Rustic Tarts and Old Farts

Is any one in the Central Virginia Area planning to go Sunday the 7th? I'd love to have a few people to car pool with. Cat may or may not be able to go and will ride with us if she can. I am happy to drive my Camry.

Berkeley Springs Studio Tour + Knit-In and Spin-In

The Studio Tour is coming at this weekend. We are planning a special event here — a "modified" sheep-to-shawl demo (modified because the sheep were sheared a month ago! and because everybody is invited to help).

We are inviting your participation! I'll show you how to prepare and spin from longwool locks, so bring your drop spindle, wheel, and knitting needles (size 5 or 6). Our spinning teams will handspin the dyed longwool locks, and the knitters will create small squares (any size) which will be pieced together for the shawl.

The finished shawl will be donated to the Morgan County Art and Elegance fundraiser in November.

Please note that individual instruction in spinning or knitting for beginners will not be possible during the event (there's only one of me!), so some basic skills will be needed to participate, although everyone can help with fiber prep!

I hope to see some of you here!

Info on the shop is here:
http://pocketmeadowfarm.net

Lucy Neatby to Teach!

It has been a hard year to wait on this !
Lucy Neatby will be here this coming fall doing her double knitting classes and her workshop on steeks as well.

ABOUT LUCY
Lucy Neatby is an internationally recognized teacher, designer, and writer who thrills knitters around the world with her inimitable charm, knowledge, and uniquely colourful designs. Her passion of nurturing and empowering knitters, and putting them in control of their art, is legendary!

I have never tried knitting socks inside one another or knitting a tube within a tube and I am looking forward to trying this as
I and others learn new skills. Lucy is a wonderful teacher and a great person. Lucy is so well know for her fabulous teachings that she is well booked 2-3 years
in advance. After waiting over a year for an opening, we are proud to offer her illustrious classes to you!
Below are the classes we will be offering the weekend of October 9th.


Dabble into Doubles: 3 hours
Gain an insight and deeper understanding of your knitting. Try a variety of types of double knitting to produce 2 layer fabrics.
You will start with tubular knitting on straight needles, open and condensed bind-off methods and learn the
magnificent double-knit pocket trick. Using 2 yarns you will be introduced to positive and negative dk color knitting and quilting techniques for added
texture and warmth.

Double Up and Around: also 3 hours
Make an Exploratory journey into other realms of double knitting. ( which produce 2 layer fabrics)
Beginning with tubes within tubes, worked in the round, starting with one color of yarn, then yarns and
then with color patterning. You will be learning different ways to handle yarns for maximum efficiency
and how to incorporate shaping into double fabrics topped off with tubular bind offs. this technique is widely used in mittens and socks.

She will also be offering her workshop on steeks if enough people are interested.

The First Cut is the Deepest: 3 hours

Cutting your knitting is a liberating experience. It really isn’t scary. It offers many benefits and opens up new construction and design possibilities. What exactly are steeks? Whilst knitting a sample for with centre front and armhole steeks we will discuss suitable yarns and how to plan for cutting. We will practise fully fashioned shapings, use of markers and securing methods. We look at possibilities for disaster management, adapting armholes and necks for cutting, making mixed gauge fabrics fit and Siamese sleeves. For our finale, we will make the first incision!


There is a maximum of 20 seats per each class session. Sign up and advance reservation are required. $50.00 per class to hold your place is required.
Classes are expected to be $100.00 each per session. Balances are due on or before October 1, 2009.
We will also be keeping a waiting list.

If you might be willing to host Lucy for the weekend, please give us a call or come by and see Sherri. Lucy is very open to stay with another knitter and is good company.




Wednesday Sit and Stitch group will be working on learning to do hats. They will be donated to our charities. Lesson and help are free.
Use our patterns or yours.
Please join us from 12:30 on.








Coordinated Colors Yarn Shoppe
2703 George Washington Hwy.
Yorktown, VA 23693


757/874-3939
www.coordinatedcolors.com

Hampton Roads Largest Yarn Shop

Designing an Aran sweater

Hi all: I am new to this blog, so I hope I am "blogging" correctly. I have several projects in mind that I need help with beginning. I would love to learn how to design my own Aran sweater, but first, I have a pattern for an Aran sweater that is designed to fit very loosely, and I wanted to make it more fitted to me. I already have supposedly the perfect yarn for this sweater (20 sts to 4", using size 7 needles), but I can not achieve gauge, even on a size 5 needle. The pattern consists of Charts A-E, and to achieve gauge, it says to knit Chart A. The pattern is written for separate pieces, and I want to knit it in the round. I know Richmond has several yarn shops that offer lessons to groups, but I wanted some one-on-one instruction. Do any of you know of someone who would be willing to work with me on this pattern to help me get going? I could probably do the rest of the sweater on my own, its just difficult for me to get started. You can leave me a comment here with your email address and I'd love to contact you. I live between Richmond and Charlottesville. Many thanks! Gwen

(phone number deleted by CAT, new sentence re: contact options added, to be on the safe side!!)