Saturday, May 26, 2 – 6 pm
Cost is $85 per person and includes a coffee break
In this workshop, knitters will learn a few methods for creating square and rectangular shawls in one piece, using simple stitch patterns and modular techniques. Students will start a square shawl and work on the outer edge of a
rectangular shawl during the workshop, creating customized shapes, textures, and color combinations.
Skills Needed:
This class is rated “rockin” – students must know how to knit, purl, work in the round and increase.
Skills Learned:
- Picking up stitches along garter stitch and Stockinette stitch edges
- Working directional increases
- Creating shawls in a variety of shapes and proportions, working in one piece from the center outward
- Incorporating simple knit/purl/yarn over patterns into a design
- Basics of how to incorporate more complex stitch patterns into a design (if students are interested)
Materials required
For the Square Shawl:
- Yarn in at least one color, any weight, at least 200 yards
- Double-pointed needles, a 16-inch circular needle, and (if you’re a fast knitter or using heavy yarn) a 32-inch circular needle that works with the yarn you’ve chosen (I suggest swatching in garter stitch or Stockinette stitch to make sure you like your result).
- At least 8 stitch markers
- A row counter (optional)
For the Rectangular Shawl:
- The center panel of your shawl (see Homework)
- Yarn in a weight and color that compliments the yarn you used for your center panel (if you’re not sure what you want to use, there will be time for color and yarn discussion and selection)
- The longest circular needle you have (two long circular needles if you have them) in the size you used for the center panel of the shawl
- At least 8 stitch markers
Materials provided
A booklet of the techniques covered in class, basic patterns for the square and rectangular shawls from the class, and suggestions for customizing your shawls
Homework
Students should have completed the center panel for a rectangular shawl in garter stitch, Stockinette stitch, or a simple stitch pattern of their choice. Instructions for this will be emailed to students prior to class.
About Ann Weaver
Ann Weaver has created things her whole life. She learned to knit when she was seven, learned to read a pattern at 22, and started sharing her designs though various forms of publication in 2007.
Since graduating from New York University with majors in Art and English, Ann has worked as a deli associate, Harvard graduate student in Assyriology, Macy’s cosmetics counter manager, teaching fellow, assistant curator, state bureaucrat, temp, Akkadian instructor, medical secretary, assistant office manager, barback, commercial bread baker, and copy editor, among other things. She is always looking for a new adventure.
Ann’s design work reflects this quest for adventure; while retaining a clean, wearable aesthetic, Weaverknits designs experiment with asymmetry, unusual color and yarn combinations, and androgyny. In the past three years, Ann’s designs have been featured in online and print magazines and books like knitty.com, Interweave Knits, Knitscene, and Brave New Knits, and are also available as individual patterns. Craft Work Knit is her first self-published collection of patterns, inspired by 1970s punk style, Josef Albers, athletic uniforms, and, of course, her family, friends, and the practical garments she wears to work every day.
You can read more about Ann and her work on her website and her blog.