Weekend Report

I'm not sure how many superlatives there are in the English language but I think I could use them all from Saturday's Needle in a Haystack event.  The facilities were fabulous, the organization was flawless, the classes were an exciting mix and the people who came along were all the loveliness that anyone could ever ask for.  The guilds did a great job of their displays and demonstrations. 

In case you can't tell, it went alright!

My Intro to the Drop Spindle was overflowing with 12 women who blew me away at how quickly they picked up the spinning.  In a mere hour and 20 minutes, minus time for getting in and taking care of class stuff, they were all spinning.  By the end of the time, every single one of them had yarn on their spindles and smiles on their faces.  We'll definitely be putting this class on the roster.  Just think what they could do with several hours.  Wow.

There were 5 intrepid crocheters in the Amigurumi Crochet class.  There wasn't nearly enough time to get the whole Lazy Bee done but they got a good portion of it done, including learning the magic loop cast on, increases, decreases and attaching appendages.  That's a whole lot in that amount of time.  They did a great job and I can't wait to see the finished projects.

All of the classes had enough students to go ahead and there were probably at least 80-85 people who participated in the day.  An amazing results considering there was so little lead time for the event.  In fact up until a week ago, there were grave concerns that it would go at all.  But in the last week, everyone started signing up and it was a great day.  We all fervently hope the College will see its way to hosting another event next year.  THANK YOU, Lincoln Land, Judy and all your staff.  You gave us a wonderful experience.

I was so wrapped up in everything, I didn't think to get pictures but I'm hoping some others who took photos will be able to pass some along.

Needle in a Haystack

If you're in the Central Illinois area, mark January 15th in your calendar for the Needle in a Haystack event at Lincoln Land Community College.  There are going to be classes in sewing, embroidery, knitting, spinning, crochet, quilting and more.  There will be 4 class sessions through the day so you can get an introduction into a variety of things. 

Even if you can't manage a class come on over to visit the displays and demonstrations being put on by Springfield-based needleart guilds.  I've got more info and links to register online at http://www.wandagraysondesigns.com/needle_in_a_haystack.  Click on over there.  One word.  There won't be vendors this first year to give them a chance to really focus on the event itself.  But the vision is to take what's learned this year and build on it.

I'll be doing several things during the day including:

• Intro to spinning yarn with a drop spindle.  You'll make your own drop spindle and then learn the basics of spinning using this ancient tool. 
• Lunchtime presentation on Crafting in Times of Crises.  You can sign up for an onsite lunch and while you're munching down, I'll share some thoughts on how crafters have always met crises with creativity both to meet the needs of those hit by the crises and in the meantime, provide solace to their own hearts.
• Amigurumi Crochet.  Have you ever seen this stuff?  So cute.  Here are some things I've done for the class:

The fish and Mr. Beaver came from a kit/book I got at Barnes and Noble called "Creature Crochet."  The kit came with everything to make these 2 little guys and the book has 10 more to make, including alley cats complete with trash cans and fish bones with jiggly eyes!

The turtle is my little creation and may be our project for the class.  I made it as a little box with a removable shell.

I have to give all the credit to Judy Wagenblast over at Lincoln Land for coming up with this project.  It's been a ton of work and they've gotten it done in record time.  We want everyone to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity so we can convince them to do this every year!!

I've been getting questions so I'll let you know that I will be doing another shuttle tatting class during the semester.  We're going to do it as a 2-part class with a limit of 6 students (in February) then there will be a 1-session "next steps" class (in March) for those who have the basics and want to learn a few new things.  If we get the same reception this semester that we got last semester, we'll try to fit in another beginning class later on in the spring.

Hey, while we're on the class thing, I'll be teaching a knitted lace class at the Three Sisters Folk Art School in April.  Click here for more info as it gets posted.

Checking in

I'm afraid I don't have any photos of anything tonight.  I've managed to catch this whatever's going around and it's laid me out. 

The Knitting With Jewelry Wire and Beads class went great on Friday night.  In fact, I felt just a little bit like a fraud because all the ladies had experience with knitting and beading.  So once I got them started and used to how the wire reacts to the knitting, they were off and running.  For once I ended up sitting around because they were doing so great, there was nothing left for me to do!

My final LLCC class is this Friday - Intro to Shuttle Tatting.  I'm really looking foward to this class because I am loving the tatting so much.  Just can't get enough of it.  But it will be the first time I'm teaching it so I hope it all goes well.

I haven't said too much yet about the event that the folks at Lincoln Land are planning for January 15th but it's being called "Needle in a Haystack."  It's going to be a whole day dedicated to all things needlework - knitting, crochet, spinning, weaving, sewing, embroider, quilting, tatting.  You name it and there will either be a class or a demonstration.  If you're in the Central Illinois area, I think you're going to be very sorry if you don't plan to spend that day with us.  There will be 4 class sessions during the day with a wide variety of class offerings, there will be demonstrations and presentations from a variety of needleart guilds.  So if you've always been curious about what the Embroiderer's Guild does (like I have been), you will be able to see their stuff and talk to them.  Very exciting.

When I get a little caught up, I'm going to show you what I got at the Bishophill Spin-in.

Knitting History

There have been so many exciting things going on that I've hardly had time to process it.  As the legendary Iñigo Montoya says, "Let me 'splain. No, there is too much.  Let me sum up." (Princess Bride)

Stitches in Time Heritage Knitting Program

The most exciting thing to come up is the next phase of the Heritage Knitting project.  A couple of weeks ago Jane and I met with some lovely folks at the Illinois Old State Capital here in Springfield.  None of us expected anything to come of it but we just sort of started to talking about what we did with the Heritage Knitting Retreat and they started talking about what they wanted to do and we suddenly discovered we were all talking about the same thing - bring together knitters wanting to learn about heritage knitting.  They took it a step further in wanting all of this to happen in the most fabulous historic setting.  Can you imagine knitting here:

How cool is this?!  I ask you - How cool is this?!

So here's what's going to happen.  We've got 2 classes scheduled (in this very room!) and in between and around those classes, we're going to have "knitting circles."  This will be a place for everyone to come and knit, share a love of history, get help with projects and just have fun.  Do you have to be a knitter to come to a Knitting Circle?  Well, I'm glad you asked because, in fact, no you don't.  Are you a spinner?  Are you a crocheter?  Are you a weaver? Why don't you join us?  You can't imagine how fabulous it's going to be to knit (or spin or weave or crochet) in this space.

Are you coming for a visit to Springfield?  Please join us - there are plenty of things for your family to do while you're hanging out with us!!

Classes
Saturday, October 9 - Mitt Class (9am - noon)
Saturday, November 13 - Small Wrist Purse (Pence Purse) Class (9am - noon)

Knitting Circle (9-11am)
Saturday, October 2
Saturday, October 30
Saturday, December 11

Registration Information
$40 per class; Two family members for $60
Fee includes 3 hours of instruction, registration and complete kit of materials
Register at the Tinsley Store at 209 South Sixth Street or by calling (217) 525-1825

The plan is to continue with a series of classes next year building up to the Heritage Knitting Retreat next June.  As soon as we get some more dates nailed down, I'll let you know.  You can download a flyer here and we'll be posting more info here.

Lincoln Land Classes
The last few semesters, the classes planned for Lincoln Land have not gone for lack of registrations so this semester we tried something a little different and scheduled the classes for Friday night.  I know how hard it it to give up a Saturday, even for a knitting class.  Friday night seems to be doing the trick because 2 of the classes (knitting socks and tatting) are already full enough to go and the other has some interest as well.  Guess I'm going to have to get busy! There are still spaces available in the sock knitting class and the knitting with jewelry wire and beads class.  So be sure to get your registration in.  More info can be got here.

Now my next post is (hopefully) going to be a report on the spindles and fiber obtained, used and spun over the past couple of weeks that I've been so negligent of the blog.  I will feed to the blog.

That time again

I just got hold of the new catalogue for Lincoln Land Community College and I've got 3 new classes listed:

• Knitting Socks - an intro to sock knitting - Friday, October 1, 6-9pm
• Knitting Jewelry with Beads and Jewelry Wire - October 15, 6-9pm
• Introduction to the (Nearly Lost) Art of Tatting - an introduction to shuttle tatting - October 22, 6-9pm

They managed to spell my name correctly 2 out of 3 times so I guess I'm good!

If you want to sign up for any of these classes, they're only $24 for each class and you can contact the Community Education Office at 217-786-2432 or jennifer.lewis(at)LLCC.edu or send in the registration form from the catalogue.

We thought we'd try the Friday night time slot to see if people would be more willing to do that than give up a Saturday morning.  We'll see, right?!

Dyed in the wool

I just got word that all 3 classes I proposed to Lincoln Land have been taken up so I will be teaching the following classes this fall:

September 19 & 26 - Knitting mittens and gloves
October 10, 17 & 24 - Learning to knit socks by knitting a Christmas stocking
November 14 - Knitting Jewelry Wire & Beads

The catalogue is supposed to be out in early September but if you're interested in one of the classes or know somone who is, you can click here to see the LLCC contact information. To get ready for the mitten/glove class I've been dying yarn. It's a bit of work but it's lots of fun to see how they all come out. Here are some samples of what I've been doing:

I've used a variety of dying methods and dyes including Kool-aid (the red skein in the middle of the 3rd picture), Jacquard dye (blue skein and rose skein in the second picture)from KnitPicks, and Wilton icing dye (for the rest). I love the Wilton dyes because they will often break up and you get really interesting effects. For instance, the skein of aqua and purples in the last picture was done using the Wilton black icing dye. The purple/green/aqua mix in the first skein of the second picture was done by mixing the Wilton black and Wilton teal. I'm never sure exactly what I'm going to get but because the colors have been mixed for a certain effect, you can be sure the colors will blend in the skein. These skeins are all worsted weight yarn but I also need to do a few skeins of fingering weight. The mixtures from today have certainly given me some ideas for other mixtures!

Even when it's raining

it's springtime in my heart (and in my purse). It's amazing how quickly this pattern has gone. See what you get when you give the yarn its head? Umhummm...

This first picture hasn't the greatest color but it shows the construction of crocheting the 2 halves and connecting them with the green in the middle. That green space will become the bottom of the middle pocket which will be green and will be fairly simple but with a little bit of a lacy border that will stick out just a little bit from between the 2 outer sections. I haven't decided quite how I'm going to do the handles yet, whether they'll be crocheted, knitted or ready-made.

This gives you a little better view of what the final thing will look like. Robert the Bear approves.

Lincoln Land Class
I had good news today (in the midst of a pig of a day at work) that I've got 8 people registered for the Knitting with Jewelry Wire and Beads class at the local community college. I believe I had 7 in the autumn so it seems to be a popular class. I've got a couple of new things to show this group that I've been experimenting with.

I've also got a couple of ideas for classes later this year that I'm very excited about. Stay tuned.

Christmas Stockings
I'm now finished with Santa's face on the 7th of the Christmas stockings, 7th of 7 I might add. Once I get the foot section knitted, all I'll have left is stitching the faces and finishing stuff. I'm surprised to say that I've really quite enjoyed making them but I think I'm full. As I told someone the other day, I think I've done my part! I never got a photo of the first group of 4 but I will make every effort to get photos of these, if only to prove I did it!

Things to do...

I had a great time with the Prairie Weaver’s Guild on Tuesday night. What a great group. I did a short program on Characteristics of fiber and then broke out the samples of a fairly wide variety of them for people to touch and spin with. Of course, the star of the evening was the Kromski Minstrel spinning wheel that recently graced me with its presence!

I’ve had a couple of days off from my day job to prepare things for my upcoming Lincoln Land classes – Designing a Purse (knit or crochet) which will run over 3 Thursday nights beginning March 26th and Knitting With Jewelry Wire and Beads which will be the first Saturday in April. I’ve been able to get a great deal done with a little more to do later today. This is the first time I’ve done the Designing class in this format and, of course, designing is what I love to do so I’m very excited to get this class underway. I’ve got lots of fun creativity exercises and a design questionnaire that should help people get started with the process.

The next thing to come up in my busy month is a spinning workshop this weekend at Lincoln’s New Salem. We just so rarely have access to spinning classes here so this is such a treat and I can’t wait. Kromski and I will head over tomorrow to learn about the sheep breeds that were common during Lincoln’s New Salem days (around 1830) and the spend two whole days with spinners – what a treat! I’ll take my camera and will hopefully have some pictures to share (if I can remember to take them!).

The gansey is through the plain stockinette and I’ve just started the first garter border. I promise that I will take a picture for the next posting. A blue knitted tube just hasn’t seemed worth breaking out the camera but now it’s soon to get thrilling!

Lace Class

On Satuday I finished the last of 3 sessions in the Beginning Lace Class at Lincoln Land. Although we ended up with just 2 students, they were so lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed the class. Both students made great progress on their scarves. Both ladies expressed interest in a knitted doily class and a sock class. If you're in the Springfield area and would be interested in either of these classes, please give Lincoln Land a call at (217) 786-2432 or email the Program Assistant at amanda.willis@llcc.edu to let them know. These are not the classes I proposed for the Spring semester but if there's enough interest, I'm sure they'll get it on the roster for the Spring or perhaps the Summer session. It helps them to know what people are interested in doing and they really do their best to accommodate. If you've never taken a Community Education class with them, you should have a look at their catalogue (click on the link above) because you're sure to find something interesting.

Progress continues on my Paisley Long Scarf. I didn't take another picture because I'm just on the second half, which is a repeat of the first half that I pictured before. Unfortunately, the section I'm on right now is a relatively boring repeat of a filler pattern which has to be repeated 6 times (making 12 repeats in all). The good news is, once I finish these repeats (I have 2 left to do) I'll be on the homestretch. Can't wait to finish and block it although I'm not quite sure where I will have room to block it!

I'm on my way

Halfway, that is. On my Paisley Long Shawl. I’m loving this pattern. When the Yarn Harlot bragged at how good these patterns are, she wasn’t just whistlin’ Dixie. It’s lace knitting with the pattern on both sides and a yarn that is a bit splitty. The pattern is as clear as clear with the addition of text directions when something different is going on in the pattern out of the ordinary. It’s been a pretty quick knit, too, so far. This picture isn’t really blocked, it’s just lightly pinned out so I could take the photo.

Tomorrow is the first of the 3 classes for the beginning lace course I’m doing for Lincoln Land and I’ll have 3 knitters. I’m very excited as this is the first time I’ve done this in an extended format like this. We’ll be doing a sampler scarf with fingering weight yarn.