8/24 – Spit ‘n Polish: From Homemade to Handmade

Description

This class is fun as well as useful. Knit and crochet always benefit from careful finishing.  Don’t believe people who say otherwise!  Nowadays it’s common enough for people to say that you can skip finishing or eliminate seams without paying a price.  But, often, that’s not true.  Seams are the bones of garments.  Without them, the sweater will sag and turn into a blob.  And seams are actually fun.   Similarly, you can skip blocking, but you end up with a lumpy bag. Why settle for it after weeks of hard work?

This class is mostly for knitters; but sometimes, techniques overlap. And certain seams benefit from a crochet hook instead of a needle.  We’ll talk about (and make) invisible seams, perfect borders and bands, afterthought pockets, neat buttonholes, three-needle bind-offs, edge stitches, good yarn-end treatments, firm yarn joins, neck and shoulder reinforcement, and more. We’ll talk about and do some steam blocking. Finishing actually starts with the cast-on, so we’ll talk about knitting practices that make finishing easier and more effective.

Materials and Home Work:   4 or 5 knitted (or crocheted) squares, about 4 inches square each, worsted weight or DK yarn, 1 in garter st, the others in stockinette; two with yarn still attached (stitches on holders).  Bring a small amount of contrasting yarn in the same weight.  Needles or hooks appropriate to the yarn. For DK, sizes 6 or 7 and G hook; for worsted, sizes 8 or 9 and H hook. Animal fiber is best but not essential.  Try to avoid acrylic (we use steam blocking and acrylic is heat sensitive).  Cotton benefits from wet blocking, which we won’t be doing (but we’ll talk about it).

Skill level:  Advanced beginner and beyond.

For most classes, we hope you’ll use our beautiful yarns! We offer a 10% discount on full-priced materials for class use.

All classes include detailed handouts or (as relevant) printed patterns.

Classes may require a minimum number of participants.  If Artisan Knitworks or the instructor has to cancel, a full refund (check), registration in another class, or store credit (120% of tuition) will be offered.  If you have to cancel your class registration up to 7 days before the event, we offer the same choices.  However, we cannot offer these choices if you cancel within the 7-day window.