Working on Workshops for 2014

Now is the time of year I start planning for the next year's Knitting Workshop offerings.  If you've never taken a class from me (or anyone else for that matter) this post is still requesting your help and opinions!  What tempts you?  What do you avoid like the plague?  I'm not sure what to teach next.  Stay with my students' perennial favorites?  Add some new stuff?  Replace the old faves with what I hope will be new faves?  Normally each class is advertised with photos of techniques that will be taught in class.  I haven't done that here for space reasons.

The long-term favorites are:

1. Adjusting Knitting Patterns (for fit and style)

2. Mitten Design (design your own from any yarn!)

3. Colorwork Basics (from stripes to Fair Isle)

4. Colorwork Techniques (intarsia, bi-colored cables, etc)

5. Simple Shaping (how to perform the shaping techniques in average patterns)

6. Advanced Shaping (how to add, enhance, and recognize shaping techniques which look like design elements)


What should I add or replace?

I'm thinking of adding:

Simple Edge Techniques (make those edges on everything look even and wear better)

Intermediate Edge Techniques (vertical and horizontal options to dress up any pattern)

Decorative Cast Ons and Bind Offs (if you only know one or two of each, this is the class for you!  Change wear, looks, and flexibility for COs and BOs on all your knitting projects)

Knitting Tools - what, why, and how the right tool makes your work faster, more beautiful, and more satisfying

Making t-shirt yarn - upcycling t-shirts into knitting yarn


Most of us love taking knitting classes.  And we love learning from books and videos.  I love playing with yarn in pretty much every way I've ever tried!  I'd love your feedback on what classes to keep in the mix, which are past their prime, and which to add.  This is the best way to make sure that I continue to offer the classes you want to take - tell me what you want before I offer them!

If I haven't listed a class on something you'd like to learn, tell me!  I'll be happy to design one.  Things that don't get enough attention to make a class will likely still become articles for the blog, with lessons and technique photos.  And if you want me to teach at your shop or festival, please let me know.  I'll be happy to try to fit it into my schedule!

Thanks in advance for all your feedback!
 

Colorwork 3 - Onto the needles

The very good news in most colorwork is: you nearly always cast on in only one color.  In the event that the pattern asks you to do something else, it's is usually explained in detail.

Okay, so you've cast on, and I know you're casting on a swatch.  Congratulations on your wise choice.  Now, there are a few simple rules for all stranded (not intarsia, slip stitch or two strands held together) colorwork no matter what style you're going to use: keep both yarns working with even tension, tack as you go, and bring the "new" yarn from underneath.  Let's take 'em one at a time.

1. Keep both yarns working with even tension.  Some folks have a tendency to knit much tighter when they do colorwork.  Maybe they're trying to make sure there aren't any gaps between colors, but trust me, it doesn't work that way.  When you knit colorwork tightly, you end up with a strange, ripply, bumpy fabric that won't smooth out for anything.

When it is time to introduce the second yarn, pick it up and knit as if you were using the first yarn.  That is, don't change anything except colors!  Really.  The best practice for this is two knit two stitches with color A, and two stitches with color B for several rows until you don't have to think much about it.  Then, move on.

This brings us to the next tip:  (You'll need a colorwork pattern for this one)

Floats on the back of fabric

2. Tack as you go. After three stitches in a row of one color, if there are more stitches of the same color coming up, twist the two yarns together.  The first color you used, A, should make one wrap around the color you're using now, B. That's one tack. Now knit more stitches as directed, letting neither color "float" for more than 3 stitches without  tacking. Each tack should be twisted in the opposite direction from the one previous, keeping the two yarns from getting twisted up.

I know, that sounds like a lot, but it's not.  It just takes practice.  It's a bit like tying your shoes.  It takes a little while to get it, but once you have it, it becomes easy and second nature, and honestly, you can do it.

Colorwork front of fabric

Why tack?  Because long floats mess with your tension, making some stitches really loose, and others really tight.  Then, when you try to put on the garment, fingers and toes get caught up in these long floats, and that's really aggravating.  What should the floats look like?  The floats above are neat and beautiful, and most important, all exactly the same.  That allows the front of the fabric to look like the mitten at right.

I suggest you knit several rows this way without adding rule #3, just letting your hands become accustomed to these two skills.  Once you're really comfortable, go on to #3.

3. Bring the new color up from underneath.  The trick of that is to bring it up from underneath the original color every single time you change colors.  This means the original color is always going to come in from over the new color.  This, along with the tacking twist reversals, does a pretty good job of keeping the yarns from getting very twisted together.

What about the loose yarn ends?  You'll weave them in, just as you would any other end.  If you don't want the ends to show through to the front, make sure to weave them into their own colors.  In the mittens above, green was woven into green, and brown was woven into brown. 

Play with this swatch until you're happy with the work you're doing.  If you learn as you make a garment, often your work at the end of the garment will look quite different from the work you did in the beginning!  And, as you become more comfortable with colorwork your gauge will change.  That's all for now!