News for 2015

I know it's only the end of September, but I've been busy thinking ahead to what exciting plans I have for you for 2015.

2015 Programme of workshops at Hazel Court, Swansea.

 

I've been busily compiling the 2015 programme of workshops at Hazel Court, Swansea which are now available to book here. There are a few new subjects for next year as well as some 'staple' ones that continue to be in demand,  so hopefully there will be something of interest for you all. I'm particularly excited about Lavish Lace, for developing your lace skills further - this is ideal for those of you who will have attended  An Introduction to Lace Knitting, but don't worry if you missed out on that - if you can knit and purl and follow a simple pattern you will be able to undertake this class.

As many of you may know, I love colour so I'm really looking forward to  Fathoming Fairisle which will provide you with a solid introduction to this popular technique.


I'm sure many of you will be delighted to know that the lovely Alison Crowther-Smith and I will be undertaking another 'foreign tutor exchange' scheme where we cross the border to teach a workshop at each others' venue - This year I will be teaching Intermediate Crochet on 21 February at Alison's wonderfully cosy Somerset studio, and Alison will be joining us at Hazel Court for a frill bonanza with Frill Seekers on 21 March.

All workshops (excluding those with a guest tutor) are available to book at the 2014 price of £30 if booked by the end of this year.

New Workshop Loyalty Reward Club

 

As a thank you to those of you who regularly attend workshops at Hazel Court we now have a Loyalty Reward Club where if you attend 3 or more fyberknitics workshops over the course of a year you'll receive a £10 voucher to spend at workshops or in the fyberknitics online shop. Don't worry I'll keep track of this for you and make sure you get your voucher after attending your 3rd workshop of the year.

We've nearly completed the second year of fyberknitics workshops and I am grateful for the support (and banter) I have received from  those who have attended and made the workshops such a success - so I'm going to start the Loyalty Reward Club retrospectively  and  if you  have attended 3 or more classes this year, you will receive your voucher very soon.

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New Knitting Design from Start to Finish

Meet 'Marilyn', my latest knitting design which I created especially for my workshop Cables & Bobbles & Beads, Oh My! According to this cowl’s namesake, diamonds are a girl’s best friend, and this cabled cowl with bead-jewelled diamonds will certainly add a touch of glamour to your wardrobe.

Marilyn Cowl by fyberknitics

I thought I'd share with you the design process for this project. First I had a rough idea that I wanted to make an item that used these particular techniques - my starting point for a design will often differ from this, but as this piece has a  specific purpose, i.e. to consolidate new skills and techniques learned at the workshop, this was an appropriate jumping off point.

I played around with some ideas on paper to start, with some very rough working sketches giving me an idea of the dimensions etc I wanted the cowl to be. I also made a decision about what yarn to use which I posted about previously here, plus I had chosen some lovely buttons already. Having decided on the type of yarn I then fine tuned my ideas with a generous swatch before charting the stitch pattern properly, and writing myself a rough pattern.

Although I'd swatched in a lovely teal colour, I opted for  purple in the end as I really like the zing of the yellow buttons against this. Then of course came the knitting which I thoroughly enjoyed as cabling makes for an interesting knit - and in fact got a bit carried away with as it was too long for what I had in mind. So after some pulling back a good chunk of it and finishing off, the cowl was ready to block. Here it is pinned out on my ironing board.

With the addition of those lovely yellow buttons Marilyn was then born.

Cable knitting has a long tradition and its enduring appeal never seems to fade, and indeed we see a wealth of attractive and fashionable designs available at the present time. These can seem very highly complex, but are in fact made using of a few simple techniques which  can be easily mastered. My workshop provides a thorough introduction to using and combining these techniques for great textural effects, and improve your confidence in undertaking such a project. I'll also be showing how you can make some quick fixes if you should make a mistake - and as a gal who makes a lot of mistakes with my knitting I love a few good quick fixes!

If you live in the Swansea area, I am offering this workshop again in Oct 2015 and still have just a couple of places left for the workshop which you can book here.

The Marilyn Cowl design has now been professionally checked and is available to buy as a PDF knitting pattern in my shop or via ravelry. Alternatively watch this space as I will be providing an online course which I hope to launch in spring/summer 2015.

Over to you

Have you done any cable knitting? If so how did you find it? Have you seen some of the lovely new Autumn Winter designs featuring cables - which is your favourite?

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