The Melrose Adult Education program list is growing by leaps and bounds this spring! There’s opportunities to learn about painting, acting, business skills, interior design and craft. Yours truly will lead two sessions on basic knitting skills, a lecture on how to make a duct tape mannequin and fair isle (stranded) knitting skills. To register, go the Melrose Adult Education Office for the full schedule and registration forms. Here’s class summaries for the sessions I’m leading:
Basic Knitting Skills: Learn 2 ways to cast on, to knit, to purl, and how to bind off. Understand some of the most common abbreviations in knitting patterns and get ready to work on a basic knitting project! Bring light colored, smooth (no novelty yarns, please) worsted or bulky weight yarn and appropriate size of knitting needle. With your MCAE registration confirmation Sit ‘n Knit Melrose offers 10% discount on your class supplies. 7 – 8:30 p.m. Offered on Mondays April 1 & 8 and May 6 & 13, 2013. COST: $25.00
Make Your Own Duct Tape Mannequin: A dressmaker’s mannequin is a helpful tool for sewists, knitters and crocheters. Ideally, it fits your body and your pocketbook! For many hobby garment makers, a duct tape mannequin is the perfect solution. This power point presentation and demonstration helps you and a couple of friends create your own duct tape mannequins. Handouts will help remind you of the steps when you try this at home. Monday, April 22, 2013 Time: 7:00 – 8:30, COST: $10.00
Fair Isle Knitting: Knitting with more than one color at a time creates classic or contemporary accents in your projects. Learn Fair Isle (also known as stranded) knitting techniques using English and Continental methods and read charts. Bright 3 contrasting colors of worsted weight yarns and appropriate sized knitting needles (if you’re comfortable working with double pointed or the “Magic Loop” circular knitting, fantastic! If not, you can learn with straight needles (Monday, April 29, 2013) Time: 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. COST: $25.00
All classes are held at the Milano Senior Center in Melrose, 201 West Foster St. I hear that you’ll soon be able to register online, and I’ll keep you updated.
The temperatures have dipped into the zone where evenings are spent curled up with a hand work project. One advantage of living in New England is completely justified hibernation during the winter. Last week, however, I enrolled in the Master Knitter Level 3 program of The Knitting Guild of America, so I will dedicate many evenings in the next year to completing these program requirements. Level 3 is the highest level in the TKGA program, and while I don’t need to knit a flowered carpet in 13 weeks, (as one historical European knitting guild required), there’s quite a few projects, reviews, reports and swatches on my list for 2013.
Last year, I was one of 15 people who completed the Level 2 requirements. The research and review of the literature, the opportunity to evaluate and improve my knitting, pattern writing and design skills create a great learning environment. The program also improves your ability to read and communicate in “knit speak.”
It is a lot of work. You will invest time and money to produce your notebooks (not to mention improvements to your knitting library!). When people ask me if the Master Knitter Program is worth it, I ask about their goals… it’s certainly not for everyone. If you are serious about knitting, enjoy research, appreciate detail and your ego can withstand the critiques given by the committee, it is an effective learning tool.
Did you think I was on the sofa, eating bon bons and watching “Downton Abby“? Mais, non! (Alright, I did spend the last two Sunday evenings with knitting and hot chocolate, watching season 3). Fabric and yarn excitement and shifting priorities made the last three months simply sizzle.
Currently, the waning fireworks are from the Common Cod Fiber Guild’s Ignite Craft and FiberCamp… three days of creative energy, company and the opportunity to share with others. On Friday night, I spoke at Ignite about the wonders of FiberCamp.
All eyes on Guido Stein as we prepare for IgniteCraft Boston 2013.
I offered to facilitate three sessions at the FiberCamp itself:
Fair Isle Knitting (I had no idea there was such trepidation about this topic!)
There was also time to show Sheeri around her new sewing machine, fetch coffee, label rooms, browse the pop up vendors like Dirty Water Dyeworks (a skein from Stephanie is a FiberCamp tradition!), pick up that incredibly crazy “52 Pick Up” pattern from Fallingblox and some teal hand spun from SnowMoon3.
Good thing stash reduction was not a New Year’s resolution.
I treasured the session led by Jen Stark of BlueAlvarez, where she shared the Excel spreadsheet she’d developed to streamline pattern grading for knitwear design. Jen is a creative and thorough designer who has experience, education and “the eye.” Fit, function and statement flow from her designs. Wow! The SAORI Weaving session was at the same time, and I thought perhaps I would follow the “rule of 2 feet” and try to stop by both sessions, but I was totally absorbed with the possibilities and ease for sweater design. What a great session Jen led.
Thank goodness I was able to enjoy Mihoko’s presentation the night before at Ignite Craft… I’ll be sure to share the video when it is posted.
Amy King of Spunky Eclectic led a bunch of sessions on Saturday and I managed to catch a bit of making patterns from existing clothing. I have, on occasion, been burned by mistakes while doing this. Most of these could have been avoided by placing my pattern paper on top of a soft surface (say carpet) and pricking important lines with T pins. Now why hadn’t I ever thought of that? Whatever the session, it was fun to dive in and see what might happen next. I crocheted aliens, overheard tips on thrummed mittens, and just enjoyed the company of the other FiberCampers.
Now it’s back to my regularly programmed life and posting about other fiberlicious projects in my studio.
As the temperatures cool and the kids go back to school, are you thinking of trying something new? How about knitting? The new Melrose Adult Education class listings include knitting this fall, with yours truly launching you onto new knitted horizons. In five evenings, you can learn the essentials of knitting: knit, purl, cast on, bind off, increase and decrease while creating your own snow friend. Download their brochure with the entire class listings here. Meanwhile, I still enjoy my sessions at Sit ‘n Knit. Janet and I have talked about launching a knitting boot camp this fall. We’ll kick off with a class on seaming (everyone groans, I know). We can help you be pleased with your end results! Call the shop at 781.662.9548 for more details.
Pitching my tent at Horseneck State Reservation, the sunset provided perfect inspiration for painting fabric at ProChem in Fall River, MA. Mickey Lawler, the life force of Skydyes, distilled her thousands of yards of experience into five days of inspirational play time. If you have yet to enjoy either of her books, “Skydyes” (now out of print) or Skyquilts, find them now, if only for the eye candy factor.
I have fond memories of attempting to create a particular sky for a quilt in spring, 2000, using her Skydyes book. My garden in the Castelli Romani was awash in attempts using fabric paints, dyes and marbling. What fun that was! Despite the fact that I layered several solid organzas instead of using any of the mountain of skies I created (look up at the banner and you’ll see some of the reject pieces that were perfect for another quilt), creating my own fabrics has been an important step in my quilting journey.
With this class, I wanted to renew that joy in a more guided setting. Mickey is a gracious, fun, and spontaneous teacher who encouraged each of us and tailored the class as the wind and sun shifted. The wonderful class members included many interests, representing New England, the Mid Atlantic and Florida! ProChem was a great classroom host, and Vicki Jensen tended to our ProChem shopping sprees, many questions about the area and of course, our lunch!
Mickey says that her 80 percent of the time, she gets the results that she expected when painting. Makes sense, with her experience. The other 20 percent is serendipity, and she lives for that! By the end of the class, I got the results I expected about 10 percent of the time. The other 90 percent was serendipity, thanks to my inexperience with the methods and techniques, and I’m not sure I was always content with that! Here’s a few sunsets and fabrics that highlighted my week.
Marketing
Opening the curtains this morning, I looked out at the band of pink edging the faraway Boston skyline and thought… Vermillion with pearl, watered down quite a bit, topped with ultramarine and perhaps a touch of black. Landscapes may never be viewed with the same eyes again!
Fibercamp 2012: An inspiring open format conference for everyone who enjoys knitting, crochet and a whole host of other fiber arts. This year I learned about coiling from Jeanne and how to evaluate a fleece from Lucy. I also shared my experience with making a duct tape mannequin and enabled a session on seaming techniques for knitters.
We covered the seaming of (wish I had taken photos!)
ends of rows (e.g. the sides of a sweater),
cast on/bound off edges (e.g. shoulder seams)
cast on/bound off edge to an end of row (e.g. a shoulder cap)
I passed around samples and we talked about selvedges and ratios. Knowing that this might seem very logical while in the session, but completely irretrievable in the future, I put together a reference list based on magazines currently on the market, books I enjoy and books others recommended. Here they are:
From the current magazine stands, you’ll find a nice article about seaming in the Debbie Bliss Magazine. Knitters volume 106 has a super article on picking up stitches with a great table.
Amanda W then took the group through the principles of picking up stitches. Hopefully the short sessions gave people the jist and the resources for the next time they need to finish an project.
I’d love to hear any additions you have to the list!
, find them now, if only for the eye candy factor.
(amazon associate link) by Nancie Wiseman. I love the spiral binding and way it fits in my knitting bag. Of course, this is on top of the wonderful explanations, drawing and photography.
by Montze Stanley is a classic reference that always offers more than one way to do anything knitting!
and of course, June Hiatt’s tomb and gravity source, 
.
