Community Guild Studios at Slater Mill

Great Rhody Yarn Crawl and Slater Mill Present Big Foot Knits Workshop

The Great Rhody Yarn Crawl and Slater Mill Museum welcome Andi Smith for a “Big Foot Knits” Workshop: Sunday, April 15th, 9-12, right before the Culmination Celebration.

Are you tired of knitting socks that fall down, stretch out of shape or just don’t seem to fit correctly? Then this is the class for you! Whether you’re a top down or toe up knitter, a magic loop, 2 circs or dpn devote, Andi will teach you how to create a custom sock pattern to perfectly fit your tootsies. From measuring and math to worksheets and charts, you’ll learn the basics to custom fitted socks. From a plain vanilla to intricate lace, the methods taught can be used in all flavors of sock.

Skill level: Must be comfortable knitting socks.

Materials: Bring in a pair of your hand knitted stockinette socks

$40 class fee (paid to Slater Mill)
$10 class supply fee applies ( paid to Andi for worksheets, booklet, tools, etc)
register via paypal or contact bernadette@slatermill.org

4th Annual Knitting Weekend

Exciting News!  I have just posted class descriptions on the Classes/Events page of this blog - and I must say, I think many of you will be very pleased with this year's offerings!  We are so lucky to have back to the Community Guild Studios some of our favorite teachers - Mary Jane Mucklestone with some fabulous colorwork classes, Helen Bingham with some excellent technique classes (thrums and beads, oh my!), RoseAnn Hunter with a take on knitted quilts, and Beth Fitzpatrick will be getting us all wanting to start spinning with her drop spindle for knitters class. Registration opens tomorrow - so go pick out your classes now and get ready to register!

Download Registration Form 2012 to mail in a check, or click here to use paypal and pay with a credit card online.

In addition to all the wonderful classes, we will again be hosting a Marketplace full of Fiber Arts Vendors on both Saturday and Sunday, from 10am-5pm.  The Hook and Needle Guild will be hosting a Bake Sale as usual (though there's nothing usual about those snacks) and new this year, a Yarn Swap!  Also not to be missed is the book signing by Melissa LaBarre and Cecily Clowik MacDonald, authors of New England Knits, and designers of many awesome sweaters and accessories.

 

I can't wait!  See you all there! 

Annie Modesitt Workshops at Slater Mill Museum

 

I am so very happy to announce that Annie Modesitt will be returning to Slater Mill to teach not one, but TWO workshops on September 10, 2011. We are thrilled to welcome her back. Here are the classes:

Combination Knitting 
Christened “Combination Knitting” by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts (Fall 2000 Interweave Knits Magazine), this combination of Western and Eastern style knitting is faster, creates a nice tension with less “rowing out” and less wrist strain. Established knitters may enjoy this different method, new knitters can mistress this right away!

Each student should bring light colored worsted weight yarn and needles to work well with the yarn.                                                                                                                        

Sat., 9/10, 9 AM-Noon 
$75

Charting Your Lace 
Written instructions can have typos, but with a chart what you see is what you get, which is why it’s the best option for knitters who want to “see” what their lace will look like before they take up their needles. In this class, we will investigate why stitches in lace work, behave the way they do, how we can befriend and domesticate them, thus creating our OWN lace motifs!

Each student should bring light colored, worsted weight yarn and needles to work well with yarn.

Sat., 9/10, 1 PM- 4 PM 
$75

Annie Modesitt Classes

Combination Knitting 9am-Noon $75.00 Charting Your Lace 1pm-4pm $75.00

Please contact Bernadette: bernadette@slatermill.org, or 401-725-8638 if you would like to register or have any questions.

Fiber by the Falls Guild Meeting 6/29

Hello Fiber by the Falls Guild members!  Just a reminder that we're meeting this Wednesday, and it's our last meeting before the fall, so please try and make it!  We have some business to go over, and we need everyone's input!

Also, we'd like to have a dessert potluck, so bring something to share (everyone is responsible for their own beverage) and we'll see you there!

Info for Next Knitting Guild Meeting 5/25

Hello folks!  The next Knitting Guild meeting will feature a technique class! 

Tina Manoni from The Mermaid's Purl in Wickford will be giving a program on Tunisian crochet at the May 25th meeting.  The shop website describes this stitch as "easier than crochet or knitting and creates a beautiful woven look."  Tina will be teaching the technique making a belt using Noro Silk Garden.  Tina notes that guild members who do not wish to purchase a kit may learn the stitch using a standard H crochet hook and their own worsted weight yarn (varigated works well for this).

Both a large and small kit will be available:

    Large kit ($32) contains an afghan hook, large buckle and 2 skeins of Noro Silk Garden to make

        a belt approx. 2 1/2" in width

    Small kit ($18) contains an afghan hook, small buckle and 1 skein of Noro Silk Garden to make

        a belt approx. 1" to 1 1/4" wide

 

Tina will bring a variety of colors in Noro Silk Garden to choose from.  Lizzie at Mermaid's Purl is giving us about a 30% discount on kit prices.  If guild members want to order just the afghan crochet hook, the cost is $6.50.  Members may opt to learn the technique using their own standard H crochet hook and worsted weight yarn (variegated works well).   

Tina will be ordering program supplies through The Mermaid's Purl and needs the count for kits and hooks by May 9th, so please email Bernadette (bernadette@slatermill.org) with your decision by May 8th!!

 

See you all there!

Felt Jewelry Workshop

 Join us for a full day workshop creating several beautiful felt jewelry pieces of your own!

Each participant will go home with a finished pair of earrings, crescent pendant,

flower pin and rope sample. Beading will also be demonstrated.

This is a chance to try out different types of felting within one workshop.

Elaine Schuller and Louise Lortie are both all around fiber and textile enthusiasts. Playing with color and texture are special joys for them whether felting, spinning, weaving, sewing or knitting. They love sharing their passion for felting by teaching workshops and are also devoted to supplying shops and galleries in Quebec City and the Maritime provinces with felt jewelry and hats.

Workshop fee is $115, which includes materials and tools. Students are asked to bring one large towel and two hand towels.

Please contact Bernadette Vaughan at 401.725.8638, x108 or bernadette@slatermill.org to register.

Space is limited!  Click here to download the flyer (please share it!) and to see some lovely examples of the things you will learn to do! Download Feltworkshop

 

January Knitting & Crochet Guild Meeting Cancelled!

Tonight's Knitting & Crochet Guild Meeting is cancelled due to the ridiculous amounts of snow which are reported to blanket us over the next few days.  I hope you all have fun projects to work on, (more hats and mittens anyone?) and plenty of hot cocoa, and that none of you have to drive around in this stuff.   Be safe and stay warm, we'll let you know about rescheduling soon.

Knitting Weekend Marketplace Vendors

One of the best things about the upcoming Knitting Weekend at Slater Mill is that the Marketplace is now going to run for TWO days instead of just one!  Twice as much time to browse and plan purchases! 

2011 KNITTING WEEKEND MARKETPLACE

Saturday, January 22^nd  10AM-6PM

Sunday, January 23^rd     10AM-5PM

Slater Mill 67 Roosevelt Ave Pawtucket, RI

List of vendors:

Swoon Fibers:  http://www.swoonfiberspremiumyarns.com/

Angora & Worms : http://www.angoraandworms.com/index.htm

Yarns Over Tuscany : http://www.gomitoli.com/

We Got the Buttons: http://www.wegotthebuttons.com/

Fresh Purls: http://www.freshpurls.com/

Play at Life Fibers:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/playatlifefiberarts

Thistledown Yarns:  Knitted & Felted earflap cap kits, original designs, knitted yoke wool sweaters, hand painted wool yarn

Pretty Useful Things:  Independent Co-op selling knitted jewelry, bags and stitch markers

Island Fiber Co-Op: Independent artists selling handmade sock blockers and repurposed, rescued wool.

And the authors of New England Knits will be in the marketplace signing their very popular book!

Cecily Glowik MacDonald & Melissa LaBarre:  BOOK SIGNING IS SATURDAY ONLY

 http://www.amazon.com/New-England-Knits-Timeless-Knitwear/dp/1596681802

Silk Hanky Workshop

Many of us have worked with silk over the years, whether we sewed with it, knitted with it, or spun with it.  Most of us probably know that it is the product of the silk worm, (though one of my more squeamish silk-loving friends will loudly say SILK FACTORY whenever this subject comes up) but how many of us have held a cocoon?

At one of the first fiber festivals I ever attended, I saw a colorful bowl full of cocoons, and I wished I had known what to do with them!

 

There was also a stack of silk 'hankies', or mawatas, which left me equally clueless. 

But you and I don't have to remain clueless!  Come to the workshop at Slater Mill on February 12th, from 10am - 4pm, where fiber artist Robin Russo will teach us about silkworms and the making of silk as well, as the history and geography of its industry.  Students will have the opportunity to reel cocoons and make mawatas. 

Download Silkflyer - feel free to download the flyer and share with your friends!

Instructor Robin Russo lives in Bradford, VT where she teaches spinning, felting, dyeing and working with exotic fibers. She has taught at numerous gatherings of spinners, weavers, knitters and historical societies. She has been a fiber enthusiast for more than thirty-eight years and takes every opportunity to explore its potential.

And if you're not sure what you would be able to do with a silk hankie if you're not a spinner, look at this post from the yarn harlot.

Go to the classes/events page here on the blog for a paypal button for the class!

 

Don't Wait to Sign Up for Knitting Weekend!

    Just a friendly reminder to you folks to sign up for Knitting Weekend classes sooner rather than later.  I tend to drag my feet on this sort of thing myself, but classes are starting to fill up!  Gudrun Johnston's Aeslight Shawl class is already full!

    Don't miss out! 

    Now I just have to go and take my own good advice...