Tag Archives: Virtual Knitting Live

Fall class lineup

Posted on August 28, 2023 | 8 comments

Holy cats, it’s almost September! My favorite month: birthday, anniversary, back to school, back to knitting classes.

I’m teaching on the Vogue Knitting Alaska Cruise September 2-9; I’m teaching Brioche Pastiche, hat or cowl. Ana Campos is also teaching on the cruise; she’s teaching Portuguese knitting. I’m looking forward to this! I haven’t been to Alaska since I was working in a cannery on Kodiak Island to pay for college.

I’m teaching a Zoom class on stranded colorwork for For Yarn’s Sake using the Shetland Wool Week Buggiflooer Beanie as a jumping off point. I have the feeling that I’m going to go rogue with my sample and knit a cowl instead; I haven’t worn any of the previous beanies (they mess up my hair!).

We’ll talk about yarn color dominance, ways to manage your yarns, and more.

I’m teaching Petite Brioche on Saturday September 30 in a new venue! I’ll be in-person at Hook and Needle, a new shop in downtown Vancouver WA, right across the river. Register here.

I’m teaching at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival October 13 and 14. Come learn assigned color pooling, and entrelac with me!

I’m teaching a Thrill of the Thrum Zoom class for For Yarn’s Sake on October 22. These deliciously cushy slippers are a longtime favorite.

Virtual Vogue Knitting Live is the weekend of October 27. I’m teaching Brioche Pastiche, Slip Away Cowl (slip stitch knitting), and Syncopation (syncopated brioche). And I’m giving a lecture on blocking, too. Come knit with us, virtually! Registration isn’t open yet (there’s a virtual event at the end of September currently on the site), but you can sign up for their newsletter and you’ll be the first to know when classes are available.

I’m teaching assigned pooling via Zoom with my Starfall Cowl for For Yarn’s Sake on November 12.

And that’s the plan so far! Are you planning your fall knitting experiences? It’s time!

8 Comments

Posted in classes, Knit

Tagged classes, Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival, Virtual Knitting Live

A very knitterly weekend

Posted on June 13, 2023 | 2 comments

I had a fabulous weekend! It began on Friday with Romi Hill’s Embrace Your Lace class, which went deep into adapting lace patterns into repeatable blocks that fit into the shaping of your designed piece. Her lace work is next level up, always gorgeous. Check out her work on Instagram, @romidesigns

Saturday morning I sat in on Julie Rosvall’s First Impressions class, which was about printmaking, including printing from knits. I only watched, because it was at 7 am my time (11 am her time in Canada!). You know I love block printing, and you know I’ll be trying this! @julierosvall on Instagram.

Both of these classes were through Virtual Knitting Live from Vogue Knitting. I also taught during this event on Sunday, Next Steps in Brioche: Increases and Decreases, using my Deep End hat, cowl, and Madrona cowl patterns.

I also had a fun chat with Josh Bennett and Amy Snell on Sunday before teaching my class. So much fun! But this was only the VKL portion of the weekend.

Saturday was Worldwide Knit in Public Day, and Knit Picks knows how to throw a party!

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A post shared by Michele Lee Bernstein (@pdxknitterati)

Video

I didn’t knit a stitch at WWKIP Day, but I *talked* about knitting, non-stop!

With trunk show designers MKNance and Emily Kintigh

Yes, I have the t-shirt too, but I really wanted to wear this preview of an upcoming piece for Knit Picks. Honey Bee Mine will be in a book coming this summer.

They gave me this tote (thanks for the grafting reminder!) stuffed with yarn

including these yarn samples, and several skeins of a new yarn that I don’t think I can show you yet. Stay tuned! I love that the above samples fit my 2 skein attention span rule. That purple Luminance could be a spectacular shawl.

I also snagged 3 sets of interchangeable wooden needles: Caspian, Rainbow, and Rosewood (inside the silver case), and this notions bag and pin. Swag is fun, yes?

The venue was lovely, Hidden House in Vancouver, Washington. It was great to have indoor and outdoor space. Lots of snacks, and a no-host bar for coffee or adult beverages.

Now I’m back to finishing up hat crowns for the Brioche Pastiche revamp! Knit knit knit…

2 Comments

Posted in events, Knit, pattern design, Portland area fun, yarn

Tagged knit picks, Virtual Knitting Live, Virtual VKL, WWKIP Day

Winning brioche

Posted on May 30, 2023 | 1 comment

I’m taking a break from my assigned pooling project to knit some brioche. You know I can’t resist.

It feels so good to have brioche in my hands again! I’m knitting new samples for Brioche Pastiche to use in a class; I’ll show you more in the next post. But for now, I just wanted to announce that Martha is the winner of my Next Steps in Brioche: Increases and Decreases class at Virtual Vogue Knitting Live! I’ll email her to let her know.

If you’re not Martha, there is still room in this class for you! It’s on Sunday, June 11 at 2 pm Eastern. Register here!

1 Comment

Posted in classes, giveaways, Knit

Tagged Brioche knitting, Virtual Knitting Live

Win my brioche class at Virtual Vogue Knitting Live

Posted on May 25, 2023 | 6 comments

I’m teaching Next Steps in Brioche: Increases and Decreases for Virtual Vogue Knitting Live on Sunday, June 11, 2 – 4 pm Eastern (11 am Pacific). Vogue is generously letting me give away a seat in this class via my social media channels.

Deep End Hat and Cowl, and Madrona Cowl in lower right corner

In this class you’ll learn how to knit brioche increases and decreases that create the lovely patterning in two color brioche. We’ll also talk about fixing mistakes and reading a chart. Prerequisite for the class is knowing how to work two color brioche in the round. To enter to win a seat in this class, leave a comment on this post telling me what you want to knit with these increases and decreases. For an extra chance to win, leave a comment on my Instagram post for this giveaway. Contest closes at 11:59 pm Pacific on Monday May 29, and I’ll let the winner know on Tuesday, May 30.

I’ve taught a lot of knitters to knit two color brioche with my Petite Brioche class and pattern. If you don’t know how yet, sign up for my Zoom class via For Yarn’s Sake! The class is on June 3 at 10:30 am Pacific (1:30 pm Eastern). Learning from this class or from my free Petite Brioche pattern on your own will have you ready to learn increases and decreases.

Big thanks to Julie Rosvall (@julierosvall on Instagram) for letting me use her giveaway graphic! She’s teaching at Virtual VKL too, and I’m looking forward to taking her First Impressions: Print Making with Knitting class on Saturday June 10 at 10 am Eastern (7 am Pacific, oy!). Luckily, Vogue is recording our workshops during the June event, so I can replay it if I need a reminder from this early (to me) morning class.

Here’s a description of Julie’s class: Join textile artist and printmaker Julie Rosvall for a hands-on textile printmaking workshop. Julie will share how she went from knitter to printmaker, and why she loves capturing the pattern and texture of knitted shawls and swatches on paper. Participants will have the chance to try textile relief printmaking in a simple hands-on process, no experience necessary. Julie will provide information in advance for preparing textiles to print, or if you’d like to use stencils or other materials to mimic the textiles she will provide alternatives that can be picked up at your local dollar store or craft supply store.

You know I’ve been playing with block printing. Printing from knit fabric swatches will be next level fun!

6 Comments

Posted in classes, giveaways, Knit, Other craftiness

Tagged Brioche knitting, Virtual Knitting Live, Virtual VKL, Virtual VKL class giveaway

Teaching, learning, and knitting away

Posted on January 24, 2022 | 7 comments

Just finished a weekend of Vogue’s Virtual Knitting Live. I taught 4 classes and took 2 classes. I loved the back and forth!

My newest class, Sheepy Steeky Coasters, was really fun. The knitting is done as homework, so class is devoted to securing and cutting the steek, and finishing the edges.

Look at all the happy new steekers! You can be one, too. I’m teaching this class again on Saturday February 5 for Twisted Yarn Shop via Zoom; you can register here.

One of the classes I took was called The New Colorwork, by Margaret Holzmann. It’s all garter stitch, working with blocks of color, kind of like log cabin knitting with some extra shaping and construction. The Pythagorean Theorem is our friend.

You can see the progression from the 2 striped pink blocks and small light blue box being connected with the dark blue yarn, and then closing the gap by knitting the dark blue rectangle (actually a rectangle on top of a triangle) between them. This will eventually (if I ever get to it) have 4 more pink blocks, and 3 more dark blue rectangles, to make a larger square with a dark pink diamond crossed by dark blue arms. Cool! Margaret is the designer of the Safe at Home blanket (link to her site) that’s been so popular during the pandemic. Her blankets of geometric block constructions are ingenious.

The other class I took was Keith Leonards’s Pool Party. We played with assigned pooling (center), and planned pooling (on the needles). Keith uses a much simpler, not mathy way to find the Magic Number for planned pooling; it was an epiphany.

It’s much easier than the mathy way I’ve been doing it, so I’ve just updated the instructions for my color-pooling Shall We Dance cowl, and the updated pattern is now available on Ravelry and Payhip. It’s 15% off through February 1, no coupon code needed. (Newsletter subscribers hold tight, a coupon will be in your next newsletter.) Also, I’m teaching a class with this cowl and yarn in 2 color options (Huckleberry Knits Aran 2 Ply BFL that was dyed specifically for this class) with For Yarn’s Sake via Zoom on March 6. (Yarn and pattern included in class fee.) Register here.

So much teaching AND learning! A perfect weekend. How was yours?

7 Comments

Posted in classes, Knit, pattern design

Tagged planned pooling, shall we dance, Shall We Dance cowl, sheepy steeky coasters, steeking, Virtual Knitting Live

Katie’s Kep: FO! and VKL class winner

Posted on January 7, 2021 | 13 comments

I just finished knitting Katie’s Kep, the free Shetland Wool Week pattern from 2020.

The crown is definitely the star of the show. Absolutely gorgeous. Both of these pictures are pre-blocking.

I didn’t knit to gauge, but I’m not willing to knit a hat on smaller than US3 needles. The hat is supposed to be 22” but mine is 23” instead, and 9” tall. I don’t swatch for hats. I go by Meg Swansen’s maxim that the hat will fit *someone*! My first hat is a great big gauge swatch.

I’m knitting a second hat, with one fewer repeat of the body stitch pattern. My kit from For Yarn’s Sake has enough of all the CC yarn for a second hat, if I buy an extra ball of the main color, which I did. (There are 5 colorways to choose from.)

I’ve adjusted my cast on, too. I know how to get the crown to work out, based on my reduced number of stitches. Math tells me that my new hat will measure 19”, which gives me some negative ease to help keep it on my head. I might try to remove a few stitches to make it a bit shorter…or not. When it stretches out to accomodate my 22.5” head, that will also make it shorter. Fabric has to come from somewhere! My hats are generally 8” tall.

I’m teaching a Zoom class for For Yarn’s Sake this Sunday, and again later in the month, based on this pattern. (Classes are full. Should we schedule a third class?) We’ll start the class with a discussion on gauge! We’ll also talk about swatching, or not, and ways to adjust the size of the hat. I’m really looking forward to it!

In other class news, I’ve picked a winner for a free class with me at January Vogue Knitting Live. It’s Lauri T! I’ll email her and let her know that she’ll be in my YO? YO! Fun and Fancy Elongated Stitches class. I’m pretty excited about that one, too. I just re-vamped the handout for class, adding more fun stitches. We won’t get through them all in 2 hours, but the handout is a good reference and jumping off point. Congratulations, Lauri!

What new knitting skill do you want to learn in 2021?

13 Comments

Posted in classes, giveaways, Knit

Tagged katie’s kep, Virtual Knitting Live, VKLive

Vogue Knitting Live January 2021

Posted on December 29, 2020 | 9 comments

I’m thrilled to be teaching at Vogue’s Virtual Knitting Live in January. It feels like a lifetime since I taught in NYC last January, in very different circumstances! Someday, we’ll all knit together in-person again, but for now this will do. We’ve been doing virtual events since May, and it’s going pretty smoothly. For the January event, Vogue is adding some very NYC flair, including a virtual fashion show.

I’m teaching Tink Drop Frog/Fixing Mistakes, Syncopated Brioche/Syncopation Shawl or Scarf, Minerva Entrelac Cowl, and YO? YO! Fun and Fancy Elongated Stitches. And! I’m giving away a spot in one of my classes. Leave a comment and let me know which class you’d like to take if you win, and why. I’ll pick a winner on January 5. You can also leave a comment on my Dec. 29 Instagram post, Facebook post, Twitter post, and/or in reply to my newsletter! I’m PDXKnitterati everywhere…

Good luck!

9 Comments

Posted in classes, events, giveaways

Tagged Virtual Knitting Live, VogueKnittingLive

November Virtual Knitting Live

Posted on October 21, 2020 | 2 comments

Registration is open for Vogue’s Virtual Knitting Live! I’m pleased to be teaching 4 classes, and giving my Blocking: It’s Magic lecture again.

I have a new and improved version of my Brioche Increases and Decreases class, featuring my Madrona Cowl and Deep End Hat. Choose either project to learn these techniques.

And I have a new Log Cabin Knitting class, where you’ll learn the technique and then see a lot of ways to play with it. This is easy knitting, if you’re looking for a mindless or meditative knit.

I’m also teaching Syncopation and Petite Brioche, which are always fun. I’ve been enjoying teaching at Vogue’s events; it’s nice to empower knitters to be the boss of their knitting!

I know it’s not the same as being together in person, but virtual events are much more accessible for most. Have you been to any virtual knitting events?

2 Comments

Posted in events, Knit

Tagged Deep End, log cabin knitting, Madrona Cowl, Virtual Knitting Live, VKLive

VKLive from the student side

Posted on October 13, 2020 | 8 comments

I sat in on a couple classes at Virtual VKLive this weekend. I enjoyed them both!

The first was Lucy Neatby’s 2 color double knitting in the round. I originally took this class in 2017 at Madrona, but I never did anything with it. Time for a refresher! I re-learned how it works, and several different ways to manage 2 yarns. It was fun, but it still doesn’t speak to me like brioche does.

I also sat in on Franklin Habit’s mosaic knitting class. I’ve done lots of slip stitch knitting before (most recently Half the Knit Sky), but not actual mosaic knitting, as defined by Barbara Walker. I learned a bit about how to chart mosaic knitting, and considered playing with different textures. All garter stitch? Garter on stockinette background? Stockinette on garter background? My personal preference is garter on a stockinette background, like in Half the Knit Sky and my Dotty Cowl and Dotty Cake hat.

I don’t love the waffle weave look of all garter stitch mosaic. And that’s when I realized…my Dissent Cowl is garter stitch mosaic. The waffle texture is most noticeable on the dot pattern at the beginning. But the collar portion is so iconic, it doesn’t come off as mosaic garter stitch. Well played.

The cowl is coming along nicely. It’s pretty intuitive knitting. I adjusted it to make it smaller, and the neck a little shorter. We’ll see how that turns out over all, soon. You know, of course, this just makes me want to knit a second one, with more modifications, but I don’t think I want to invest that much more time. So many things to knit!

What’s on your needles? I have this and Rio Calina, and maybe mitts to go with the Deep End Hat. I’m not feeling too excited about the mitts right now. I’m not sure I want mitts at this gauge? Would a cowl be more compelling? You couldn’t wear it with the hat (too much all together around your head/neck), but it would be a nice option for those who don’t wear hats. What do you think?

8 Comments

Posted in classes, Knit, pattern design

Tagged dissent cowl, double knitting, mosaic knitting, Virtual Knitting Live

The river runs on

Posted on August 18, 2020 | 7 comments

It was a big week! I did a little knitting, and a lot of teaching.

Here’s the little knitting, before. I ripped back my Rio Calina a bit. I learned that it’s not so much the direction of the cable cross that drives me, but the over/under. I didn’t like long snakey lines that continued uncrossed on the top of the fabric, so I changed it! Do you see what I did?

I like it a lot better this way.

The squash I’ve been pollinating (plant sex!) in the garden did some sneaky growing while I wasn’t paying attention. It got big!

I guess the bees can manage from here on out.

I used one of the squash on a pizza. Same basic structure as the puff pastry tarts in previous posts, but this is a little more substantial than the puff pastry.