Greetings Knitters, Crocheters, and Yarn Lovers of all Persuasions!

Events, events, events! Our May calendar is lousy with events! We've got a combination 2nd Anniversary party and show-us-your-knits night planned. We've also got 3 (!) knitting luminaries visiting us this month. Whether you wish to dominate your knitting (Jennifer Stafford), whip up fashion week worthy garments (Berta Karapetyan) or explore the colorful world of crochet (Sasha Kagan), we've got you covered. Throw in a little Anniversary Sale, a full roster of classes and a heap of new yarns & treats -- and you end up with a full month of knitting events... (and our longest newsletter ever!)

In this newsletter:
Anniversary Sale -- Friday May 18, 6pm through Sunday May 20, 5pm
Anniversary Party & Show Us Your Knits Night -- Friday May 18, 6-8pm
Book Signings/trunk shows:
Jennifer Stafford (aka Dominatrix) May 4, 7pm
Berta Karapetyan (Runway Knits) May 19, 11am
Sasha Kagan (Crochet Inspiration) May 29, 5pm
Block of the Month -- May 12th
New Arrivals
Knit-In
Class Schedule

Happy Anniversary to Us! Sale, Party & Show us your Knits!
Party: Friday May 18, 6-8pm
Sale: Friday May 18 6pm - Sunday May 20 5pm
That's right Stash is 2 years old. Time flies when you are surrounded by yarn & fabulous customers. Please help us celebrate 2 fantastic years as your local yarn shop! One of the many things we've learned in the past two years is what a huge role the creativity and inspiration of our customers plays in the vibrancy of our little shop. So we wanted to celebrate by giving y'all a chance to show off what you've been making. Bring or wear your knitted, crocheted, felted or otherwise yarny creation and join us for a grown-up version of show and tell! If you're feeling shy -- come join us anyway -- eat some nibbles and cheer on your fellow stash-ers.

Also beginning at party time (6pm) on May 18th *all* yarn will be 20% off. The sale will continue through the weekend, ending at 5pm on Sunday May 20th. Sale prices apply only to yarn in stock at the time of the sale.

Jennifer Stafford - aka the Domiknitrix is coming! Friday May 4th at 7pm
Come and meet the bay area's own Domiknitrix, Jennifer Stafford and check out some of her fabulous designs. If you haven't seen her book Domiknitrix yet, you're in for an eye opener. It's a totally original combination of modern designs combined with a take no prisoners philosophy of knitting. Even if you have a shelf full of "How to Knit" books, you'll learn something new about knitting in this one!

Berta Karapetyan, author of Runway Knits; Saturday May 19th, 11am
Come meet Berta Karapetyan, author of Runway Knits, founder of Karabella yarns, and longtime go-to knitwear designer for the fashion industry. She has designed knitwear for almost every clothing line found in our closets, and several clothing lines we wish we could afford to put in our closets. In her book she melds her fashion experience with a clear concept of what is flattering on real people into a host of eminently knittable designs.

Sasha Kagan, author of Crochet Inspiration, Tuesday May 29, 5pm
Come and meet Sasha Kagan, author of Crochet Inspiration. Sasha Kagan has long been admired for her fantastic color sense and amazing intarsia designs. In her latest book she turns her attention to crochet -- reinterpreting crochet in her signature vibrant color combinations. Whether you're looking for ideas for a large crochet project, or just a crochet embellishment -- this book should get your creative juices going.

Block of the month: Saturday, May 12 at 2pm- 3pm
Come and join us in making the Four seasons Blanket by Design Source. This colorful afghan is made up of 12 different 13x13" blocks. Each block is made using one skein of Manos del Uruguay's handcrafted kettle dyed pure wool. On the second Saturday of each month we will show you how to make one of the blocks in the pattern. The lesson is free but you will need to buy the afghan pattern and yarn. So come for the lesson and then stay and knit for awhile.To join in you should know the basics of knitting, purling, casting on and casting off.

New Stuff
Since our last newsletter, we've received oodles of delicious new yarns, fantastic patterns and must-have tools!

New Yarns:
RYC Bamboo Soft -- It's Bamboo, it's soft, it has sheen, it has drape, it has great RYC patterns. Really, what else could you want in a warm-weather yarn?
RYC Cotton Jeans -- Well, ok, maybe you want cotton in your warm weather yarn -- and this yarn has it! Complex marled colorways with fabulous RYC pattern support.
Nashua Ecologie Cotton -- All cotton yarn dyed with natural plant dyes -- resulting in subtle, wearable colors.
Rowan Bamboo Tape -- Bamboo's drape and sheen in a tape yarn & Rowan's fantastic colors. (We've also received the Rowan pattern book calling for Bamboo Tape -- and it's a winner!)
Dancing Fibers Serendipity -- Mutli-colored single ply of alpaca/wool blend -- soft yarn, fun colorways!
Diaketo Diarufran & Diadomina -- self-striping wool blends. Think Noro, but softer...
Pagewood Farm Hand-dyed sock yarn -- beautiful hand-dyed colors. (Really -- beautiful! With a color sense quite distinct from our other hand-dyed sock yarns...)
Twinkle Soft Chunky -- Big, bulky, and soft yarn used in quite a few of Twinkle's high-fashion bulky knits.
Claudia Silk Lace -- 100% Silk, hand-dyed, fingering weight yarn. Just sitting there waiting to be turned into a heirloom...
Karabella Lace Merino -- Soft, soft lace yarn in fabulous, sophisticated Karabella colors!

BIG Restocks
Zephyr -- silk/wool lace yarn in *lots* of new colors. Great yarn for any lace project
Lorna's Laces: Shepherd Sport, Shepherd Worsted, Shepherd Bulky, Helen's Lace, Sock, & Wool Top -- new colors & restocks of all our old faves
Claudia's Fingering Weight -- more hand-dyed sock yarn!

New Kits from Pick Up Sticks:
Baby Snugs, -- felted baby boots (think Uggs, but out of wool)
Coin Purse & Sushi Purse -- cute, cute, cute little bags for coins, knitting notions, and your stuff.
Blooms Bracelet -- felted jewelry we want to wear!

New Patterns & Books
Fiddlesticks Knitting -- Outrageously beautiful lace patterns which are fantastically well written. Charts, text, the whole shebang. These are consistently, the best written lace patterns we've run across.
Rowan -- Magazine 41, Tapestry Collection, Bamboo Tape Collection, & Kasbah Collection. Rowan excels at providing patterns, and we've got 'em!
RYC Coast & Nature -- Books with plenty of patterns for RYC's new warm weather yarns (Bamboo Soft & Cotton Jeans)
Jagger Handknits -- Two new books full of fashionably classic, wearable knits.

New Tools
Skacel Addi-Turbo Lace Needles -- Skacel did the impossible -- they improved on their Addi Turbos! Really pointy tips, without being too pointy, make these needles a dream for anything involving needle gymnastics (lace, socks, etc).

Knit-In - Wednesday evenings
Come join us for a respite from the over-planned, over-scheduled lives everyone seems to be living these days. Every Wednesday night we get together to socialize, knit, chat, show off your yarny triumphs, get sympathy over your yarny disasters, and basically just hang out. So please join us on Wednesdays @ 6:30pm -- and bring your knitting! As always, Knit-Ins are free!

Class Policies
There is a 15% discount on all regularly priced class materials and purchases made during class for *all* of our classes. Due to the popularity of some of our classes, we can't hold a spot for you without payment. (But you don't have to come to the store to pay, we're happy to process your payment over the phone!)

Class schedule:

Beginning Knitting: 4 Tuesdays May 8, 15, 22, & 29 10am to 12pm $80.
Learn to cast on, knit, purl, and bind off. Take this class -- and you'll officially be a knitter!

Intermediate Knitting: 4 Saturdays: May 5, 12, 19 & 26 10am-12pm $80
Beyond the basics -- come learn how to increase, decrease, and read a pattern. After this class you'll be ready to knit a (simple) sweater.

Simple Cabled Beanie: 3 Wednesdays May 2 , 9 & 16 6:30-7:30pm; $35 If you know how to cast on, knit and purl, come join us for this basic hat class and you'll leave knowing how to make your own hat! We'll cover knitting in the round, using double pointed needles and decreasing.

Little Silk Shrug from Lace style. 3 Saturdays. May 5, 12,&19 from 4-5 pm; $35
Want to try knitting lace, but shawls aren't really your style? In this class we'll be knitting up a delightful lace shrug from Interweave's recent Lace Style book. The four-row repeat lace motif is a great introduction to lace.

Short Row Heel Sock 3 Saturdays: May 19, 26 and June 2; 1-2pm $35
You've seen the tempting yarns and the colorful results -- so come join us and learn the mysteries of sock knitting! In this class we'll cover sock basics, but with a short row heel rather than a classic flap-style heel.

Toe Up Sock: 3 Wednesdays: May 23, 30th and June 6th; 6:30-7:30pm $35
A different spin on socks. Come learn to make a sock you can try on while you knit it. We will cover the basics of sock knitting including the magic cast on and the after-thought heel.

Store Hours:
10am - 6pm Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday
10am - 8pm Wednesdays
12pm - 5pm Sundays
Closed Mondays

Happy Knitting!
Ellen & Nicole

PS Happy Birthday Alex!