The Loopy Ewe Blog

Keeping up With the Loopy Life…

Tag: Weaving

Do You Live Nearby? Cool Classes for You!

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Do you live near Fort Collins? Would you like to get in on some great classes? We just added our Summer Class Schedule to the website and we’d love to have you join us! We have classes going for beginners (Knitting, Crochet, Weaving, Spinning), and for more experienced knitters (Colorwork in hats and stockings, Double Knitting, Crochet Lace, and Tunisian Crochet). We also have Parent/Child classes, so if you have been wanting to learn with one of your kids, this is a great way to do it.

susan-b-anderson-classesIn addition to the regular class offering, we also have an opportunity for you to get in on some instructors that we are bringing in for our Spring Fling. The retreat is completely full, but we have a few extra class spots if you’re interested in joining us for some awesome classes.

Susan B Anderson is teaching her Fair Isle Hat Design class here at The Loopy Ewe on Wednesday evening, April 17th. The class will run from 6:30 – 9:30 pm, and you will be learning how to do two-handed fair-isle, while creating your own hat with personalized colors and stitch patterns.  Susan is the author of the popular Itty Bitty book series, as well as a former author of the Spud and Chloe blog. This is the first time we’ve had Susan as one of our Spring Fling instructors and we’re very excited that she’s coming!

wendy-johnson-classesWendy Johnson is the author of the popular Wendy Knits blog and is the author of these great sock pattern books, as well as her lace pattern book (for all knitting levels). She has been an instructor at our Spring Flings several times and is always a popular teacher for us. She will be teaching her Sideways Lace Scarf and Shawl Design Class on Saturday morning, April 20, from 9 am – noon at The Embassy Suites, Loveland. She has designed numerous individual patterns in addition to her books, and says she has more pattern ideas than she’ll ever had time to write up. Come learn a great formula for designing your own patterns!

jc-briar-classesJC Briar is back to teach at her second Spring Fling, because of the outstanding reviews she received at her first Fling with us! (Things like, “She’s the best teacher I’ve ever had!” and “She makes things to easy to understand.”) She is the author of my favorite book about knitting from charts (Charts Made Simple), as well as having designed many individual patterns. She’s teaching her popular Cast-On Cornucopia class on Saturday afternoon, April 20 at The Embassy Suites in Loveland. If you find yourself using the same cast-ons over and over, get in on her class to liven things up a bit.

You can click on this link to sign up for these special classes, as well as our regular classes scheduled for this summer. You will also find the link on the homepage in the blue box under “In-Store Classes”. We hope to see you here soon!

Sheri planningtolearnafewcolorworktipsfromSusan’sclassmyself

 

Weaving Through My Gift List

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Ok, not really. I’ve only made these two for Christmas gifts. But maybe I’ll have time to make more before the 25th of December rolls around. I’m still enjoying the process of weaving. Here’s one I made in Wollmeise Wasseratz.

And another one in Wollmeise Zenzi.

It’s really a fun way to use up multi-colored sock yarn that you might not feel like knitting into socks. Did I mention that I went through my stash last week? I have a lot of sock yarn that is going to be something other than socks. I used to buy so many single skeins.

Since tomorrow is our Thanksgiving Holiday, I have my knitting projects all planned out for this week and weekend. I’m finishing my second Derecho (finally, FPS. Tell me again why I decided to knit this a second time? And to make this second one the never-ending-big-size?), hoping to finish my Cabled Rib Wrap (although it’s so luscious to knit that I don’t mind it taking a long time), and hoping to start a Nuvem (with Wollmeise Lace, or Lorna’s Laces Helen’s Lace, which would be gorgeous). All of those things are pretty mindless knits, which makes them perfect for working on when you have family and friends around for the holiday weekend. What is your favorite mindless knit for times such as these?

Sheri maybeIoughttohaveonechallengingprojectready,justincase

More Weaving

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I’ve finished two more woven scarves, and I have to say, it’s really fun and I love the results. I’m still working on getting my edges even, but washing and blocking helps a lot. (Not really blocking. You actually wash it and hang it on a rod to dry. I like that better than pinning out the edges of a shawl. Shawls aren’t really “wash and hang” types of things.) All in all, weaving/washing/blocking sure goes much faster than knitting. No wonder I’m hooked on it.

I haven’t tried a two color woven scarf yet, because I’m having too much fun weaving with multi-colors. Do you ever find a gorgeous multi-color yarn that you want to buy, but you’re not sure what you can make with it that will work well with the coloring? Weaving always works well! But if you want to knit with multicolors and you need a good pattern for it – try Lintilla, Hitchhiker, Wurm, or Boomerette. (Need suggestions for multi-color yarn? Lorna’s Laces, Hand Maiden, Fleece Artist, Mountain Colors, Studio June, Sweet Georgia, and Three Irish Girls are all great choices.)

This one was done with Wollmeise Sock in True Love.

And this one was done with Wollmeise Sock in Versuchskaninchen.

I have a few more colors set aside for future scarves. But right now, I need to get back to some knitting. My sweater is not progressing. I’ve decided I’m not a good sweater knitter, although I keep finding sweater patterns that I like. I’m not giving up on it because I love the yarn and want it to be a sweater, but I do find sweaters challenging to stick with, for some reason.

Have you discovered there is one thing that you’re not as good at knitting (or finishing)?

Sheri 3sweaterscurrentlyontheneedles.
Mightneedtochangemyattitude.

Now Hooked on Weaving

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Well, I did it. I made my first scarf on the Cricket 15″ loom, and boy was it fun! I used a Claudia Hand Painted Worsted weight yarn (in our Peppermint Mocha colorway) that I’ve had on hand for 3 or 4 years. It was fun to weave and took two afternoons (about 5 hours, total, I think). My hands turned red as I was weaving it, so I knew that the red dye would run when I washed it. Despite a Shout Color Catcher in the water, the red still colored the white. Now, instead of a Peppermint Mocha scarf, I have a Cinnamon Red Hots kind of a scarf. But it’s ok – I still like it and I learned a lot on my first attempt. I’m excited to go through my stash and whip up some more! The whole reason I wanted to learn to weave is because I’ve heard it’s a good stash buster. I have some really pretty yarn in my stash that I still like, but don’t know that I want to knit with it. Weaving will be perfect.

Do you want to give weaving a try? We’ll offer another day-long weaving class at the shop in the spring. Our day-long class includes the cost of a new Cricket Loom, as well as the full day of instruction. However, if you’re not local or want to jump in sooner, I have to say that the instruction book that comes with it is very thorough. We shipped a loom off to a gal who wanted to learn to do this with her granddaughter, and they have used the booklet and are going to town on it. So if you’d like us to special order a loom for you, let us know! ($169, and it takes 4-6 weeks to get special orders.)

All of the gals who took the weaving class last month are now on their 3rd and 4th scarves, just because it’s so fun and a wee bit addictive. I finished that first one and started another one the next day. I’m doing this one in Wollmeise in the True Love color. I think multi-colors are especially pretty when woven.

Sheri stillhookedonknittingtoo,buthavingfunweavingrightnow

P.S. No post on Friday, as I’m out of town with some of my very favorite friends for our not-always-annual-but-should-be Girls Weekend. More next week, including Camp Loopy Project Three winners. Have a great rest of the week!