Fall 2014 Workshops and more

Over the span of my teaching career, I’ve noticed a pattern — I may have mentioned it to you before. In the Fall, as many people start to think about knitting again (I mean, some of us never stop … but you know what I mean), you’d think people would be excited to work on some extra-warm and fashionable double-knitted items. And perhaps double-knitters already are — but folks who don’t already know? They’re not up for it just yet.

I call it the Holiday Knitting Effect. I don’t teach project-based workshops, but in the Fall people are disproportionately knitting projects for gifts rather than stuff for their own use that may not have as firm of a deadline. So in the Fall, when I run workshops, I’m all about teaching people new techniques. They don’t want to hear it. Heads down, churning out hat after scarf after shawl, using the knowledge they already have and every ounce of speed they can muster (and a fair few curse words). And my workshops don’t fill up.

The Spring is a different story — having hit (or resigned themselves to missing) most of their deadlines, knitters will come out of hiding as early as January to learn new techniques. It may be too late to use them for anything that’ll be useful during that season — but those new techniques will come in handy sooner or later.

What does this mean for me and my double-knitting technique workshops? It means that I’m still willing and able to teach in the Fall, but shops and venues that have their fingers on the pulses of their clientele know that these classes may be a risk. So the shops that do run my Fall workshops are the ones that can reduce their risk in other ways — in other words, my local shops.

So, fellow northeasterners, I was all psyched up to let you know that I’d be teaching in 4 states this Fall, but NH and ME have bowed out until the Spring and I’m back to MA and NY again.

Of course, you can always check my events calendar for the latest listings but for your convenience here’s a rundown of my short Fall lineup. New Yorkers! pay special attention because this is very short notice!

  • Saturday, Sept 20. New York City, Knitty City, 9-12 Intro to Double-Knitting
  • Saturday, Sept 20. New York City, Knitty City, 1-4 Multi-Color Double-Knitting
  • Saturday, Nov 15. Salem, MA, Seed Stitch, 1-4 Intro to Double-Knitting
  • Sunday, Nov 15. Dorchester, MA, Stitch House, 9-12 Intro to Double-Knitting
  • Sunday, Nov 15. Dorchester, MA, Stitch House, 1-4 Advanced Double-Knitting (TBA)
  • Saturday, Dec 6. Salem, MA, Seed Stitch, 1-4 Multi-Color Double-Knitting

And for those of you who like to plan WAY ahead, I’ve got a couple of major gigs coming up in Spring 2015:

In other news …

fircone sachet

Earlier this year I submitted a neat little pattern to the Interweave Knits Gifts issue, and that issue should be hitting store shelves soon (I assume, since it just got posted to Ravelry). It’s called the Fir-Cone Sachet, and it’s a simple DK piece in Shetland wool that can be sewn together and stuffed with spare pine needles from your (or someone else’s) Christmas tree to keep that nostalgic aroma around well past the holidays. Double-knitting means that you can choose the face you prefer when you’re done and the double thickness means it doesn’t need to be lined before stuffing it. I hope you enjoy it!

My double-knit entrelac has gone pear-shaped

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

You may remember back in 2012, I played with double-knit entrelac while considering a new hat design (what’s entrelac, I hear you ask? Wikipedia knows). At that point, I was working out details on double-knit short rows, picking up new pairs along a double-knit edge, and ways to keep the whole thing locked together at the edges of the diamonds, at least. I made a little rectangular swatch that allowed me to try out a bunch of different options for each, and if you’ve taken a class with me or seen one of my presentations in the recent past, you’ve probably seen the swatch in question.

It’s been a while since I’ve thought about DK entrelac any more than in passing. Shortly after I made the swatch, the illustrious Gwen Bortner took one of my advanced double-knitting workshops and it became clear that she had done — and even published — a double-knit entrelac pattern. However, even Gwen said that the photo of the piece doesn’t do the technique justice, and after I picked up a copy of her book, I realized that the technique is not described in any real depth so the method is relegated to the crazy enthusiasts (like myself) who are willing to work out the details for themselves.

For the next couple of years I found myself busy with other things. But now, with the next book on the (distant but visible) horizon, I am working on snippets of techniques again. In a moment of frustration while working on another piece, I decided I’d dedicate some braincells to the entrelac question. Once I’d opened this old dusty crate in the back of my brain, I was able to look at it in a new light, and something that had eluded me before snapped into place. Not only is double-knit entrelac possible, it’s easy — and one of the elements that is unique to my style of double-knitting is going to make DK entrelac even easier. I’ve also been playing with new stitch/pair relationships and new ways of explaining things that will go a long way toward fostering a better understanding of DK entrelac and double-knitting in general.

DK-entrelac-sneakpeek1

So without further ado, this pear-shaped thing was my technique swatch. I ironed out some details but most of it is working in an easily repeatable/documentable method. I’m not thrilled with the closure but I have another idea for that which I’ll try out later. Also, the gauge is way off — too loose and showing too much of the other color because of that. Now that I have the technique down, my next step is going to be to play with the gauge, color changing, and (of course) motifs within the panels.

Just so you can see that it’s reversible, here’s another photo with the pear halfway turned inside out.

DK-entrelac-sneakpeek2

 

Now comes the bad news. This is kind of a tease, I’m sorry to say. This is going to be a fairly technique-heavy pattern and when it’s done it’s likely that I’ll be saving it for the book and not releasing it as a standalone pattern. However, if there’s great outcry I may change my tune on that.

Thanks for your continued interest and I hope to see you back here again soon!