Category Archives: teaching classes

New Harmony Slippers

10 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by in Favorite Things, Knitting, Pattern, Ravelry, teaching classes

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Don’t you stay at home of evenings?
Don’t you love a cushioned seat in a corner, by the fireside,
with your slippers on your feet?
[Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.]

New Harmony Slippers

Last weekend was the annual knitting retreat at the Barn Abby in historic New Harmony, Indiana. I love that little town, its shops, cafes, historic sites, botanical displays…

The New Harmony Slippers is the project I developed for part of this year’s program. The knitters who attend have been to countless classes so I had trouble thinking of something that wouldn’t be a repeat. I finally designed these slippers merely for their interesting construction. They have no sewn seams, but are not knit in the round in a way that socks are customarily knit. They are also a fairly brief project so those who were interested could finish at least one in the time we had together.

These slippers can also be worn in shoes like commercial footies or socks. The size is easily adjustable and the slipper toe can be knit in a decorative pattern. Plasti Dip or another synthetic laytex can be used to treat the soles if you intend these to be used as slippers instead of footies.

Pattern Features

  • Knit back and forth on two needles
  • No sewn seams—3-needle bindoff at heel
  • k2tog and ssk decreases
  • lifted stitch increase
  • slipped edge stitch
  • k2tog join at toe
  • 3-stitch attached icord

Yarn

Sock-weight yarn

Tools

Two US #2 (2.75 mm) needles (or size that gives gauge), yarn needle with eye, scissors

Gauge & Measurement

19 rows/2″ (5 cm) and 14 sts/2″ (5 cm)

The pattern is offered for $2.50 on ravelry.com at this link

New Harmony: Barn Abby

New Harmony: Barn Abby

Argyle Christmas Stocking

21 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by in Free Pattern, Knitting, Pattern, Ravelry, teaching classes, Thoughts

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The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
[C. C. Moore]

Argyle Christmas Stocking

If I could put a subtitle on this post, it would be, The Last of the Argyle. Thirty years ago, I knit an argyle vest for my husband. I found the technique so tedious and frustrating that, when I finished it, I swore I’d never knit another. I’ve known knitters, including my mother, who enjoy the technique immensely and who would be frustrated with the techniques I enjoy most. Such is the way with human beings.

Less than a decade ago, a group asked me to teach the intarsia knitting technique (as used in making argyle) so I designed another argyle vest. The request keeps cropping up so I keep knitting more argyle. I tell myself, it builds character.

Then came the ultimate request, a sock pattern that is argyle without a sewn seam. Here it is. Since I knew that I didn’t have the self discipline to knit a second sock, I made it into a Christmas stocking so I could say I was finished after only one. The accent lines are worked in duplicate stitch using metallic gold yarn. Although the pattern is worked to and fro, a wrap and turn avoids the need for a sewn seam.

Here is a Christmas gift for those of you who knit —  a free printable PDF pattern for knitting the sock. NOTE: This version of the pattern is a revision of the original. The heel instructions are altered. 

Autumn Classes: Tuxedo Mitt

09 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Knitting, teaching classes

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Did you ever get the feeling
that the world was a tuxedo
and you were a pair of brown shoes?
[George Gobel]

Tuxedo Mitts

Here is a photo of one of the designs I have developed for autumn knitting classes. The fingerless mitts are knit using sock-weight yarn, a palm increase, and an interesting cable treatment. The short mittens that add outdoor warmth to the mitt, are knit back and forth using worsted weight yarn. To finish, they have a subtle seam up the back under the buttons. The combination of mitt and mittens reminded me of a tuxedo in some way.

Inspired by others

04 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by in Knitting, teaching classes

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It is difficult to see why lace
should be so expensive;
it is mostly holes.
[Mary Wilson Little]

Marianne's Lace Hat

Marianne (inset photo) knit this lace picture hat.

Other knitters inspire me to knit, to design knitting patterns, and to teach knitting classes. Some would call that ‘peer pressure.’ I call it ‘great fun.’ Here are examples that make my point.

Marianne contacted me from her home in Tennessee to ask questions about a lace picture hat pattern I’d designed for the book, A gathering of LACE (Swansen, 2000). We spoke on the phone several times while she was knitting the hat, and a knitting friend of hers sent photos to me. I was thrilled that she enjoyed the project so much, and that I could be of help to her. We didn’t know each other before, but I was inspired by her enthusiasm.

Michele took my twisted stitch knitting class a couple of years ago. Last year, she contacted me for help designing a sweater using the same technique. I encouraged her to buy the Schoolhouse Press translation of the classic book Überlieferte Strickmuster (Twisted Stitch Knitting) by Maria Erlbacher. Then we met and I helped her pick patterns and plan her sweater. You can imagine how thrilled I was to see her results. Her attention to detail was impressive—the way she blended the patterns as she decreased the sleeves is a good example. I was inspired by her perseverance well as her thorough grasp of the technique.

Michele Barton's Sweater

Michele designed and knit this breath-taking sweater.

Winter Class: Argyle Vest #3

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Knitting, teaching classes, Writing

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Do not compute the totality
of your poultry population
until all the manifestations of incubation
have been entirely completed.
[William Jennings Bryan]

Three Argyle Vests

This post follows up on the winter knitting classes I taught at Sarah Jane’s Yarn Shoppe. The only connection I have with the shop is as a customer and, from time to time, knitting instructor. I designed this basic vest pattern with color charts specifically for this class. Each knitter in the class received a chart in her own selected color way. A fourth example is shown below.

Designing this pattern and facilitating this class was great fun for me. Now I am polishing the pattern to sell as a PDF on Ravelry.

Jodi's Argyle Vest

Winter Class #2: Argyle Vest, continued

22 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by in Knitting, Ongoing Projects, teaching classes

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Feelings are like a color chart
that God has given us.
[Keith Miller]

Charts

Eight knitters started knitting their argyle vests in the first class. In addition to using printed instructions to get them started on the ribbing and vest back, they also filled in work sheets that helped them figure their stitch and row count based upon their gauge and measurements.

In the intervening two weeks, each sent me their calculations and I updated their customized color charts to use when they knit the argyle vest front (photo above).

As I polish the instructions for knitting the front and adding the finishing touches, I am faced with my usual quandary when writing patterns. How much do I include in the instructions? Do I illustrate how to add duplicate stitch accents, work attached iCord around the arm holes, and finish the v-neck with a miter and invisible bind off? Or do I just say do it and assume knitters will look it up if they don’t know how? In a perfect world, I’d publish this using little videos in an enhanced eBook. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Winter Class: Argyle Vest

02 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by in Free Pattern, Knitting, Knitting Sites, Pattern, teaching classes, Thoughts

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Design is not just
what it looks like
and feels like.
Design is how it works.
[Steve Jobs]

autumn argyle supplies

Teaching classes is an asset for a knitting-pattern designer. At least it is for me. Not only do my students inspire me by their requests and enthusiasm, but they help me clarify the pattern details and how to word the instructions. I have been composing a basic vest pattern in multiple sizes and gauges for an argyle technique class. Here are details of the fun parts of the pattern and how the design works:

  • Each of the eight students selected yarn colors in DK or light worsted weight from their favorite brands (Cascade 220, Berroco Ultra Alpaca, Brown Sheep Nature Spun, Rowan Creative Focus). I customized color charts (shown above) for each student to use with her written pattern.
  • The lower edge is ribbing that is knit in the round so it lays nicely on the hips.
  • The body is knit in two parts (back which is plain and front which is argyle) but the seam starts above the ribbing. Two stitches are added at the beginning and end of each piece as a seam allowance to produce an easy to sew, tidy seam.
  • The armholes are finished with applied iCord and the V-neck is finished with ribbing and an invisible bind off.
  • Attention is paid to smoothness of the fabric. Yarn joins and wraps follow the suggestions in the book shown below.
  • The accent lines are worked in duplicate stitch.

argyle-workshop-swatchAn excellent source for refining intarsia technique is Intarsia—A Workshop for Hand & Machine Knitting from the studio of Sealed with a Kiss (Sherry and Keely Stuever). Select this LINK to download a sample swatch pattern for argyle intarsia.

Okay, now I’m excited

15 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Knitting, Pattern, teaching classes, Thoughts, Writing

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When I’m inspired,
I get excited because
I can’t wait to see what I’ll come up with next.
[Dolly Parton]

Yesterday, I laid out and printed copies of a pattern for a class I’m scheduled to teach next Saturday. I used Adobe Illustrator to produce the chart, Adobe Photoshop to process the photos, and Adobe InDesign to lay out the pattern. I could easily save and distribute the layout as a PDF file.

I have been itching to try a layout in iBooks Author (Apple’s new, free software). Since I already had an assortment of images and text in a folder, I simply opened one of the templates in the new software, and placed my own content. With a little tweaking, I was ready to preview it in iBooks on my iPad 2. The images above are screen shots of the pages as they looked in iBooks (they were larger of course and quite readable). If I’d had a video demonstrating how to work this knitting technique, I could have placed it in the book as well.

For a number of years, I have been producing PDF files that can be read paperless (read that, on any PC or Mac that has a free Adobe Reader). In the past couple of years, I have been converting print books to ePub files for use on such devices as Nooks and Kindles. I’ve been researching ways to produce apps that include visually rich content, audio and video. I’ve learned the most from taking courses on Lynda.com.

Although I’ve learned a lot of technical stuff over the years, I am still a graphic artist at heart and have avoided crossing over into application programming. This new software opens a new world to me and it can only get better.

Fall Classes—Schedule for Sara Jane’s Yarn Shop

09 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by in Knitting, Ongoing Projects, teaching classes, Thoughts

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Education is not preparation for life;
education is life itself.  
[John Dewey]

The photo shows the projects that I will present in classes on Saturdays this fall and early winter at Sarah Jane’s Yarn Shop. The classes include The following:

  • Heirloom Counterpane Pillow
  • Textured sock and mitten set that emphasises gussets
  • Twisted-stitch mitts/mittens
  • Jacobsburg mitten that emphasises chart reading for texture and color patterns
  • Unfinished project class where we solve problems and get projects finished

For more information, download this printable PDF file.

Fall Classes—Rose-Window Lace

22 Friday Jul 2011

Posted by in Knitting, teaching classes

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People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when the darkness sets in,
their true beauty is revealed
only if there is a light from within.
[Elisabeth Kubler-Ross]

The knitting retreat at New Harmony, Indiana is my first teaching opportunity this fall. My topic is lace knitting and I’ve devised this six-inch piece for our basic project. It is only 28 rounds and the pattern includes a full size blocking diagram. The pattern is both charted and written out in abbreviations so it will offer the opportunity for the knitters to practice a variety of skills.

If anything makes my light shine from within, it is these annual trips to New Harmony. It is still two months away and I’m already excited.