UPDATE! You can sign up for classes at 50% off using my teacher discount code, TEACHER50 at checkout! View all the VK Live SF class offerings here.
This September I’ll be travelling to San Francisco to teach at VK Live!
I’ll be teaching my favorite classes, alongside some of the best knitting instructors in the world – and in one of my most favorite cities. Does it get any better than this?!
Here is a rundown of the classes I’ll be teaching:
Friday, September 21, 2018: Beyond Stripes, A Multitude of Ways to Add Color to Your Knitting
In this class, students will learn the basics of stranded color work, including reading charts and properly blocking your work. In class, students will make a sampler illustrating many regional styles of colorwork: Fair Isle, Selbu, Setesdal, and even Bohus knitting. Less familiar techniques like embroidery, intarsia, and roositud will also be covered. We’ll also cover two-handed color work, tacking long floats, proper tension, and choosing colors for optimal effect.
In class, which is a full day, we make a super fun sampler (above) that incorporates as much colorwork as we can pack in. Choosing colors and learning how to not FEAR color choice is a big part of this class, and we learn as much from each other as we do from our own color choices.
No prior colorwork experience is required for this class, and you are welcome to work at your own pace. Whether you are an experienced colorwork knitter, or just trying it for the first time, you’re going to learn A LOT in this class!
Saturday, September 22, 2018: Bohus Knitting
The Swedish workshop founded by Emma Jacobsson, Bohus knitting, is best known for its beautiful hand-knitted items made famous in the late 1930s through the ‘60s for their attention to detail, innovative design and color, and exacting standards of craftsmanship. Traditional Bohus patterns utilized a fine-weight angora and wool blend to create a gorgeous halo and tonal gradations of color. The addition of purl stitches and the sometimes third—or fourth or fifth—color per row opened up limitless design possibilities for the knitter. In this class we will learn a bit about the history of Bohus knitting, as well as the technique used to create its masterful effects. My favorite part of this class is the slide show! I have a collection of original Bohus Stickning garments and ephemera (images only) from the Bohuslan Museum to share as we discuss the history of this amazing women’s cooperative.
We’ll be knitting a pair of wristwarmers that are a riff off our our popular Patsy Hat in the yarn Andorra. Don’t be intimidated by this style of colorwork, it’s not technically more difficult than traditional colorwork, there’s just some occasional purling to contend with.
Sunday, September 23, 2018, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Roositud Knitting, Learning the Traditional Estonian Technique
Roositud is an Estonian inlay technique where a contrasting color is wrapped between the back and front of the fabric as you knit. The end result is geometric patterning on the knitted fabric that resembles embroidery. Using the Roositud technique allows you the freedom to place a motif anywhere and to use as many colors as you wish, allowing for almost limitless design possibilities.
It might look like it, but it’s not embroidery. This technique uses a two-step process to add the inlay yarns as you work in the round. It isn’t too tricky to get the hang of, and it’s really, really fun. This is a great way to add bits of color to gloves, mittens, and other small projects.
We’ll be using BC Garn Bio Shetland in class to knit a pair of wristlets. Bio Shetland is an organic and GOTS certified Shetland-style yarn that is stunningly perfect for all manner of colorwork – including roositud!
Come hang out with me in my favorite city this September, and learn something new! You can view all the classes for VK Live San Francisco here, and view all the vendors for their incredible marketplace here. I’ll see you there!