Classes From the Summer

I did a lot to push myself as a knitter over this summer.  Finding balance between my different little lives.  I knew the house and work would push me mentally, so I wanted a challenge I could throw myself into.

I made it a resolution for 2012 to take a spinning class.  I signed up to take 'Spinning for Knitting' at Stitches Midwest this year.  The teacher was Merike and she'd been teaching knitting since I was an infant.  She knows her stuff, and really made me feel confident.  I was one of 3 in a class of about 12 that had spun before.  I was confident on my spindle and just gotten my electric spinning wheel and was feeling good about that.  I wasn't too sure about proper techniques to ply and I wanted to play around with different fibers.  This class helped a lot on both those fronts.  Next I'd like to try spinning woolen (vs worsted?  I get the two confused because the terms hold little meaning to me yet).  I left with a bunch of samples of fibers to try, and some wonderfully balanced 2 ply.

What did I learn from this class?  I learned that a lot of things I've heard on spinning podcasts were not true. You cannot balance your yarn with 'blocking' and that water re-energizes your yarn.  It also made me realize how picky I'm going to be about my own handspun.

I took a couple classes from guest teachers at Fuzzy Wuzzy this summer.

I had a class on the History of Lace Knitting with Franklin Habbit.  He is such a wonderful, patient teacher.  Talking about knitting and lace for 3 hours just seemed so short.  I think I could sit and listen to this all day.  It was great information and fun to learn a few new tricks for making polished lace projects.  Thanks!

I had a class from Marly Bird on Entrelac Crochet.  The class was fast paced and really challenging.  Learned the 3 basic blocks and how to put them all together to make different types of entrelac patterns.  I ended up settling on the easiest set for a project.

I left class and started a baby blanket for a co-worker.  That was the original plan, rather than stripes I wanted to do something fun.  The coworker had me show her how to knit so she could start a blanket herself.  She had learned to knit a long time ago and had put her needles down.  I don't know that she's gotten very far, but at least she'll have one right away :)