So a while back I went to Denver, craft beer capital of the world, and home to quite possibly the happiest place on Earth (hint: Disneyland is not it), Fancy Tiger Crafts. I got to do a Trunk Show with the wonderful knitters of Denver, and attend Craft Night there and the place instantly felt like home! So much so that I basically took no photos at all. So instead I will send you to Felicia’s Blog, where she has photos. 🙂 I’m really excited to be heading back to Fancy Tiger in October to teach and spend more time with the lovely people of Denver, but the MAIN reason I went to Denver was to film a class.
I had a fabulous time, despite all my angsty leadup to the trip, and now, with the hard work of the fabulous Craftsy team, the class I filmed with them is up for you to take!
If you click this title card you can watch a preview for the class (and subscribe at a discounted price).
So here’s the pitch:
Lace shawls are beautiful and versatile accessories that add elegance and style to your wardrobe. Creating your own unique, custom-made piece takes the beauty of lace one step further. I’m Miriam Felton, and in my new online Craftsy class, Lace Shawl Design, I will teach you step-by-step what you need to know to design your own unique knitted lace shawl. You can use this information to create your own lace designs, adapt existing patterns to fit your style, or even to make something that’s completely your own. Conquer your fears and begin knitting lace!
charting in progress
I walk you through all the tricky logistics of lace design: how placement of yarnovers and decreases work together to paint the picture of lace, the math involved (which is as easy as addition and subtraction), and how to design lace charts. By understanding how different yarns and needles can affect the outcome of knitted lace, you will be able to achieve the look you want. In Lace Shawl Design, I introduce several shawl templates and teach you how to use and adapt them. Seamlessly integrate your choices of stitch patterns into one of these shawl shapes, and add personal details to develop a style that works for you. From standard rectangular shapes, to charting lace into a triangular shape, to adding embellishments like borders and center panels, and adapting the traditional shaping structure to better utilize your stitch pattern. We’ll cover a lot of creative landscape. We discuss how to work with positive and negative space, how to seamlessly transition from one lace pattern to another, and how to work with knit-on and self-contained borders. Once you understand the relationships involved, you’ll feel confident with all your lace knitting. To that end, we’ll also go over some common pitfalls and ways to fix them. Whip your lace knitting into the shape that you desire and make it completely yours. Work your style, your aesthetic, and your choices into your lace knitting and end up with a totally unique lace shawl. And while the class is geared primarily toward shawls, the techniques would be useful anytime you’re using lace, be it in sweaters, socks, cowls, or any other knitting piece.
Lace certainly can be intimidating to knit and to design, but because Craftsy classes are fully interactive it’s like I’m right there knitting with you. As you navigate through the class ask me (and your classmates) questions to get advice, help, and insight on trouble spots. Your registration never expires, so you can watch this class whenever you want, however many times you want. If for any reason you’re not totally in love with this class, Craftsy will refund your money, with no questions asked.
Whether you’re looking for a fabulous introduction to lace knitting, easy tips and tricks to adapt your favorite lace patterns, or step-by-step instruction to create your own unique lace shawl design, this is the class for you. Dive in and sign up for Lace Shawl Design to learn all this and more!
Aside from the official language, I am really proud of this class. It has such an amazing depth of information that I think knitters of all skill levels would benefit from taking it. Even if you never plan to design your own lace shawl, the info included in this class would be helpful to you in any knitting scenario, but especially with lace knitting. I’m a big proponent that the key to fearless knitting is understanding how it works. When you take the mystery of stitch interaction away, you’re left with confident knitters who can focus on the magic of the act instead of worrying about whether they will screw something up.
Take a look, let me know if you’ve got any questions, and please consider taking the class.
Thanks!
M
p.s. I’m working on a blog tour, so if you’d like to be a stop on the tour, drop me a line and we’ll see what we can work out.
