Midwest Masters Weekend

April 23 - 25, 2010

Please join Yarns by Design and the talented instructors at the Spring 2010 Midwest Master's Weekend on April 23-25, 2010. With such a diverse collection of classes, you are sure to find something new to try. And this year, we're offering multi-day classes - a chance to study a subject in depth and work on a project. As always, we will be holding the Master's weekend at the Holiday Inn Neenah Riverwalk. If you would like to stay at the hotel, please contact the Holiday Inn directly at 1-800-725-6348 to make your reservation. We invite you to attend the buffet dinner on Saturday night. Don't forget to bring a project to share during the Show & Tell session at dinner!

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Class Descriptions

Multi-Day Classes

Reversible Knitwear M'Lou Baber All Day Friday through Saturday Morning - 9 hours Create a reversible garment with double knitting. M'Lou's book, Double Knitting: Reversible Two-Color Designs, shows you how you can knit both colors (and both sides) in one pass. The two-day format will give you a chance to work on a small project and become comfortable with the techniques. You'll learn how to set up your knitting for double knitting in two colors, how to adjust increases and decreases to accomodate two-sided fabric, the best bind off techniques for double knitting, tips for creating lovely edges, and more. Choose a project, like a tam or bag, to knit in the class and discuss how to design a project of your own using double knitting techniques.

Lapland Hand Garments - The Mittens from Rovaniemi Susanna Hansson Saturday and Sunday - All Day - 12 Hours Originally, these mittens were done in bright blue, yellow, red and green to mirror the colors used in traditional dress. They feature an unusual zigzag-like pattern that appears only on the top part of the mitten while the palm-side is plain. More recent examples have retained the use of bright colors, sometimes only for the patterning, sometimes the entire mitten is very colorful. With two full days for this class, you'll have plenty of time to study the history of these mittens and learn the traditional techniques used to create the designs. Done circularly on size 1.5-1.75mm needles, the intarsia-in-the-round patterning is done in a unique manner. There is little written about the mittens and only the sketchiest information on how to execute this challenging intarsia technique. You should be experienced in knitting mittens and enjoy doing complex colorwork with fine yarns.

Design it Yourself with Unpatterns™ A. Karen Alfke Saturday Afernoon and All Day Sunday - 9 hours With the help of Unpatterns™, knitters can design their own basic garments with any yarn they choose, knit at their own gauge, and to their own size specifications. In this workshop, we introduce the basics of Unpatterns™, and then walk through the shaping details of garments worked from the bottom up (vest, sleeveless shell, or simple sweater) or from the top-down (pullover or cardigan). You will take measurements from "template garments" and make notes for your own design. Prior sweater knitting experience is not required, but is helpful.

 

Friday All Day Classes 8:30 - 4:30
Spinning Commercial Yarns Amy Tyler Here are some strategies for combining your fiber stash and your yarn stash! In this workshop, participants will explore ways to “re-spin” commercial yarns as well as ways to spin together commercial yarns and fiber. We will cover techniques for creating and using energized yarns, core-spun yarns, yarns plied more than once, and plying together handspun and commercial. You should be comfortable knitting a balanced yarn.
Friday Morning 8:30 - 11:30	Friday Afternoon 1:30 - 4:30
Japanese Shortrows Susanna Hansson Shortrows are an elegant way of building shaping into your knitting and the perfect way to finish shoulders and collars. Discuss how to apply this technique to shoulder shaping so that you will never again be faced with having to assemble "stair step" shoulder bind-offs. Other applications, such as collars, will be discussed briefly.	Two-thirds Sachet Susanna Hansson Learn to knit with beads without becoming overwhelmed and complete this small, portable project in just a few hours. You will learn a clever cast on and a sweet picot edging. A special stitch creates a fold line so your knitted piece folds into a smallbag shape. The sachet is assembled with a three-needle bind-off so the only finishing you have to do is darn in two yarn ends. Fill the sachet with dried lavender or a favorite herbal moth mix. Keep it for yourself or give it away as a Mother's Day gift. The bag also works as a small gift bag (perfect for bridesmaid's gifts).
Cuff Craze Karen Alfke Tired of the same old sock? Looking for some different ideas to dress up your feet? Karen will present five designs to amuse and entertain. We will look at welted and ruffled cuffs, as well as a wild sideways design. Included are tips on picking up stitches, working attached I-cord, even how to tame those self-striping yarns. With what you learn here, you will be able to take any sweater edging and adapt it to your socks! You should be comfortable knitting socks.	Chart Your Course Karen Alfke Ever gotten lost in a sweater pattern? Have you been frustrated by pattern instructions that just say "complete to match other side, reversing all shaping"? Or do you yearn to knit those beautiful Fair Isle and Aran sweaters, but can't make heads or tails of the charts? Surprise - the skills you learn from knitting charts can help you make sense of garment shping, too. In this workshop, we will demystify chart reading, introduce some great (paper and computer) tools for creating your own charts, and learn a technique for laying out and tracking two separate sets of simultaneous instructions (such as cabling and decreasing for an armhole). No prior chart-reading experience is necessary, but prior increasing, decreasing, and cabling experience is helpful.

 

Saturday All Day Classes 8:30 - 4:30
Lapland Hand Garments Susanna Hansson Continues all day on Sunday
Saturday Morning 8:30 - 11:30	Saturday Afternoon 1:30 - 4:30
Tapestry Crochet Judith Swartz Explore tapestry crochet, the technique of multiple color patterning in crochet that creates a sturdy, reversible fabric with no visible floats. Good projects for tapestry crochet include bags, hats and cushions. You will experiment with various patterns working both back and forth in rows and working in rounds. Judy will share the ethnic origins of the technique, as well.	Scrumbling Judith Swartz Freeform crochet or scrumbling offers an organic approach to crochet design. Free yourself from the conventions and structure of typical patterns and learn how to let a piece of art develop its own shape or use the technique in a more controlled way to adapt to specific shapes. We'll start with some exercises to encourage creativity. Then you'll refine the technique to work toward a finished product.
Cast-Ons Ann Budd There are many different ways to start your project and it's good to have a collection in your repetoire. Learn at least seven cast-ons, including Old Norwegian, Channel Island, provisional, tubular rib, and k1p1 ribbing cast-ons. Knit small samples for your reference and discuss when each is most appropriate.	Bind-Offs Ann Budd The bind-off technique you choose can affect the usability and look of your project. Learn at least seven bind-off methods, including the suspended, decrease, sewn, tubular and I-cord bind-offs. Discuss the benefits of each type and when to use it for a perfect finish to your project.
Spinning with Silk Hankies Amy Tyler Silk hankies are a “mawata” silk that consist of very thin layers of silk squares. We will learn strategies for preparing these hankies for spinning, and then we will spin them using various strategies, including Navajo plying. We will cover strategies for making your hands smooth to minimize snagging of silk on your hands, and various uses of silk hankies and yarns spun from them. You should be comfortable with your spinning wheel and know how to spin a balanced yarn.	Variations on Long Draw Amy Tyler “Long draw” spinning techniques are often used to create “woolen” yarns – yarns that are airy, lofty, soft and warm! We will cover three variations of long draw using commercially-prepared rovings, drum carded batts, and hand carded rolags. We will create samples of thick, lopi-style singles yarns, as well as thinner, plied woolen yarns. In the process, we will discuss the types of fiber that work best for different long draw techniques, how to create a hand carded rolag, and how best to use woolen yarns.
The Wonders of the Linen Stitch A. Karen Alfke A stitch pattern that doesn't curl or bias, that manages chenille yarns beautiifully and blends different gauges, as well as showing off hand-painted yarns to their best advantage? That's linen stitch! Karen has a host of designs and ideas, from bags to scarves to home decor, as well as one glorious Chanel-style jacket and a handpainted Faroese shawl pattern. Students also learn to blend three different yarns in a beautiful lengthwise scarf that's easy to knit yet looks luscious	Design it Yourself with Unpatterns™ A. Karen Alfke Continues on Sunday
Reversible Knitting M'Lou Baber Continues from Friday

 

Sunday All Day Classes 8:30 - 4:30
Toe Up Socks Ann Budd Not sure you have enough of that beautiful hand-dyed yarn for a full pair of socks? Start at the toe and knit until the yarn is gone! In this class, you'll knit a miniature sock while learning the Eastern cast-on, Priscilla Gibson-Robert's short row heel, and a sewn bind off. You should be familiar with knitting socks.
Lapland Hand Garments Susanna Hansson Continued from Saturday
Design It Yourself with Unpatterns™ A. Karen Alfke Continued from Saturday
Sunday Morning 8:30 - 11:30	Sunday Afternoon 1:30 - 4:30
Knits for Dogs Judith Swartz Learn to measure and design sweaters to fit your canine companions. Dog sweaters can use the same techniques (cables, ruffles, two-colors, and so forth) that we use in our human size sweaters. The trick is adjusting the garment to fit the differently shaped body. And dog sized sweaters are a great way to practice a new knitting technique before committing to a full size human garment.	Crochet for Knitters Judith Swartz Crochet techniques are very helpful to knitters. When crochet work is added to a knitting project, the result can be a great, updated look. Expand your repertoire to with some simple and fun crochet techniques. Learn the basic crochet stitches and how to get started from a knitted edge. Crochet can be used as a decorative edging, for simple buttonholes, or to join seams. It can be as simple as a chain stitch or as delicate as a scallop hem. Time permitting, you’ll learn to crochet embellishments, like flowers, to dress up felted bags or hats.
Mechanics of Your Wheel Amy Tyler Spinning wheels are marvelous machines! In this workshop, we will cover how spinning wheels work. There will be spinning exercises to help participants make sense of drive mechanisms, drive ratios, take-up tension, and wheel maintenance. Along the way, participants will be introduced to concepts of mechanics (such as force, torque, angular momentum, friction) in a non-mathematical way.	I-Cord Edges and More! Amy Tyler "I-cords” make wonderful, stable edges on a knitted piece, worked along with the knitted piece or added later. In the process of knitting a sample wrist warmer, we will cover using I-cords for side edges, binding off, buttonholes, as well as added I-cords. We will also cover techniques for making I-cord fringe, for grafting I-cord ends together to make continuous I-cord circles, and for using I-cords in all kinds of knitting. Leave with a pattern for full-sized wrist warmers.