What are you doing on July 16th? Or July 17th for that matter? If you're in the UK and you like knitting, crochet, spinning or any other fibre craft you ought to be in Birmingham at a new yarn festival, Yarningham!
The two day festival features a marketplace for independent dyers and producers from all over the UK, and four workshops. If you'd like to try your hand at drop spindling, learn to steek, learn how to make socks, or spread your crochet wings with amigurumi, come along to Stirchley baths in Bournville. Workshop tickets are available online from the Stitches and Hos website here.
Day tickets to Yarningham itself are £5 in advance or £7 on the door and can be booked, again through the Stitches and Hos website here
I'll be there! I'm looking forward to shopping. I'm especially looking forward to checking out the offerings from Fab Funky Fibres, Mothy and the Squid, Hand Dyed by Kate, and Owl About Yarn.
But mostly I'm looking forward to teaching the sock workshop.
The two day festival features a marketplace for independent dyers and producers from all over the UK, and four workshops. If you'd like to try your hand at drop spindling, learn to steek, learn how to make socks, or spread your crochet wings with amigurumi, come along to Stirchley baths in Bournville. Workshop tickets are available online from the Stitches and Hos website here.
Day tickets to Yarningham itself are £5 in advance or £7 on the door and can be booked, again through the Stitches and Hos website here
I'll be there! I'm looking forward to shopping. I'm especially looking forward to checking out the offerings from Fab Funky Fibres, Mothy and the Squid, Hand Dyed by Kate, and Owl About Yarn.
But mostly I'm looking forward to teaching the sock workshop.
Back in March I was contacted by Helen from Stitches and Hos, a group of knitting, crochet and fibre-things enthusiasts from Birmingham, about a new yarn show they were putting together. She asked if I would be interested in teaching a sock workshop at the show. I have to admit I was more than a little surprised. I've knitted more socks than I would care to think about, and I've designed a fair few too (eight pairs published, plus the kid-sized ones on my blog, with another three pairs in the pipeline) but I'd never thought about teaching other people to do it.
It didn't take long for Helen to encourage me to take up her offer (with a bit of cheerleading from my husband as well, who clearly thinks positively about my teaching and knitting skills - to his credit) and I agreed to take the workshop. I had several days after that of waking up thinking "What on earth have I done?!" before that started to turn into "Yay! A sock class! I can do this!" and since then I've become quite excited about the whole experience.
Prep is still going on behind the scenes, but the workshop is taking shape. Attendees (who can already knit but just haven't been brave enough to jump into the wonderful world of socks yet!) will learn about the construction of a sock by making a mini sock over the course of the workshop. They'll be taken through a "proper" sock pattern, just scaled down. All the techniques will be the same as one would use to construct a full-size adult sock, casting on, working the leg, making a heel flap and turning the heel, decreasing through the gusset to the foot, and then shaping and closing the toe, just in miniature. And at the end, they'll have not only their mini sock but also a pattern for an adult sock to take home to practise what they've learned to make socks for themselves.
Looking at the list of exhibitors present, there's going to be plenty of sock yarn on offer to choose from too! I have no doubt some of it is going to be coming home with me. All I have to do after that is design some more socks for it all!
It didn't take long for Helen to encourage me to take up her offer (with a bit of cheerleading from my husband as well, who clearly thinks positively about my teaching and knitting skills - to his credit) and I agreed to take the workshop. I had several days after that of waking up thinking "What on earth have I done?!" before that started to turn into "Yay! A sock class! I can do this!" and since then I've become quite excited about the whole experience.
Prep is still going on behind the scenes, but the workshop is taking shape. Attendees (who can already knit but just haven't been brave enough to jump into the wonderful world of socks yet!) will learn about the construction of a sock by making a mini sock over the course of the workshop. They'll be taken through a "proper" sock pattern, just scaled down. All the techniques will be the same as one would use to construct a full-size adult sock, casting on, working the leg, making a heel flap and turning the heel, decreasing through the gusset to the foot, and then shaping and closing the toe, just in miniature. And at the end, they'll have not only their mini sock but also a pattern for an adult sock to take home to practise what they've learned to make socks for themselves.
Looking at the list of exhibitors present, there's going to be plenty of sock yarn on offer to choose from too! I have no doubt some of it is going to be coming home with me. All I have to do after that is design some more socks for it all!
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