Apr 24, 2013
Word has it that there’s still room in the April 29, 2013 Fair Isle Knitting class that I’m teaching in Melrose. I’ll show your three different ways to try knitting with 2 colors in the same row, show you how to read charts, get you thinking about color choices and details that will improve your workmanship and finishing for Fair Isle knitting. It’s just one night, so we practice on a small sample (pictured above).
Bring along 3 contrasting colors of worsted weight yarn and appropriate needles. If you’re happy to work on double pointed needles or with the magic loop method, great! If not, we’ll work with straight needles and sew up your sample. Cast on 36 stitches and work 2 rows in purl stitch before class. This way, you can concentrate on the fair isle while we’re together.
To register, go to the Melrose Adult Education. Need yarn? Sit and Knit in Melrose will give you a 10% discount on class supplies with your registration confirmation. If you have any questions, email me at tactile @ mac dot com.
Mar 28, 2013
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.
Jan 26, 2013
Living in the Boston area, wool lovers are spoiled with more than 20 local yarn stores (lys), multiple sheep and wool festivals and a bevy of fairs where you can find independent dyers tempting us with luscious fiber and colors. My yarn stash does just fine without purchasing yarn online. Even Webs, that jumbo online yarn emporium with the amazing back room, is only 2 hours away. Why buy online when there’s beauty all around you?
During the 2011 pilgrimage to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY, I had a mission: find yarn to knit a cardigan for my daughter, who had texted a picture of something she saw in a a very posh shop. “Mom, could you make this but in purple?” Rhinebeck is a perfect blend of wool, food, and animals (the leaping llama contest is my favorite) mixed with crowds wearing wonderful hand made garments and Ravelry pins.
After much yarn handling, the alluring Miss Babs Yowsa super wash merino wool, color Clematis fit the bill. I invested in 3 skeins, or 1680 yards of the lovely yarn. Way more than I needed, but 2 skeins would limit the design possibilities. What a treat to touch Miss Babbs’ yarn after reading about their marvelous color ways online!
The following week, I traveled to Italy to work on future Tactile Travel tours and meet up with clients Giardini di Sole. The long flight, train time would give me good knitting stretches. Like many knitters, I don’t want to be caught without a project or twelve in the suitcase! So I packed 2 of the skeins, my design notebook, a variety of needles and set off for Italy! The pattern and knitting proceeded quickly, but I only used one skein during the week. Imagine my dismay when the other ball of Yowsa rolled under the bed at a friend’s house on my last night! Theresa said she would send it via post. Initially, I was reluctant to agree…. the Italian post office was not always reliable and perhaps I could finish the sweater in only 2 skeins. Eventually I asked her to send it, and the wait began.
I wait, and waited and waited. Two month later, I emailed Theresa, who said that the tracking said the package was delivered three weeks after she sent it, sigh.
Checking Miss Babs online marketplace, I didn’t find the Clematis colorway. Eventually I searched stashes of Ravelry users, hoping there was some leftover Clematis languishing. Sympathetic negative responses yielded no results. Finally, Clematis appeared in her shop again. I sent a sample of the yarn I used, hoping the dye lots would be a good match, and last September, I found a rumpled package on my doorstep.
“What on earth is this?” forgetting that the yarn might be on the way. The return address label didn’t give many clues, so imagine my delight when I opened this tissue covered confection, complete with a stitch marker and sample of new yarn. 
This was my first online yarn experience, a fabulous customer experience and a sweater that my daughter now wears several times a week!
Huzzah to Miss Babs!
Jan 24, 2013
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.
Here I go!
Jan 15, 2013
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:
- Making a Log Cabin Quilt Block (here’s my handout CreateLogCabinBlock)
- Creating a Duct Tape Mannequin
- 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.
Sep 24, 2012
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.
