Stitches East: Part II

I had taken a Ravelry sabbatical to focus on personal stuff for a while and now I'm playing catch up:D Gee I missed it. I just posted this on the Stitches East group and thought hmmmmmm . . . this is worth posting since I wrote it up so nice. It's on a thread of critiques of classes, a great resource for planning next year's choices. Knitters are saying what they liked and why. Class too long? Not enough time? Well organized? Just plain fun? We're telling each other now and the capsules of info will still be there for future class takers. Cool.

Round Up - Beth Whiteside

• taught circular cast ons, dpn, magic loop, two circs

• No homework

• Made a cute neckwarmer for my sister.

• Recommend? YES

Beth paces her class well and doesn't try to cram too much in. She gave a lot of attention to students and circled the room to give individual projects the once over and see that everyone was doing okay. Her style is easy enough to follow for a beginner and I can definitely recommend her for the extra tips division too. Just get down on your knees and pray that a know-it all classmate doesn't try to upstage your instructor during the entire class. I had a woman I wanted to strangle do everything from give personal anecdotes to pass around a giant bag of rubber bands for poor underprivileged unprepared knitters to use as stitch markers. Every five minutes. Beth took it with such grace and incorporated it into the class that I have to admire her even more.

Free-Form Potpourii - Colleen Davis

• Showed how freeform garments and pieces are constructed. Gained experience through set pattern.

• No homework

• Made a cool looking thing from her pattern. I can go on

• Recommend? MAYBE - just for the fun of it, but be prepared to stand for half an hour

Take in to consideration, my critique is incomplete. Another woman on a scooter and I missed about an hour of the class held standing around a table due to the small room and fatigue. I blame the facility/Stitches for the overcrowded room. A good deal of material was discussed up there. To her credit, Colleen tried to bring things to us. I didn't have the heart. She already broke the room into two groups. Can you imagine her repeating it a third time? Her voice was shot.

Your satisfaction with this class may depend on what you want out of it. Duplicating a set pattern created by her was a great way to see how the increases and decreases - picking up stitches on the diagonal affect the piece so it will lay flat. I would have preferred assistance exercising my own creative mind beyond the set pattern once it was finished - with a little guidance from the instructor. Perhaps though, she has this in one of her other classes. She talks about and shows a lot of her work - fascinating uses of color and texture. Inspirational to get rid of all those little bits in my charity bin. I think her covered purses were brilliant.

Off the Cuff Beaded Wrist Warmers - Susanna Hansson

• Teaches on-yarn beading

• Homework = simple Garter stitch swatch to achieve gauge, you do not need this to begin project.

• SHOPPING LIST - be precise about her supplies - the "big eye" beading needle is two smooth wires joined at the tips. One person didn't want/couldn't knit with fingering yarn and did the project in another weight and bead size just to learn the process. I don't know what happed with her.

• Began beaded wristwarmers - cute!

• Recommend? YES

Sussana is well organized and gives individual attention to everyone's progress. I wish I could have taken this class today instead of in October. My own medical crap reared it's head quite unexpectedly and I couldn't deal with a couple aspects of her excellent class. Her handout is excellent and I will be able to finish these at some point, now that I am better. Walking away from a class with instructions or patterns in hand increases my sense of satisfaction. It also one of the marks of a seasoned instructor. I'll look for her next year for sure.

Switch to Continental Style Knitting - Leslye Solomon

• Learn to knit Continental

• No homework

• No cute little project to show for it, but that is the way to go with this.

• Recommend? YES

What a hoot! Leslye takes two pieces of whittled down PVC pipe(joke) and some rope up over her head and turns backwards so we can actually see her do this thing. It works great. I don't know how she kept her arms up wrapping that huge red yarn but her method of demonstration made all the difference to me. She has a silly and funny set of reminders to help you get your yarn placed right and turn your hand just so. All in all, an enjoyable, useful and entertaining class.

And if the woman who snuck into the class I paid for is reading this: I didn't buy your story that you paid for a different class that day. Leslye and I spoke later and I wish I had told you how much I resented you stealing so much of her time from me. A plague of moths on your yarn.