Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Workshop Wednesdays: Stretchy Bind Off & Handpainted Yarns

What can I say about Chrissy Gardiner? Well she has been my friend for a long time now. I was her first sample knitter back in the day. She got me involved with doing shows. Our first was the Knit & Crochet show when it first came to Portland a few years ago. Then I did Oregon Flock & Fiber with her and the rest is history! Over the years I have knit quite a few of her patterns out of my yarn. I love how her patterns are very detailed and tested so completely they rarely have an error. She is a genius for inventive design. Over the past couple of years she has been working on a book called Indie Socks, which should be out soon! Chrissy's idea for the book was to choose several indie dyers and design a sock pattern for each one of them. The socks she designed for the yarn I gave her can be found on Ravelry as the Owenburger Socks!

So what does this have to do with her classes? Well her Designing with Handpainted Yarns (Sunday, 9am - 12pm) is entirely derived from what she learned working with all of the indie dyers for the book. The class goes through different types of handpainted yarn and how to get what you want out of the yarns. Whether it's avoiding pooling or making it intentional. Pretty much making the yarn do what you want instead of the other way around!

The second class she is teaching is a one hour wonder on Stretchy Bind-Off (Saturday, 4pm - 5pm) techniques. Chrissy's first book, Toe-Up Socks is where she learned these special techniques. Learn tips and tricks from the master! Stretchy bind offs are definitely useful for toe up socks, but can also be very handy for other things such as sweater cuffs, neck holes, shawl edgings, and so much more!

For more information on Designing with Handpainted Yarn, check out here: http://cgff.lavendersheep.com/workshops/designhandpaintyarns.html

For more information on Stretchy Bind-Off, check out here: http://cgff.lavendersheep.com/workshops/bindoff.html

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