat.

By Yvonne and Anna

In just one week, we’ll be casting on for an exciting and ambitious KAL, the Stora Dimun Shawl from the book Folk Shawls.  Read about the details here.

Have you chosen your yarn yet? The pattern calls for approximately 1125 yards of sportweight or DK yarn. In our newsletter, we suggested these yarns:

• Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport (7 balls)
• Louet Gems Sport (5 skeins)
• Malabrigo Silky Merino (8 skeins)
• O Wool Legacy (4 skeins)
• Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk (8 skeins)

Choosing a yarn for this project is somewhat daunting.  You’ve got a lot of knitting ahead of you, so you want to make sure it’s something you’re going to like.  Love alpaca?  The warmth and softness of the Blue Sky Alpaca makes it a wonderful choice; however, if you get bored with solid hues, you’ll want to choose something that offers you variety, either in a tone-on-tone or variegated colorway.

Cost is also a consideration.  The Malabrigo Silky Merino is currently priced at $9.20/skein, bringing your total to $73.60.  If you’re looking for something more economical, the Nature Spun Sport weighs in at $3.80/skein, or $26.60 for the project.  Three skeins of the Ultra Alpaca Fine sock yarn will cost $30, at just $10/skein.

Additionally, you’ll want something that is going to be able to be blocked, so that the lace patterning shows.  While we love our Ruca and the Duke Silk yarns, their incredible drape is going to work against this pattern and you’ll lose the lace details in the glory of the yarn.

Finally, make sure you choose something you like and that you’ll want to wear.  What good is it to knit a shawl out of a great bargain yarn, only to hate the end product so much that you chuck it into the drawer and never pull it out to wear, even in a dark movie theatre?   We know it all comes down to personal preference, but we’re here to help guide you to a yarn that fits your budget, feels good, and is something you’ll enjoy.

The wingspan of the finished shawl is serious business, measuring 86″. If you’d like to make it into a shawlette, substitute the same yardage of sock or fingering weight yarn and go down a needle size. One of our customers, for example, is going to use Dream in Color Smooshy. We think this would look stunning in Malabrigo Sock or Dream in Color Starry. Another amazing choice is Noro Silk Garden Sock, currently on clearance for 20% off.

We can’t wait to cast on with you!

Due to technical difficulties, we realize many our newsletter subscribers may not have been able to see the pictures that accompanied the Crochet Cast-On article in our last issue.  Here it is again, with BIGGER! pictures.

The crochet cast on is also known as the bind off cast on, because it is the only cast on that looks exactly like the bind off. I prefer this cast on for most of my projects, because I know that I won’t run out of yarn, like I probably would with the long-tail, and it’s a very stretchy cast on.

The Tools:

Yarn (yes, the yarn you’re using for your project)

Knitting Needle (again, the one you’re using for your project)

Crochet Hook (a size smaller than the knitting needles is suggested).

The Method:

Make a slip knot and put the slip knot onto the crochet hook (for counting purposes, this is your first stitch.)

Holding the hook in your right hand, with yarn and knitting needle in the left hand, and the yarn passing from your fingers under the knitting needle. Anchor the tail by holding it in your left hand and tight to the knitting needle. Move your crochet hook over the knitting needle, grab the yarn, and pull the yarn through the loop on your crochet hook. (Really, this sounds more difficult than it looks.)

Continue in this manner until you have the required number of stitches (don’t forget to include the loop that is on your crochet hook).

When you have the required number of stitches, move the loop from your crochet hook to your knitting needle. You are now ready to begin your first row of knitting!

Happy knitting!

(Sorry, ZZ Top.  We couldn’t help ourselves.)

By Yvonne

The sock bug, I did not have it.  I have knit a couple pair of socks, I’ve frogged a couple pair of socks, and I had no desire to knit socks in a fever.  Of course, I have more sock yarn than you can shake a stick at, because to me, sock yarn is a “safe” purchase — I can go to a yarn store and buy one skein of sock yarn and feel good that I made a purchase and supported the local economy.  Likewise, I can go to a wool festival and buy several skeins of sock yarn from several vendors and still be happy.  This, of course, creates a conundrum, because, as I mentioned 2 sentences ago, I have sock yarn but no desire to knit socks.

Enter Cat Bordhi’s Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters.

Toe up.  Personalized size.  Gauge?  Doesn’t really matter.  Fits to perfection.

You start with drawing an outline of your foot (I used the back of a cereal box).   Add Judy’s Magic Cast On.  Do increases like you’re told.  Run a lifeline (actually, run two), tie a knot around a single stitch, and cut that stitch.

Yes, I said it – cut. the. stitch.

Anna and I have been knitting these “discovery” socks together, and on Friday, we both took deep breaths, leaned into each other, and cut our single stitch (much like an afterthought heel or the EZ thumb trick).

We are now “singing our leg songs” — which is to say that we are knitting the legs of our discovery socks.  And liking it.   Anna’s thoughts are detailed here.

We’re hooked!

Our former manager Melissa and her husband Justin welcomed Xavier Owen this morning at 9:45. He’s 6 pounds 14 oz. We think he’s the cutest baby ever. Welcome Xavier and congratulations to Melissa and Justin!

It may be cold today, but truly, Spring is here. Let’s remind ourselves of what Spring looks like with this cheery Daffodil Basket. The little sweater is The Little Girl’s Shrug from Knitting Pure and Simple, available here at the shop, knit in Malabrigo Worsted in Pollen with some Lettuce colorway for the trim.

From our latest newsletter:

It started so innocently…

Yvonne: I want to cast on 449 stitches.
Anna: You’re nuts.

A few weeks later:

Yvonne: I still want to cast on 449 stitches.
Anna: You’re still nuts.

But then the next week:

Anna: I, too, want to cast on 449 stitches.
Yvonne: HA HA HA.

What, you ask, could have brought about this exchange?

I have wanted to cast on for the Stora Dimun shawl from Cheryl Oberle’s Folk Shawls for as long as I’ve had the book – which has been at least two years, if not longer. I brought this up to Anna, and you can see what happened. Before we knew it, Carla wanted to knit one, Kelli was asking about it, and a customer brought her copy of Folk Shawls in and said that while she was working on the Irish Diamond shawl currently, she wanted to knit the Stora Dimun shawl next. Suddenly, a knit-along was born. Book

The shawl is named for Stóra Dímun, an island in the southern Faroe Islands. The island is accessible from sea only during periods of clear and calm weather, but regular helicopter service is available twice a week through the whole year.

Faroese shawls are uniquely shaped. You cast on stitches for the outer edge of the shawl (not just the top or just the bottom), and work regular decreases every other row to form a triangle with a center back gusset. The effect is two triangular sections with knitted-on borders, joined by a center panel. Additionally, the shawls are knit in garter stitch – no purling required!

After hashing out some upcoming projects and events, we have decided to start the Stora Dimun Knit Along. If you are interested in participating, we are casting on our 449 stitches starting May 3.
What you will need:

Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle
About 1125 yards of DK or sport weight yarn. Our suggestions:
o Nature Spun Sport (7 balls);
o Louet Gems Sport (5 skeins);
o Malabrigo Silky Merino (8 skeins);
o O Wool Legacy (4 skeins);
o Alpaca Silk (8 skeins);
o Dream in Color Smooshy or Starry (for a smaller shawl) (3 skeins).

You are only limited by your imagination on this one. Want a light, airy shawl? Choose a laceweight, such as the JaggerSpun Zephyr or the Alpaca With a Twist Fino. Want something heavier? Choose a worsted. Can you imagine this in the Cascade Ecological Wool?

Please consider joining us for this knit along. We’ll be available for help at any time, but are planning to make Saturday afternoons “Stora Saturdays” so that you can take advantage of focused (well, as focused as we can get) knitting time.

Interested? Follow along with us on our Ravelry board!

Hop has been joined in our Carrot Basket by Honey Bunny, a “Loveable Toy” in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. This bunny is made of one skein of Cascade Eco Alpaca, with Blue Sky Alpaca Sport and Kid Silk Haze for the ears.

We will be closed on Easter Sunday, April 4, but open our regular hours on Saturday.  From all of us at Natural Stitches, have a happy holiday!